Completer to a Contender for the Faith Series Set (6 vols.)

Each of the books in this series focuses on a woman in history who has impacted the world for Christ, with a special emphasis on her role as a completer to a “contender for the faith.” This phrase comes from Jude 1:3, which says, “I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Throughout church history, God has raised up men to contend for the truth of the gospel. The faithfulness of their wives to encourage them to “fight the good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7) and “finish the course” (2 Timothy 4:7) is worth studying and imitating. In the “Completer to a Contender for the Faith” series, we seek to publish the original writings of such women or any other first-hand material concerning them. It is no exaggeration to say that many of the men God has used throughout church history have fulfilled their ministry, in large part, due to the prayers, encouragement, and sacrifice of their wives. Without this important but often unseen ministry, the church today might not be standing quite as high on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

There are several predominant themes that run parallel in the lives of these women:

1. They each had their own relationship with Christ, independent of their husbands, from which they drew their strength.
2. They were intellectually strong, theologically like-minded, and of a kindred spirit with their husbands.
3. They shared a sweet spiritual union with their husbands that fortified their men to face the meanest foe and graced them to enjoy God’s presence together before the throne in a way that they never could alone.
4. They believed that one of the best ways they could serve God was to allow Him to cut and fashion them into the “velvet steel” upon which their husbands could lean.
5. They embraced their husbands’ vision and ministry fully, giving of themselves not only to their husbands and children, but also to the church and the spread of the gospel.
6. There came a point in their husbands’ lives when they faced large-scale persecution due to contending for the faith. These women joined their husbands in “not [being] ashamed of the gospel” (Romans 1:16) by partaking in “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). As a result, the gospel advanced through their husbands’ ministries, across international borders, and down through the generations—even to this day.

These women were not perfect. They had struggles and weaknesses—but they each counted Christ and His gospel worthy of their lives. For this reason, they go down in history as women whom we want to emulate. Our prayer is that as we study the lives of these women, our daughters will embrace a vision for the ministry of being a “completer to a contender for the faith.” Furthermore, we pray that our daughters will be pointed to the fountainhead of love and strength from which these women drew—the Lord Jesus Christ.

Includes these 6 titles: 

Following Her Beloved: The Memoirs of Henrietta Shuck, Missionary Wife and Mother (ed. Jennifer Adams)
With Cords of Love: The Memoirs of Elizabeth Dwight, Missionary Wife and Mother (Elizabeth Dwight)
Ann Judson: Missionary Wife (Arabella Stuart)
In Love with Christ: The Narrative of Sarah Edwards (Sarah Edwards)
Delighting in Her Heavenly Bridegroom: The Memoirs of Harriet Newell, Teenage Missionary Wife (Harriet Newell)
A Basket of Summer Fruit: Susannah Spurgeon (Susannah Spurgeon)