10 of those

Unconventional

Her style of unashamed humility in servanthood is readable, relevant, and beautifully real. There are two ways to read this book and you need to do both: very fast and very slow. It is such a comprehensible book to read that you want to cram it all into your head in one go. Yet at the same time you don’t want to miss anything so find yourself rereading most of it. She carefully describes the biblical role of women and then applies this to the local church with some surprising results. I found myself questioning my own long held beliefs about women in the church but did not feel either threatened or dismissive. Rather I felt inspired by her rich thinking which transforms the way we often view leadership in the local church.

Ruth Aird

Unconventional

Are you involved in women’s ministry? Are you a woman in church who is thinking about how to disciple other women? Are you a church leaders who wants to think about women’s ministry and se the women in your church discipled? Get this book, read that again, get this book! 

Sharon is a great writer, reading her books is like having a chat with her and learning from her experience of discipling women at Niddrie Community Church (in Edinburgh) and in her wider role as director of women’s ministry for 20Schemes. The thing I like most about this book is Sharon’s honesty, she speaks about times that she has failed and found hard and things that have hurt her too. This book is exactly what is says ‘A practical guide to women’s ministry in the local church’. I highly recommend this book to you! I loved it so much I finished it in an afternoon.

Alistair Chalmers

Unconventional

Drawing on her experience at Niddrie Community Church (NCC) and her encouragement of others working in the schemes (housing estates) of Scotland, Sharon explains how she started a women's ministry from scratch. Here then is a helpful “how to” guide that takes the Biblical principles of complementarian ministry and applies them to one of the hardest and most deprived areas of the UK. She shares both the joys and challenges of recruiting and equipping women to evangelise and disciple women, using their already established networks. What comes across is Sharon's desire to establish intentional and effective relationships that are accountable and committed to the ‘one-anothering’ outlined in the New Testament. She is honest about the hard decisions she needed to take (like closing down a programme that was meeting a need in the community but had no gospel-focus) and the relational mistakes she made - and learnt from - along the way. While I am not sure that what she has outlined will work in every ministry context (and the accountability questions she used could have been more Bible-driven), she is nevertheless clear about her overall aim - to present women mature in Christ. The foreword by Mez McConnell (pastor of NCC) is eye-opening and hugely encouraging. It made me wonder if one of the reasons why women's ministry has flourished there in recent years is because, under God, he is 100% behind it.

Carrie Sandom, Proclamation Trust

Unconventional

Finding books which help churches think through and implement healthy discipleship amongst their women are few and far between. Unconventional fills that gap as Sharon Dickens uses her wealth of experience and wisdom to write a much–needed book for the realm of women’s ministry. Through sharing the highs and lows of her time at Niddrie Community Church in Edinburgh, Sharon lays out a plan that others can follow to see ministry amongst women flourish in their churches. I found it especially helpful how Sharon highlighted the need to know the gifts of the women in your church to ensure they are all being given an opportunity to use what God has given them in the best way. We often fall into the trap of using those who do everything. Unconventional challenged me to be careful not to overlook less obvious women. We want to be looking for ways to help women test their gifts and enable others to step out of their comfort zone. As well as being an invaluable resource for those beginning to think about women’s ministry, Unconventional is an excellent tool for a well–established ministry that would benefit from a review. I would have loved a book like this when I started out in ministry and I am excited to use some of the principles in my current role.

Rachel Sloan, FIEC