Month: September 2018

Complementarity: solving the evangelical feminist cube?

We’re really pleased to have another post about Think Theology’s “Future of Complementarity” conference.  Today’s post is from Eleanor Toye Scott; a feminist, Anglican, and full-time mother of three boys. She holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, and a master’s degree and PhD in psychology. She also recently trained as a Godly Play practitioner.  You can find her on Twitter HERE.  We’ve published a number of blogs about the Think Theology conference, you can read them all HERE

 

It’s an exciting and somewhat scary time to be a feminist. Ireland’s recent historic referendum result in favour of reforming their constitution to allow abortion in some circumstances was surprisingly decisive. On the other hand, the UK Government’s proposal to allow people to change their gender by self-declaration, which is being welcomed as overdue in some quarters, is fiercely contested by others, many of them feminists. Long-established norms are collapsing and being renegotiated very rapidly, and there is much upheaval and acrimony in the online and offline debates.

 

For attendees at THINK 2018, an evangelical conference exploring sex, gender and “complementarity”, these raw public debates may have seemed a long way from their apparently much more conservative and sedate discussions of how sex and gender fit into God’s purposes for human beings and Creation. But the winds of change were blowing here too. In the first of three sermons, Hannah Anderson, one of the speakers, gave a carefully crafted and in many ways impressive talk, in which she argued from a complementariantheological position for “complementarity”, which turned out to mean essentially the equality of the sexes.

 

Not long ago, such a talk would have been unthinkable in evangelical circles. “Biblically sound teaching” was held to lead inevitably to the view that women’s abilities and position in society were ordained by God to be more limited in scope than those of men. So to begin from the same starting point, verses from the Creation story in Genesis, and then argue for the equality of men and women, and the necessity of allowing women the same access to power and responsibility as men, was a very interesting move by Anderson.

 

Of course, there have been Christian feminists arguing for the equality of the sexes for many years, so this on its own was not novel. The point was that Anderson was arguing specifically from within a complementarian perspective, which has been pushing back against egalitarian feminism for more than a generation. And her audience was clearly internal. Right from the start she highlighted her own conservative background. She was at great pains to avoid saying anything that might alienate an audience who might be male and have more conservative views than herself. She took trouble to highlight areas where her views were completely within the conservative evangelical mainstream – but then she gently pushed her audience to think a little differently about the relationships between men and women, and to make space for her quietly egalitarian agenda. (This is, of course, the only persuasive strategy that is likely to be accepted as appropriately feminine from a woman within a male-dominated complementarian sub-culture.)

 

The verses on which Anderson hung her argument were Genesis 1:26-28:

 

’26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,

in the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”’

 

The use of these verses as a foundation for thinking about sex and gender is traditional in evangelical teaching, and they have often been used as a justification for conservative models of male-female relationships, marriage, the family and society. In the more recent past, they have grounded the complementarian view of gender, which conceded to evangelical feminists that men and women are equal in the sight of God as human beings, but stated that men and women have different abilities and appropriate “roles” – the punchline being that women were, in spite of their “equality”, not suited to taking on leadership positions in the church.

 

So Anderson signalled here, and throughout her talk, that she belonged squarely within an evangelical theological tradition that has historically been concerned to maintain male authority in the church. At the same time, however, as Robin Bunce has pointed out to me, while complementarians have traditionally referenced Genesis 1, they have typically focused much more strongly on Genesis 2 (in which Eve is created second, out of Adam’s side, to fulfill his need for a companion) and Genesis 3 (“your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” etc.). Egalitarians have, for obvious reasons, tended to focus much more on Genesis 1, and it’s telling that Anderson has chosen to do the same.

 

She argued from the passage that our understanding of gender is something that emerges initially from biological sex – but also from the way sex is understood and managed within society. Critically, in Anderson’s vision, the differences between men and women are relatively subtle, and their work is much more cooperative than in the traditional model of women as baby-and-homemakers, and men as go-getting subduers of the earth. Men and women are not on separate tracks, nor operating in separate spheres. Rather, women and men each exercise their femaleness and maleness respectively in both the home and the marketplace. Anderson calls this “complementarity”; but while her rhetoric perhaps emphasised male and female difference to a marginally greater extent, I found it difficult in practice to distinguish her views on the proper relationship between the sexes from those of an egalitarian feminist.

