44 Years of Woman Alive: The voices that have shaped us

Saying what no else dares to

1982. The phone rang (strictly landline in those days). “Hello, it’s Gail Lawther, I’m going to be editor of a new magazine, Christian Woman. Would you like to write a regular column?” Would I? It was a dream assignment. Eight hundred words a month to say whatever I liked (within reason) and get paid for it too! Thus it came about that I am, not necessarily the oldest, but certainly the longest-standing contributor to what is now Woman Alive. I have written for almost every issue since – under different column titles, but basically always in the spirit of the first incarnation, ‘Veronica Zundel looks askance’.

Woman Alive has for 44 years been my most public-facing and consistent writing assignment, and I have enjoyed every minute of it. It hasn’t always been easy to find new topics, but I have endeavoured to do what I aim to in all my writing: to take a fresh look at subjects, to say the things no one else is daring to say, and to evoke in the reader a response like “Oh, I am so glad someone else thinks this, I thought I was the only one”. At times, I have tested the boundaries; when the magazine was still owned by a teetotal organisation I mentioned indulging in a small sherry (emphasis on ‘small’) to see whether it would be edited out. It wasn’t.

Above all, I’ve wanted to tell the women readers that they are in every way equal to men in value, ability and calling and that this is a thoroughly biblical viewpoint. I have not been afraid of the word ‘feminist’, and am immensely grateful that the magazine allowed me to use it positively. Thank you, Woman Alive. 

Veronica Zundel, columnist for Woman Alive since 1982

Helping women enjoy the richness of the Bible

I got involved with Woman Alive through its first editor, Gail Lawther, and then contributor Veronica Zundel, because we were all part of a group called ‘Men, Women and God’, initiated by Rev Dr John Stott. I was the keynote speaker for this group’s first conference in 1985 and Woman Alive was involved. I wrote occasionally for the magazine over the next decade, and then became a regular contributor under editor Jackie Harris from 2002.

I have treasured my close association with Woman Alive and been so enriched by the teamwork of wonderful women. I deeply appreciate the valuable gifts they each bring to make it such a great magazine. My role has always been to focus on the Bible and help women enjoy the richness of the biblical narratives and teaching. It’s been a huge privilege to open the stories of so many women in God’s word, and abandon the old stereotype that the Bible is just about men. I expanded 25 of these articles into a book, Women in a Patriarchal World, which has travelled around the world!

Elaine Storkey, theologian

Going deeper

Spend ten minutes with me and you will find I am one of those Americans who adores all things British. I love your breakfast menus, Winston Churchill’s speeches, how you pronounce ‘schedule’, and the countless villages dotting hillsides in Dover, Wales and up to Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is why I have been delighted to write for Woman Alive since 2006 – every article I sent in felt like a letter to my British neighbours.

I recall the April 2024 interview with Jemimah Wright. She asked about the years I have struggled as a quadriplegic who lives with pain. We shared a lively time together and the published interview was titled, ‘Suffering has a purpose’. Yes, I believe God has a purpose for every trial, small or great, and I travelled extensively throughout the UK sharing that message and more.

I met thousands of women during my speaking engagements, and many were subscribers like you. Readers of Woman Alive have enjoyed the Bible-rich articles, the candid answers to practical questions and the sense of Christian community as they flip the pages. Yet, I am a little blue that the issue you hold in your hands will be the last for the archive cabinet. 

Although Woman Alive will no longer be on your kitchen table, make summertime a fresh restart. Dive deeper into the Bible. Get grounded in doctrine. Study your own Puritans, good ones like Jeremiah Burroughs and Charles H Spurgeon. Read great books by British authors, such as Rebecca McLaughlin or Natalie Brand. Keep being a woman who is alive in Christ.

Joni Eareckson-Tada, columnist for Woman Alive 2006-2021

Creating conversations

Books, books and more books! How I’ve loved the conversations about what we’re reading…In July 2006, then editor Jackie Harris and I launched the Woman Alive Book Club, and in 2009 I started up the Facebook group, which quickly became a meeting place for real-time interaction. With some sadness, in June 2022 I handed over this beloved ‘books baby’ to the wonderful care of Claire Musters, but I still enjoy interacting in the Facebook group.  

