Jenny Rae Armstrong - From Risk to Resilience: How Empowering Young Women Can Change Everything

In this concise yet far-reaching volume, Armstrong eloquently advocates for better societal and theological treatment of women, beginning with Christian churches.... Always grounded in firsthand experiences and a wealth of statistics, Armstrongs critiques are trenchant and engaging. She also provides biblical stories to theologically reinforce her arguments that women deserve greater empowerment. With lean, practical prose, she easily demonstrates the Bibles message of equality and the deep influence of women on the history of Christianity. For anyone invested in uplifting girls and women around the world, Armstrong provides practical tips for getting involved.... A clarion wake-up call.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

From Risk to Resilience is the most comprehensive book in understanding the plight of women in the developing world that I have read. It is well documented yet accompanied by stories that help us understand the data. I was convicted and compelled as I read it. There are solutions, and we dont have to just shake our heads and feel guilty; we can be participants in change. May this be a clarion call to all who are followers of Jesus that what breaks his heart breaks ours. We will be part of the healing solution.

JO ANNE LYON , general superintendent emerita and ambassador of the Wesleyan Church

Jenny Rae Armstrongs From Risk to Resilience is a bracing expos of the current global human rights crisis that is destroying and diminishing the lives of millions of girls. This crisis occupies a wide spectrum of expressionfrom the deadly sinister acts such as child marriages, honor killings, and sexual violence to more benign forms, such as limiting a girls horizons simply because she was born female. This is urgent reading for pastors and ministry leaders, parents and teachers, and anyone who longs to see Gods daughters flourish!

CAROLYN CUSTIS JAMES , author of Half the Church and Finding God in the Margins

Im so grateful to Jenny Rae Armstrong for this book. Her global research on violence against girls and women is shocking, but Armstrong doesnt leave us there. Through brilliant biblical exegesis, she corrects our vision and issues a practical wake-up call to the whole church, which cannot thrive without the presence of healthy women. May this book begin to turn the tide!

LESLIE LEYLAND FIELDS , author of Crossing the Waters

From Risk to Resilience meticulously integrates relevant data, Scripture, and stories of change agents to show how empowering adolescent girls contributes to flourishing communities. Though the obstacles adolescent girls face are daunting, Jenny Rae Armstrong gracefully unpacks these challenges and equips her readers with tangible strategies for change. From Risk to Resilience is an important read for anyone invested in human thriving locally and worldwide.

MIMI HADDAD , president of Christians for Biblical Equality International

From Risk to Resilience is the most important book Ive read in a long time, and its a page-turner! Jenny Rae Armstrong weaves true stories of young women with well-researched statistics, Christian theology, and her own prophetic voice to call our attention to the ways that we, as a global society, must empower young women and fight for shalom. Read this book. You will grieve, but not for a moment without hope.

CATHERINE MCNIEL , author of Long Days of Small Things and All Shall Be Well

Im committed to expanding my realm of reading in a way that reinforces what I care about most. From Risk to Resilience drew me in, deepened my understanding, and provided a biblical call to action. On the way, it equipped me to invest in women of all ages and in all places, that they might flourish and fully express who God has created them to be and what the Spirit has empowered them to do.

WAYNE SCHMIDT , general superintendent of the Wesleyan Church

Herald Press

PO Box 866, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803

www.HeraldPress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Armstrong, Jenny Rae, 1977- author.

Title: From risk to resilience : how empowering young women can change

everything / Jenny Rae Armstrong.

Description: Harrisonburg : Herald Press, 2019. | Includes bibliographical

references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019003943| ISBN 9781513804095 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN

9781513804101 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Church group work with teenage girls. | Self-actualization

(Psychology)--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Classification: LCC BV4455 .A76 2019 | DDC 259/.23082--dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019003943

Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management,
www.booksandsuch.com.

FROM RISK TO RESILIENCE

2019 by Jenny Rae Armstrong

Released by Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803. 800-245-7894.

All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019003943

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-5138-0409-5 (paperback);
978-1-5138-0410-1 (hardcover); 978-1-5138-0411-8 (ebook)

Printed in United States of America

Cover and interior design by Merrill Miller

Cover photo: composite image using photos by Aleksander Kaczmarek and by Yaruta, Getty Images/iStockphoto

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form, by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the copyright owners.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

23 22 21 20 1910 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my grandma IrmaDel,
who embraced Jesus in everyone.

For my grandma Vivien,
who exemplified grace under pressure.

For my mother, Gail,
who broke the chains and showed me how too.

You scribed love, strength, and freedom
into every page of my life,
and I am eternally grateful.

FOREWORD

R
ecently I walked through a rural village in eastern Congo with one of those brave souls who make the lives of others bettera public health doctor. As a physician, he had a thing or two to say about health, solutions to complex problems, and the nature of hope. Together we watched women dressed in the most brilliant colors wait with dignity as their children were vaccinated.

You know, he said, with the fire of an evangelist, women keep the world alive.

And he is right. Today in Congo, a country suffering from decades of war and the extreme poverty caused by conflict and greed, one out of every five children wont see their fifth birthday because of preventable diseases like malaria as well as malnutrition and diarrhea. But those who do survive owe their lives to mothers, sisters, grandmothers, and aunties. It is women and girls who make sure community water is clean, the family is planned for, neighbors are listened to, children are schooled, the community is vaccinated, meals are as healthy as possible, sickness is avoided, shoes are worn, teeth are brushed, and sleep and play are made a priority. Even in a war zone. Especially in a war zone.