 

The second plank of Anderson’s argument was a metaphor for the problems of gender and society, and how we should go about solving them: the Rubik’s cube. The cube itself, in this metaphor, is society or culture. Gender is one of the colours of the cube, with the other colours presumably representing other social factors. We are presented with a society that is “all mixed up”, like a disordered Rubik’s cube, and we have the task of trying to solve it. And if we try to solve one face first, i.e. gender, we also have to consider the other issues at the same time, so that we get the right colours around the edge of the face we have solved, ready to move onto solving the other faces – otherwise we haven’t really solved the first face and have wasted our time.

 

Anderson also pointed out that there are many millions of possible ways for the Rubik’s cube to be “all mixed up”, but there is nonetheless one method for solving it which works every time. So, in the metaphor, there are millions of different ways in which society and culture can manifest themselves – but God has a formula for sorting out the ways in which they have gone wrong, which works every time, regardless of the starting point. That formula is, naturally, to be found in Scripture – and we’re back to Genesis 1.26-28, which instructs us on how to resolve our sex and gender issues, whatever they may be. “We must compare our culture to God’s vision for male and female complementarity as a baseline, a plumb-line for evaluating our common culture…so we have to find the formula, find what’s ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ and what’s fallen, solve the Rubik’s cube.”

 

The final and most important theme in Anderson’s talk was justice – justice for women as a necessary component of justice in society as a whole. This was where her argument was strongest, because this was the case she wanted to make. Genesis 1:26-28 and the Rubik’s cube metaphor were the support structures, designed to demonstrate her commitment to evangelical principles, but a plea for justice was at the heart of what she had to say.

 

On this theme, Anderson made some fascinating arguments. On the one hand she rejected out of hand Second Wave feminism and pro-choice views on abortion without discussion, on the understanding that her audience would agree these were outside the pale of Christian morality. On the other hand, she argued that it was necessary to look at the cultural environment in which these views emerged – an environment dominated by what she called “the marketplace” and “radical individualism”, affecting the attitudes of both men and women. In that environment, when a woman says “I want an abortion because it’s my body”, she is expressing a radically individualistic view, which Anderson regards as antithetical to Christian morality – but which, she argues, is not really different from the attitude of a man who helped conceive a child, but accepts no responsibility, because his body isn’t the one that gets pregnant.

 

Anderson here fully endorsed the standard evangelical anti-abortion view – but at the same time, subtly changed the focus from criticisms of the individual attitudes and behaviour of women, to the attitudes and behaviour of (a) men as well as women, and (b) society as well as the individual. It’s all very well, she argued, to criticise the decisions of individual women – but when we fail to understand the social context that gave rise to those decisions, we end up adopting individualism in our politics and our churches, and never asking the deeper questions about what’s going on in society and how we can help solve the problems society presents.

 

Later, she made a much less convincing argument, which appeared to fly in the face of these nuanced points. She said that in her work with women in local churches, she had observed that because they were excluded from leadership roles in the church, they were also held to a lower moral standard than men, and were, in her words, “getting away with all sorts of stuff”. She never gave examples of the “stuff” women were getting away with. The idea that women’s behaviour was not being sufficiently closely monitored was also in stark contrast to her earlier argument that individual women’s behaviour should not be highlighted without reference to men’s behaviour or the wider social context. But what better way to convince a doubtful conservative than to suggest that under the status quo, women are not being held sufficiently personally responsible for their behaviour?

 

She went on to talk about women’s work, and the need for both women and men to take on the responsibilities and privileges that go with work. She brought up women’s vulnerability, citing 1 Peter 3:7:

 

“Live with your wife in an understanding way, showing honour to the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life.”

 

She also talked about the need to honour all of women’s work, not just the kinds of work which are typically associated with male success, but also reproductive and domestic work. Significantly, all of these points would be uncontroversial to an evangelical audience, but also would be a good fit with the agenda of most egalitarian feminists, including many non-Christian feminists.

