"We have to start demonstrating"

Danielle Strickland is passionate about mobilising the church to be all it can be.

For the past year, that has meant tackling the gender divide and combatting human trafficking.

"We’re living in a time where we can show the world what hope, grace and hospitality look like. We have to get practical, stop just preaching and start demonstrating."

So says Danielle Strickland, the Canada-based author, speaker, advocate and leader who has spent the pandemic launching an energetic array of initiatives to help churches and individuals.

With a heart to mobilise the church, and finding time during lockdown to explore new ways to do this, one of her main focuses has been helping men and women understand how to heal the gender divide.

On the heels of the me-too era, she published her latest book, 'Better Together', advising how churches can work together to re-imagine what healthy leadership looks like.

"We need to imagine a different world – where men and women are healed and working together," she says.

Through her peace movement, Amplify Peace, she has seen this happening and says there are great examples for leaders to look at.

In Rwanda, for example, women have 60% representation in government. That percentage is high because of the country’s unique circumstances, she says, but it’s still a set-up churches can learn from.

"They actually aimed for 30% representation of women, and one of my takeaways in the book is that churches should aim for this too."

Get the balance wrong and you end up with 'only one' syndrome, she warns.

"Often we fix a problem by having one woman – a female speaker, a woman on the board – but when you’re the dissenting voice or the one with a different perspective you burn out or just keep quiet after a while. When you aim for 30% you have a group that can actually change culture."

She is keen that the church sets an example of an alternative way to work that can rebuild trust, encourage reconciliation and avoid segregation.

One of the ways to help achieve this, she says, is to establish strong leadership teams.

"We shouldn’t just replace lonely, isolated 'Herculean' leaders with lonely, isolated 'Wonder Woman' leaders. We need team-based models. I really feel for leaders who’ve been taught that leadership is lonely and that the higher you get the more isolated you are. God works in community in the Trinity, so why not lead more like God?"

Stopping the traffic

Danielle is also passionately invested in Brave Global, her campaign to mobilise communities to reach girls at risk of trafficking.

"It gets me excited every time I talk about this. We often look at these girls as if they’re the problem, but God doesn’t see them that way. He sees them as the solution."

In non-pandemic times, Brave Global coaches churches to create community partnerships to protect vulnerable girls. Energetic 'empowering' events are held to inspire them and teach practical skills like self-defence, while 'Brave circles' provide support.

The past year has necessitated change, with a podcast and online events launched instead. A partnership has been forged with the Salvation Army in Canada, working with 800 girls in small groups across the country. And a Brave Leadership Academy has been launched so girls can spend a year being mentored through a curriculum teaching resilience.

Looking ahead, Danielle is considering a hybrid model, but whatever format she chooses, the purpose will remain the same – empowering girls.

This needs to be done sensitively, she warns.

"Before we talk about their need for Jesus, we need to tell them they are valuable and were made for a purpose."

Her hope is that more churches – in Canada and beyond – will get involved, becoming a powerful part of communities fighting trafficking together.

"We’ve seen churches make really good relationships with social services. Foster group homes have contacted churches after a Brave event to ask if someone could visit every week and do a study with the girls."

"I would love the church to lead the way in mobilising their communities to identify girls who are vulnerable to trafficking.  

"It would be amazing if people looked at the church and saw a place that empowers these girls, and partners with them." 

Brave Global is seeking to achieve this. When churches are interested in getting involved, they are paired with a coach who walks them through creating community partnerships and finding out where vulnerable girls are living.

"That exercise is usually mind-blowing for churches. We’ve worked with some to do an assessment of where the vulnerable girls in their areas are. They found there were eight group homes in a short radius and they had no idea. The traffickers are lining up outside those homes, literally meeting these girls in the driveway saying, 'I know how you can make a lot of money and I’ll be your boyfriend.'"

Churches can help by becoming community partners, building connections with local services and hosting empowering events to fight trafficking.

 

Who is Danielle Strickland?

Danielle Strickland is a leader, speaker, author and advocate. Based in Canada and mum to three boys, she has established justice departments, planted churches and launched anti-trafficking initiatives and programmes to encourage transformational living.

Danielle is the proud mom of 3 boys, and wife to Stephen. She was a guest speaker at Elim’s Leaders Summit in June 2021.

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