Jessie Penn-Lewis: Revival And God’s Word On Women -- By: Mimi Haddad

Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 13:2 (Spring 1999)
Article: Jessie Penn-Lewis: Revival And God’s Word On Women
Author: Mimi Haddad


Jessie Penn-Lewis:
Revival And God’s Word On Women

Mimi Haddad

Mimi Haddad holds an MATS from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is pursuing doctoral studies in historical theology. She is currently serving as Executive Director of CBE.

Perhaps the most influential woman associated with the Welsh and Keswick revivals in Great Britain at the turn of the Twentieth Century,1 Jessie Penn-Lewis overcame a shy disposition, a victory she credited to the power of the crucified Christ. Preaching throughout Great Britain, Scandinavia, India, Russia, and North America, Penn-Lewis taught the Bible’s affirmation of women in public ministry Penn-Lewis believed the movement of the Holy Spirit, poured out on women and men throughout history, is always in harmony with Scripture. A prolific writer, Penn-Lewis wrote more than thirty books; many were translated into over one-hundred languages and dialects. Her journal, The Overcomer, remains in print today. Acknowledging the power of Christ to abolish the ‘old Adam’ and the hierarchy of men over women, Penn-Lewis wrote The Magna Charta of Women, a defense of women’s public ministry.

Background

Penn-Lewis, the granddaughter of a Calvin Methodist minister, was born in Neath, South Wales in 1861. Her mother was active in the Temperance movement. After Jessie’s marriage, she and her husband William joined Holy Trinity Church in Richmond, Surrey.

Encouraged by the holiness preaching and teaching she encountered there,2 Penn-Lewis acknowledged her own spiritual ineffectiveness and prayed for greater empowering by the Holy Spirit. Shortly thereafter she embarked on an influential ministry, drawing crowds in the thousands, and addressing audiences around the world.

International Work

Early in her ministry Penn-Lewis was invited to Russia where she addressed gatherings of youth, German workers, and Russian nobility. She challenged her audience to end class barriers because all believers are now one in Christ.

In 1898 Penn-Lewis addressed the First Scandinavian YWCA Conference with the message “God’s Army of Women who Publish the Tidings.” Many of the women attending had endured suppression resulting from gender bias, and Penn-Lewis’ message was a welcome encouragement.

I did not know then that our sisters were yet in the battle of strong prejudice against the handmaidens’ prophesying. Strong prejudice based upon a misunderstanding of Paul’s word of rebuke to the chatterers of his day, the women who would persist in taking questions at the wrong time and in the wrong place; while in the sam...

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