 

Finally, she spoke of the church’s role in offering hope to the world, the ways she feels the church has failed, and the opportunity she sees in the current zeitgeist. She describes the church as having put up a wall in the past to “hold back the flood” of cultural change and hold to traditional values. The church had been focused on telling people what was right and what they needed to do, but not on sharing the good news. Now, with the #MeToo movement, she felt that the apparent freedom offered to women by the sexual revolution has been exposed as a sham, and this has given the church an opportunity to offer a more genuinely liberating alternative, focusing on justice, forgiveness and redemption. “This is a moment for the church to give the good news that God made us male and female in his image and he will redeem that image.”

 

So what can we make of all this? I have very mixed feelings. It’s encouraging to hear an evangelical woman arguing for women’s equal humanity, ability and responsibility in the world, society and the church. She’s clearly a smart woman and she’s on a reforming mission.

 

At the same time, though, I found the whole talk extraordinarily frustrating. I understand enough about politics to know that you have to respect the beliefs of your base and know how to pick your battles. But it’s very difficult to swallow such an intelligent speaker adopting wholesale such a deeply flawed approach to the Bible.  Her Rubik’s cube metaphor is clever, neat and memorable. It follows in the Wayne Grudem tradition of systematic theology – Scripture is reduced to a system or formula, a set of self-consistent doctrinal statements, which we can apply to any and every problem we see in the world, the church or our personal lives, and derive the correct solution. Unfortunately, this is a simplistic and wholly inadequate understanding of the Bible and its role in our lives.

 

Life is open-ended, messy, good, evil and morally ambiguous, full of paradoxes, mystery and much to wonder about. The contents of the Bible reflect that diversity, moral difficulty and mystery. The Bible is not, as is frequently claimed, a manual for life, because it is not a manual. Manuals didn’t exist when it was written. Nor is it a set of provable theorems. It is a library including myths, legends, history, fables, poetry, philosophy, proverbs, parables and prophecy. Many of its stories are shockingly violent and morally upsetting, while others are beautiful, inspiring and encouraging. Some, somehow, even manage to be all those things at once. Even Jesus’s parables, which might be candidates for riddles with neat logical solutions, offer us mystery and paradox at least as often as they offer us clear moral lessons.

 

None of this should need saying to anyone with even a passing familiarity with the contents of the Bible. If the evangelical church is serious in its commitment to Biblical study and living, it is simply not good enough to pick out a couple of verses from Genesis and then extrapolate from them to draw conclusions about modern life in our industrial globalised society. Even Anderson’s choice of Genesis 1:26-28, rather than other less sympathetic verses in Genesis 2 and 3, demonstrates the way this approach allows two verses to be taken out of context and used to develop an entire theological worldview. While Anderson believes the Bible is a historical record, she also seems to be largely unaware of what it says about human society and sexual morality. For instance, at one point she set up a contrast between modern society, which she claimed had entirely lost sight of the need to regulate sexual relationships, and the monogamous “No, no, no, no, no, ONE yes!” of Biblical sexual morality. But a fairly cursory reading of the Old Testament reveals that heterosexual monogamous sexual relationships were not the only ones that took place, even in Genesis. Two of the patriarchs themselves, Abraham and Jacob, each had children by more than one woman, and those are tame examples. Reading further on in Genesis, we learn in chapter 38 of the extraordinary story of Jacob’s son Judah, his three sons Er, Onan and Shelah, and his daughter-in-law Tamar. Look it up if you are interested, but suffice it to say that Tamar daringly and successfully exposes Judah’s sexual double standards. While the story justifies Tamar’s controversial actions, it is clear that the society she lived in was run by and in the interests of men, and that she had to risk her life to get justice. If Anderson is serious about justice for women now, she must recognise how severely the odds have been stacked against us, not only recently, but throughout the whole of human history, including in the stories of the Bible itself.

 

There’s also an assumption in the way Anderson fleshes out her “Rubik’s cube” derivation of sexual justice from Genesis 1:26-28, that what we are looking for is a model for human relationships that is self-evidently “natural” and “normal”. In spite of her awareness of her own cultural background, she doesn’t recognise that “natural” and “normal” are usually simply ways that people describe what is habitual or comfortable for them personally, based on their own experiences. To honour everyone’s humanity equally, we have to be willing to study human societies globally and look at the full range of human conditions and experiences. We have to be willing, in fact, to study history, literature, art, natural science and social science, rather than simply adopting a particular model of “natural, normal relationships”, even one apparently inspired by Genesis 1.26-28. And of course, for conservative evangelicals, this is deeply problematic, since science in particular is regarded as suspect except when it happens to confirm certain rather literal interpretations of parts of the Bible.

