Female Disciples

Female Disciples: Stories to Shatter the Heart of Stone and Awaken the Heart of Flesh

Starts: Sunday 29th of November, 8 pm, £55 

10-Week Series. Ten hour-long Live and Recorded Zoom Calls thar are yours to keep 

This winter, I want to gather around the stories of women whose devotion to Christ entered the very substance of their lives: their choices, their relationships, their resources, and the courage with which they faced suffering. I want us to feel the force of that devotion and allow it to ask something of us.

Across nine gatherings, we will encounter Mary Magdalene hearing Christ speak her name, Thecla and the lioness who defends her, Perpetua reaching down to help Felicity stand, and Macrina gathering abandoned children into her care. Drawing from the biblical Gospels, early Christian accounts, and ancient sacred storytelling, we will listen for the faith that moves through these narratives, the love that becomes a hand extended, a home opened, a life given to the care of others.

I am offering these evenings because I feel a deep hunger for stories that restore our courage and reach beneath our weariness. There is something profoundly stirring about allowing another woman’s witness to come close enough to touch our own life.

My prayer is that we leave these gatherings more willing to love, more courageous in our faith, and more responsive to the suffering and beauty around us. That the stories stay with us, and begin to find expression through our own hands.

These are all hour-long episodes:

Joanna

Joanna puts the substance of her life behind her devotion to Jesus: her resources, her presence, her willingness to follow him along the road. When the women return from the empty tomb and the apostles dismiss their words, she stands among those whose testimony has travelled across the centuries to reach us.

Mary Magdalene

Mary stands weeping beside the empty tomb, her whole being turned towards the Christ she loves, until his voice reaches her through the anguish and speaks her name. In that moment, grief opens into recognition, and the woman who came searching for his body is sent to proclaim his living presence.

Thecla

In her ancient Christian story, Thecla answers Christ with a devotion that carries her through family opposition, the flames, and the terror of the arena. A lioness rises to defend her, women cry out against the injustice, and she enters the waters of baptism herself—a woman bringing her whole life into the fierce freedom of her faith.

Mariamne

In the ancient Acts of Philip, Mariamne travels into danger bearing the name of Christ, teaching, sharing in healing, and baptising women. When violence is turned upon her, her body becomes radiant with light—a blazing sacred image of devotion reaching into the very places where fear would silence us.

Perpetua

Perpetua is a young mother in prison, aching for her child and holding to the Christ she has come to trust. Through the visions preserved in her name, we enter a world where grief speaks to God and a suffering little boy finally drinks from an unfailing cup, receives healing, and goes away to play.

Felicity

Felicity gives birth in prison, surrounded by the prayers of companions who love her, and speaks of her trust that Christ will be with her in suffering. Another woman takes her daughter into her care, and Perpetua later reaches down to help Felicity stand—love answering brutality through the tenderness of human hands.

Macrina

Macrina’s devotion enters the shared work, the daily bread, and the relationships of her household, helping her family home become a community of prayer and common life. When famine leaves children abandoned beside the road, she gathers them in and raises them: Christ’s love taking the shape of nourishment, shelter, and someone who stays.

Tabitha

When Tabitha dies, the widows gather weeping, showing the garments she made, letting the work of her own hands speak of the woman they love. Peter kneels in prayer and calls her to rise, and she is restored to the people whose lives her kindness has touched so deeply.

Lydia

Beside the river at Philippi, Lydia listens, and the Lord opens her heart to the Gospel. She opens her home in answer, and her devotion becomes a place where the followers of Christ can gather, be strengthened, and belong—a living welcome with room for others inside it.