ACO Women in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Transitions and Persisting Patterns

After the independence of Syria and Lebanon Protestant missionary work in the Middle East changed dramatically. The women missionaries who worked in the service of the ACO had to come to terms with new realities such as the social and political turmoil of decolonisation, missiological shifts, and partnership agreements with the local churches. Drawing on written memoirs and oral history sources, this article explores their female agency and leadership in a changing context. It also analyses the perception of these missionaries by local agents.

The Legacy of Peggy Hiscock: European Women’s Contribution to the Growth of Christianity in Zambia

The history of Christianity in Africa contains selected information reflecting patriarchal preoccupations. Historians have often downplayed the contributions of significant women, both European and indigenous African. The names of some significant women are given without details of their contribution to the growth of Christianity in Africa. This article considers the contributions of Peggy Hiscock to the growth of Christianity in Zambia. Hiscock was a White missionary who was sent to serve in Zambia by the Methodist Church in Britain. She was the first woman to have been ordained in the United Church of Zambia. Hiscock established the Order of Diaconal Ministry and founded a school for the training of deaconesses in the United Church of Zambia. This article argues that although the nineteenth- and twentieth-century missionary movement in Africa is associated with patriarchy and European imperialism, there were European women missionaries who resisted imperialism and patriarchy both in the Church and society.

Supporting indigenous women missionaries An alternative paradigm for mission in the barrios of Tijuana

An alternative paradigm of mission that involves providing support to indigenous missionaries in situ, this case study exemplifies this method in action among the poorest of the poor in Obrero Segundo, a barrio in Tijuana, Mexico. The methodology includes supporting women with educational and/or living expense stipends in order to empower grassroots Christian ministry. Such support of indigenous women missionaries stands in sharp contrast to the two most prevalent mission paradigms in Tijuana, one of which is the “rich” US mission team who oversees long- and short-term missionary projects, and the other is the “successful” Mexican American who returns to Tijuana on weekends to run his church plant. But while there are real benefits in mission based on these paradigms, another paradigm is needed, one that addresses the specific needs and capabilities of the women already doing mission in their own neighborhoods and amongst their own people groups.