 

Maybe this lack of trust in non-Biblical knowledge, and the secular world more generally, goes some way to explaining why Anderson was at times so casually wrong in her characterisations of the world outside the church. She did not seem to have given any serious thought to how sexual morality functions outside of the church, instead making the lazy and evidently false assumption that the non-Christian world is absolutely sexually amoral and depraved. Then there was the mind-blowing notion in her finale that the sexual abuse of women originated in the 1960s with the sexual revolution, which betrays an extraordinary ignorance of history. I wonder whether Anderson is aware of the fact that many slave women in the United States were routinely raped and abused by their owners. For instance, Thomas Jefferson is now widely known to have had children by one of his slaves, who by definition was in no position to consent to their relationship. Anderson’s idea that the church can now present itself as a beacon of light, hope and redemption to those recovering from sexual abuse is naturally appealing to Christians; but completely ignores the recent revelations of the way churches have been complicit in exactly this type of abuse. More recognition of hard facts, followed by public repentance and self-examination, and a massive re-orientation of power within the churches, will be required before the Christian church as a whole will look credible to outsiders as a place of safety and recovery. Anderson’s attempt to make women’s equality acceptable within a complementarian theological perspective is not sufficient, because that perspective itself requires a complete overhaul.

 

There are huge problems with Anderson’s entire approach, because of the fact that she is embedded in this particular tradition. From a rhetorical point of view, her talk is masterful, because it accepts so much of the theological baggage of the people she aims to persuade – but unfortunately, if you unpack that baggage, it does not really support the work she is asking it to do. In the end, Anderson’s failure to challenge the intellectually limited basis of evangelical theology, and her lack of awareness of the world beyond the evangelical church, limits the scope of what she can achieve in practice. Maybe this is all that is politically possible within the complementarian church at this time, and maybe, nonetheless, for now, it is progress and worth having. But those arguing for “complementarity” will only be part of a truly progressive feminism when they find a way to recognise and challenge the limitations of a model of society based on Genesis 1.26-28 and an analogy with a Rubik’s cube.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is “David’s Tent” Achieving Equality?

This post is from Becca Sillett about her experiences of attending the UK event “David’s Tent“, considering whether it practices gender equality,  She describes herself as “a daughter of God, student, worship leader, blogger, and songwriter (amongst other things)”. She is heading into her final year at Cambridge studying Biology, and is passionate to live an authentic life of worship, beckoning others to do the same. She says that, “Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and he is worthy of our every breath”.  You can check out her blog HERE.

 

David’s Tent is 72-hour festival of non-stop worship in a big, blue tent in a field near Brighton. It takes place over the August bank holiday weekend (24th-27ththis year). People from all over the world and from different church expressions gather to join in one song of praise to our King. The vision of David’s Tent is to restore the tent or tabernacle of David depicted in 1 Chronicles 16. King David dared to establish a tabernacle where all people could come to worship God without being separated from his presence by a veil. He boldly invited everyone into the Holy of Holies and declared the King of Kings accessible to all. For the 33 years that King David’s tent was established, musicians played before the Lord day and night without ceasing. This is the heart of David’s Tent – to once more prepare a holy place where only he is exalted and to pour out the praises that he deserves.

 

2018 marks the 7thyear that this family of extravagant worshippers has come together but is the first year that I was there to be part of it. I had heard a lot about the festival from various friends and had high expectations which were not disappointed. The sense of joy and excitement was tangible upon arrival as campers were pitching tents and unloading cars. The worship began at 2pm on Friday and continued without ceasing until 72 hours later. David’s Tent is fairly unique compared to other Christian festivals in that the main event is not teaching or sermons, but simply the presence of God in worship. A few large blue sheets and some metal scaffolding become a temple and God doesn’t hesitate to manifest his presence amongst his children.

 

The atmosphere of the whole festival truly is one of family. The team of volunteers (coordinated by the amazing Sarah Schrack) is just that, and from the moment each person enters the gates they are warmly welcomed as a brother or sister into the family party. ‘Family sustains revival’ #famsusrev is not just a catch phrase when it comes to the wonderful people working so hard behind the scenes; it’s the reality that they live out. This is what every single person is invited to come and be a part of at David’s Tent. Revival itself is not sought out, but it is expected out of the overflow as we seek God’s heart worship. He is a God of extravagance and abundance and as we pour ourselves out so does he – and revival rushes in.

