Threads - Our Tapestry of Love

The silencing of women leaders in church history has enabled church leadership to be recast as exclusively male. Women who could only go as far as missionaries in the church had to stand back and watch their husbands or their male counterparts surpass them in positions of power. But despite that glass ceiling some women have recently broken through this barrier. This documentary presents the stories of some women who have ascended the ecclesiastical ladder into positions of church leadership. The Contributors Rev. Lola Brown shows how women are the equal of men in the church and uses scriptural references of female leaders in the New Testament who were recognised by the apostle Paul. She acquaints us with the facts such as the common descent of female leadership from Deborah - the first female judge (Judges 4:1-5:31) and by selectively highlighting equal partnerships such as Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:1-3), church leaders such as Lydia (Acts 16:11-15) and a fellow female worker by the name of Junias who was approved by the apostles (Romans 16:7). These texts are used in support of women in church leadership which enables the viewer to consider the historical precedents compared with recent silencing. Pastor Meva Barnett-Burrowes speaks about her journey towards ordination and critiques the exclusively male succession of leadership from her position of pastor of Anointed Apostolic Church in Thornton Heath. She has a Master's Degree and post-graduate qualifications in Theology. Pastor Penny Gordon speaks about her journey as the first female pastor of the Ark Church in Ipswich and how change can bring about initial adverse reactions but over time regarded as normal. She explains how female leadership is different from male leadership but both are needed to meet the accumulated needs of a male and female congregation.