Power Points: God at Work through Women Leaders Yesterday and Today

Henrietta Mears

BY LEECY BARNETT

“There is no magic in small plans. When I consider my ministry, I think of the world. Anything less than that would not be worthy of Christ nor of His will for my life.” 1

Growing up during the turn of the twentieth century in Minneapolis, Henrietta Mears committed herself to missionary service in Asia in her senior year of high school. Maybe she made this commitment because her good friend, Evalyn Camp, had made the same pledge—Evalyn doggedly pursued her calling to Japan, but Henrietta felt unsure about her calling to China. She later reflected that she believed God wanted her to go to China because “China was the only place that the Lord did call anyone into full-time missionary work.”2 But God had a totally unexpected way planned to use Henrietta to change the world.

When Henrietta’s mother died during her first year in college, she sunk into a deep depression. At her mother’s funeral service, her pastor encouraged her to carry on the legacy of her mother’s Christian service. This expectation overwhelmed Henrietta:

I [had] felt absolutely powerless from the thought that I could possibly live up to what my mother had been and had done, and I prayed that if God had anything for me to do that He would supply the power. I read my Bible for every reference to the Holy Spirit and His power. The greatest realization came to me when I saw there was nothing I had do to receive His power but to submit to Christ, to allow Him to control me. I had been trying to do everything myself now I let Christ take me completely. I said to Christ that if He wanted anything from me He would have to do it Himself. My life was changed from that moment on.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1913, Henrietta spent the next 15 years as a high school chemistry and math teacher and principal. During that time, she started a young adult Sunday school class for girls that grew to a study of more than 500 women. On a Sabbatical trip to Southern California in 1928, Henrietta visited the pastor of the First Presbyterian of Hollywood, who repeatedly offered her the position of director of education programs at the church. Little could Henrietta envision how her move to tinsel town would be the way in which God would fulfill her call to the world.

Besides overseeing the phenomenal growth of the overall Sunday School department, Mears’ biggest impact was in the college class which she personally taught. From this class, Henrietta saw the need for a space for a deeper conference venue and, in 1937, turned it into a Christian retreat. Retreats at Forest Home influenced many leaders of the post-war evangelical movement, including Billy Graham, future U.S. Senate chaplain Richard Halverson, Young Life founder Jim Rayburn, and Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) founder Bill Bright. Additionally, Mears discipled both Bright and his wife Vonette and was a launching pad for their ministry. Bill and Vonette Bright lived in Mears’ home near the UCLA campus for the first ten years of their campus ministry. “Bright would also credit Mears’ clear and powerful teaching with helping him develop Cru’s Four Spiritual Laws.” (Author’s note: I consider Mears a spiritual ancestor, as I came to Jesus after reading those Spiritual Laws.)

But wait, there’s more! Mears also influenced the world through writing. In 1933 she founded Gospel Light Publications. Her book What the Bible is All About, published in 1953, became the world’s best-selling Bible handbook and is still in print today.

I can think of no one who better exemplifies the mission of Women World Leaders by “Globally investing in the lives of women [and in Mear’s case, men as well] discovering their lifework and purpose within God’s design.” When she heard God’s call as a teenager, Henrietta had no idea what God had in store for her. With all who have been influenced by her life, we can say:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV)

The greatest realization came to me when I saw there was nothing I had do to receive His power but to submit to Christ, to allow Him to control me.

1 Gospel Light. (n.d.). Woman of vision. https://www.gospellight.com/henrietta-mears/ para. 16.

2 Migliazzo, A. C. (2020). Mother of modern evangelicalism: The life and legacy of Henrietta Mears. William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, pp. 29-30.

3 Ibid., pp. 30-31.

4 Batura, P. (2022, August 19). Remembering the one woman whose ministry helped lead countless millions to Jesus Christ. Daily Citizen. https://dailycitizen.focusonthefamily.com/remembering-the-one-woman-whose-ministry-helped-lead-countless-millions-to-jesus-christ/