 

There are many worshippers who have led sets at David’s Tent year after year and carry the vision in their hearts. Each brought something beautifully unique in their own expression of worship and many spontaneous songs were birthed. For me, the song of the weekend was Jason Upton’s ‘This Garden’s Gonna Grow’ which became somewhat of an anthem over the few days. Jason is a true father and worshipping heart and his authenticity radiates through his lyrics. Another new song that was shared was led first on guitar and then again on keys by the multitalented Molly Skaggs of the Cageless Birds. ‘There Ain’t No Grave’ is an old spiritual revamped by Molly with an original and powerful sound. There were also profound moments of breakthrough in the tent when the atmosphere tangibly changed as a refrain or song was sung out in the Spirit.

 

On the stage the equality between men and women was evident. It was a joy to see many women powerfully leading in their anointing and identity as a daughter of the King. Melissa Helser made it to the UK against the odds following a serious back injury and carried with her a spirit of perseverance and freedom. The way that she and Jonathan honour each other and mutually submit to the other’s anointing is beautiful to watch. In most sets there was a male and female vocal and the spirit of respect and equality was seen between them. Almost every male worship leader led with an instrument, whereas several women led solely with their voices. Those leading without an instrument have a greater physical freedom to move and dance, a freedom most definitely enjoyed by Steffany Gretzinger in particular.

 

As well as the main tent, there are other smaller tents dotted around the site. There is a breakout tent, where a few seminars are run, a community tent, a café, a market place and a prayer tent. There are also kids and youth tents where they get up to all kinds of exciting things including prophecy and their own exuberant worship. The atmosphere of the prayer tent was particularly peaceful as I frequented it at 7am each day. One morning prayer session I attended was led by a powerful daughter of God, Bobbi Kumari, around the topic of identity and sexual brokenness. Bobbi shared her story and declared the victory and blood of Jesus over all brokenness, shame and lies. The anointing over her life and ministry is evident. All through the day there are people on their knees before God praying and interceding for his world and his people. From peaceful soaking to passionate spiritual warfare, prayers of all kinds, of authority and of hope are lifted up in that small tent.

 

In every single tent, big and blue, medium and white, or the small multicoloured array down the hill, it is clear that David’s Tent is an event where Biblical gender equality is of the utmost priority. From those planning behind the scenes, to those volunteering on the doors and those leading on the stage, women and men are valued for their unique God-given identities. David’s Tent is a family that aims to release each individual into the fullness of their created potential and strives to see heavenly unity become our earthly reality. Equality isn’t an unobtainable ideal. It is a created reality which can and will be perfected once more. David’s Tent really seem to know this and live it out.

This Woman’s Journey – Sue Eldridge

Sue Eldridge is one of the Directors of Presence Ministries, Director of Alive and Kicking, and the School of Empowerment for woman. Together with her husband Tim she is co-directors of the annual European Leaders Advance conference, which from 2019 will become European Leaders Alliance. Whilst she would not describe herself as a feminist she is a champion of women in leadership and female empowerment. In this essay, she describes her journey.

 

I’m not a feminist, but I love being a woman.

I’m not a feminist, but I believe woman are capable of greatness.

I’m not a feminist but I don’t see a ceiling, glass or otherwise, that should prevent a woman from being who she is called to be. To me, character, gifting, integrity and ability are the factors that should determine who and what someone becomes or achieves, not their gender.

 

I love women. I love all their different facets and strengths. I love that women love so well, and that we are beginning to realise that vulnerability is not weakness but the kind of courage that will enable us, not just to survive, but to thrive and conquer.

 

Growing up as the youngest daughter of a Squadron Leader in the Air Force I was encouraged to be adventurous, determined and strong. I was what was affectionately known as a ‘Tom Boy’, up to the age of 11 … when I discovered the joy of ‘boys’ and Kiss Chase!! I know . . . Shoot me now! Rock climbing, hiking, fishing, swimming, snorkelling and diving were all part of my life growing up, but so were baby dolls and teddies. I would spend the day in the woods, making dens, climbing trees, stealing sweets (I’m sorry) and then come home to bath my dolls, wrap them in a blanket and feed them with a plastic bottle that never ran out of milk. I wore jeans, scruffy T- shirts, and shorts most days, but also loved dressing up in pretty things when the occasion arose. Life was good, and I believed I could be anything or anyone I wanted to be.

