Running on Empty: The Gospel for Women in Ministry
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
You Are Not Fueled by Coffee, Sleep, or Approval.
As women, ministry pushes us to moments of insufficiency, exposes our weaknesses, and tests our patience. Some days it feels like a little more sleep, a lot more coffee, and a pat on the back might sustain us. But down deep, we know these things can never fuel our ministries.
Positive without being cliché, Running on Empty presents the realities of vocational ministry with humor and hope. Author Barbara Bancroft draws from her experience as a Christian, missionary woman and pastor’s wife to demonstrate how the gospel must be our message to ourselves as well as others. Along the way, she confronts the mythic ministry model of Proverbs 31 and other stereotypes and expectations that hinder women from enjoying and displaying the gospel each day.
Running on Empty’s down-to-earth, humorous writing style reaches out to weary women reluctant to read another book on ministry. Offering more than crisis management tips or how-tos, Running on Empty reorients Christian women’s hearts and minds to the joy of belonging to Jesus Christ and being a part of his kingdom work. Ideal for small group discussion or personal reflection, Running on Empty stretches beyond burnout prevention strategies all the way to joy and purpose in ministry.
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- Presents the realities of vocational ministry with humor and hope
- Draws from the author’s experience as a missionary woman and pastor’s wife
- Reorients women’s hearts and minds to the joy of belonging to Christ and being a part of his kingdom work
- Are You Ready for Some Ministry?
- Proverbs 31 Remix
- The Gospel Revisited
- A Split-Level on the Battlefront
- Those Awesome Missionaries
- The Tangle of Culture and Ministry
- Fair Is a Four-Letter Word
- The Pit of Entitlement and Envy
- Antacid of Choice
- It’s Bad You Know
- Identity Thef
- The Magnetic Effect of the Cross
We can teach the gospel without it reaching us because we feel the need to prove our sufficiency in order to justify our leadership in the church. Barbara Bancroft urges us to live beyond the clichés we impose on ourselves in order to live in the freedom of the gospel that will set free the women and men we lead.
—Bryan and Kathy Chapell, Authors of Each for the Other: Marriage as It’s Meant to Be; ministering at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, IL
Thank you, Barbara, for taking the time to write to us. You identify the struggles of women in ministry and point us to the Truth. Even for women who have studied Scripture, you make this book fresh and hopeful. To be comfortable in our own skin because of Jesus—yes, it is possible.
—Ed and Sheri Welch, Author; faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (Ed); administrator at Bridge Community Church, Glenside, PA (Sheri)
Let’s go ahead and cut to the chase—Running on Empty is simply the best book Darlene and I have ever read on the ‘raptures and ruptures’ of vocational ministry, and the radical implications of God’s grace for wives and women who are seeking to serve Jesus. As an adjunct faculty member of five seminaries, I will now require this book, not only for the women in my classes, but for every man who is presently or plans to get married; for men need to understand, not just the privileges of ministry, but also the setups and heartaches women face—things they ‘didn’t sign on for.’ Darlene and I got married in 1972 and never thought we would wear the couple title, ‘pastor and pastor’s wife,’ and nothing could have prepared us for the delights and demands, and dissolution and despair ahead. Barbara’s book would have been a gift of invaluable benefit to us, not only as we began our ministry, but through every stage of our shared life. Filled with gospel wisdom and personal anecdotes, beautiful honesty and the hope of grace, Barbara throws the spotlight on Jesus’s love and the freedom he intends for all of us who are passionate to serve him.
—Scotty and Darlene Smith, Ministering at West End Community Church, Nashville, TN; formerly ministering at Christ Community Church, Franklin, TN
- Title: Running on Empty
- Author: Barbara Bancroft
- Publisher: New Growth Press
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Pages: 225
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- ISBNs: 9781939946355, 1939946352
- Resource ID: LLS:RUNNINGONEMPTY
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-11T20:40:14Z
Barbara Bancroft began ministry life with her husband Josiah in 1976. Since then she has worked with him in church planting, missions, and as a pastor’s wife of a large church. While her husband Josiah oversees missions at Serge, Barbara mentors and encourages the many missionary women and pastors wives they meet with all over the world.
Serge is an international missions organization dedicated to sending and caring for missionaries, mentoring and training ministry leaders globally, and creating gospel-centered resources for personal and church renewal. They emphasize the transformative power of the gospel of grace in the believer’s life, focusing on ongoing renewal and equipping leaders and believers for mission.