Living Loving Serving: Women Leaders in the Church is the debut documentary film from Keep the Faith, Britain’s leading magazine about the black Christian community.
The film features five women - Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, Tanya Hughes OBE, Pastor Marjorie Esomowei, Pastor Rhona Mplogomo-Tackie and Pastor Yvonne Brooks, who share personal insights about their faith, ministry work and experiences as leaders.
Speaking at an online screening event for the documentary, Marcia Dixon, publisher and editor of Keep the Faith Magazine described the project as a “labour of love” and a film to “encourage women in the Church”.
“It was in my heart to make this documentary to pay homage to the fantastic roles that women play within the Church,” she said.
The film, produced and directed by Laurelle Jones, was sponsored by the Pentecostal Community Bank and producer and director Abigail Otchere, who said, “When Marcia announced this phenomenal documentary I was thinking 30, 50 years down the line this would be a legacy.”
Otchere added: “In the next three or four generations to come, people can look at anointed, prophetic women in ministry who have all made an instrumental contribution to our church ministry context.”
The ministry of Pastor Yvonne Brooks, a leader at the New Jerusalem Community Church in Birmingham, was profiled in the documentary. She reflected on how much has changed for women in the Church.
“Growing up, women were not in ministry. You could not aspire to those positions and we didn’t really think about it because it was like a closed door,” she said.
“I learnt that you can serve without a title. I served for many years having no title, I supported my husband as he was moving into pastoring.”
She continued: “I would have to say that being able to impact other people’s lives positively in ministry has been the highlight of my life. It wasn’t trying to make a name for myself, or trying to get a position.”
Also spotlighted in the documentary is Tanya Hughes OBE, HR Deputy Director in the Treasury, and a trustee of Women on the Frontline, a charity that works with vulnerable women, including sex workers. Hughes did not grow up in Church and had no understanding of the meaning of titles within the Church setting.
“I just knew that Jesus loved me and that I now had a hope in my life that I didn’t have before. I had this burning desire in me to reach out to people,” she said.
Hughes started her journey into ministry through street outreach and “loved it”.
“When I got more involved in church, it was really interesting because for me it was about going outside the walls of church,” she said.
She continued: “Within church I now know there are structures and people have roles and responsibilities, but for me I wanted to be able to signpost hope in their lives.”
The screening also included a panel discussion of ministry leaders who expressed their passion for preparing the next generation of church leaders. Hughes would like to see women of “all ages” within the leadership space.
“Not only can they learn from me and others, but I can learn from them,” she said.
She added: “I think it is imperative for any leader, particularly women in leadership, to pave the way for others to be able to come through and stand on their shoulders.”
Asking God to send people is the approach Pastor Brooks advocates. “Look for these people around you that God will send to you and deposit in them, then nurture what you have deposited in them to help to bring them to a place of maturity,” she said.