 

At the age of 13 we joined a church that had an interesting view of women. A view that said that woman could be a part of the Church Family, but not a ‘significant’ part. Woman could participate to an extent, but only if they honoured the angels by wearing a head covering. You could serve, and in some circumstances, lead small groups, but you could never hold any area of government. As a teenager, ‘the rules’ also looked like this: you had to be thin, feminine, quiet, have long straight hair and obviously an amazing singing voice. Ooops, I had no chance… I was NOT thin, not feminine, I was loud, I had wild curly hair and my voice was three octaves louder than anyone else, but not sweeter! I was doomed!

 

These ‘rules’ stayed with me for many years. I married a man from the church at the tender age of 21, after completing my Nursing training. Then, I took up the role I was born for, ‘keeping house’, and being a ‘Mummy’.  To be fair, I loved this role. However, I made a rod for my own back with regards to my hubby, because a warped sense of pride meant that I had to keep house as well as his mum had, and my mum had, and everyone else we met, ever had kept house. I had to be the best cook, homemaker, money-spinner, breast feeder, craft maker, and leader’s wife! I had to be better than anyone at anything to do with motherhood or housekeeping. It was exhausting. It was not empowering. It was competitive.

 

Fortunately, I grew up!

 

Well actually…I found myself at 38, having left Nursing, I was now a high-powered Sales Executive for a top Health-care company, working full time, being a mum and co-leading a church in Harrogate. I ran the children’s work, I led worship, I preached and I held dinner parties. I was super-mum. Until I wasn’t. Until the day I woke up and couldn’t move. Until the day that I sat sobbing in the doctors’ surgery while he told me I had had a breakdown and was clinically depressed.

 

I gave up my job…. I stayed alive. I ignored the jibes from colleagues, to ‘Pull myself together.’ I ignored the notes from Christians which said that I must have done something wrong for this to happen to me. I even managed to ignore the fear inside me that said I was never going to get better. And “better” I got, slowly, painfully I came back to being me.

 

Then God took me on the most amazing, sometimes painful, but beautifully liberating journey. A journey into who I am. I was in my 40s before I dared to believe I was worthy of anything. To believe that I was enough, just as I was. To believe that I didn’t have to do anything to ‘prove’ my worthiness to anyone, let alone God.  He then took me on the journey of who HE was. Not the judging tyrant I had tried hard not to believe all my life, but had always held onto. I found he was a loving, Grace-filled Father, who desired an intimate relationship with me, his daughter. I started to dare to believe what this loving God said about me, and everything changed.

 

You see I had believed I was fundamentally unworthy, that I was not good enough. So I had to spend my whole life proving that I was something I’m not. Brene Brown writes in her book I Thought it was Just Me, ‘You either walk inside your story and own it, or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness.’ That’s what I was doing, in all my ‘busyness’ I was trying to earn my worthiness. My ‘worthiness’ for being a woman, for being a wife, a mother, even a Christian. So I have started to own my story. I now celebrate who I am, warts and all. I own my mistakes and I have grown because of them. This makes me the best me I can be. Not hiding. Not shame ridden, but 100% free.

 

This is what will make woman smash through the man-made ceilings. This is what will make top businesses fall over themselves to have woman on their boards. This is what will make Government sit up and take notice. This is what will make nations listen. Woman and men who are secure in their identity, who acknowledge their strengths and their weaknesses. Women who can celebrate the success of others, due to the confidence of their own self-worth. Woman whose worthiness is not reliant on being recognised by others.

 

Each of us has our very own part to play in this wonderful journey of life. Our part is to be the BEST us. Dr Caroline Leaf says in her book The Perfect You,‘God DOES understand you. He has placed significance in you-your “perfect you” – Your unique way of thinking. The blueprint of your identity is a brilliant design that unlocks something only you alone can do. As neuroscience shows us, every thought you think matters because it changes your brain. You create your unique reality and shape your brain with your thoughts.’

 

As women start to change the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about other women we will begin to believe that no one can be US better than WE can.