The news: Christianity Today reviewed Julia Higgins' new book Christ and His Bride: How Men and Women Tell the Story of the Gospel (B&H Books, 2026), which argues that the church's thirty-year conversation on women's roles has been too narrowly focused on what women cannot do, rather than on the deeper theological meaning behind gender and the gospel.
Why it matters for church leaders: In Indian churches — across denominations, urban and rural — the question of women in leadership and ministry is very much alive and often handled without a clear theological foundation. This book offers a gospel-centered framework that moves the conversation forward, grounding it in what men and women together signify rather than in boundary-drawing alone.
The takeaway: Consider bringing your leadership team together to study a gospel-centered theology of gender — it will shape your culture far more than a policy document will.
Source: Christianity Today
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