Over the years it was such a joy to hear from readers about their favourite books, or even when one said how she wanted to throw the book across the room, because she was so cross with the author! We had a flood of reviews on The Shack and The Prayer of Jabez (remember those?), and I’ll always love that our first book featured was Journey into God’s Heart by beloved author Jennifer Rees Larcombe. 

Connecting authors to readers was another joy,  including championing favourites such as Michele Guinness, Sharon Garlough Brown and Catherine Campbell. We hosted the Readers’ Choice award for a few years, which was great fun, and so many of us still look forward to the summertime Book Bingo challenge (see p41 for this year’s!).

I’ll always be grateful for the community of readers that developed over the years. The connection between people who love to read and discuss books, and especially books that strengthen our faith, has been a special gift I’ll always treasure.  

Amy Boucher Pye, writer, speaker, spiritual director 

Joy of hosting the Book Club

I started writing for Woman Alive many years before Premier bought it. I remember when the previous editor, Jackie, asked both myself and my late mum to write about the experience of mum’s multiple hospital stays and lengthy operations, and how it impacted us both differently. I was so grateful to her for giving us the space to be so honest. 

I was thrilled when Tola-Doll became editor and asked me to get more involved behind the scenes. Having worked with her before, I knew her level of creativity and professionalism – and she certainly brought all that to the magazine. I continued regularly producing articles but also started subbing each issue. 

In more recent years, I’ve had the added pleasure of being the Woman Alive Book Club host, interviewing authors and interacting with many of you in the vibrant Facebook group. You will be pleased to hear that that will all be continuing in print in Christianity magazine.

One of the topics I was so glad to be a part of bringing to the table was perimenopause/menopause. I remember commissioning a mini-series from one of the GPs we had doing our health column, and in October 2023, I wrote an article looking at the impact menopause can have on leadership and introducing the conversation the Kyria network had just begun on the subject. Now perimenopausal myself, I’m relieved it is a subject well covered byWoman Alive! 

Claire Musters, sub-editor and Woman Alive Book Club host

Given a voice

I started writing for Woman Alive around the time of the pandemic. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to meet and interview the most incredible women and write their stories! I also get to write opinion pieces on current affairs and culture. 

There have been so many amazing interviews I have had the privilege of being part of, but one that particularly impacted me was Hannah Overton’s interview in the November 2025 issue. This famous case in the USA was quite simply heartbreaking for Hannah, who was ripped away from her husband and four children and spent seven years in prison for the murder of her adopted son, which she didn’t commit. She suffered so much injustice and trauma, and yet turned her pain into purpose, reaching incarcerated women in Texas for Christ through prison service. 

Another personal piece I wrote was on Turkey’s 2023 earthquakes as I live in the country. This was incredibly meaningful to me as I processed what I’d seen, and could ask readers for prayer in a time of great need. Thank you, Woman Alive, for giving me, and so many other women in the Church, a voice!

Rebecca Hunter-Kelm, freelance writer for Woman Alive since 2021

Sharing a Christian perspective on popular culture

I’ve been writing for Woman Alive for nearly four years. For me, Woman Alive is proof good things do come from social media. I was offered the chance to write a piece based off one of my Instagram comments, and, after my first piece, gained the courage to make my first pitch. God used Woman Alive to reveal the writer I’ve always had inside. Nearly a year after my first blog, I was invited to write a monthly feature for the print magazine, and coming up with relevant commentary on a noteworthy element of pop culture every month has become more than a commission, it’s become a clarion call of my heart, by faith, to share a Christian perspective on the world’s stamp on popular culture. 

My favourite part of writing for Woman Alive has been seeing the hand of God move. Like when I had no idea what to write while working right up to a deadline. I prayed and almost as if from the heavens, my piece on Elon Musk’s statement that Christianity would cease to exist without bravery came to life on the page. I also really enjoyed writing my piece on believing God’s ability to change human beings in the present day, even when it comes to sexuality. Getting to highlight believers who have strengthened my own faith, like Becket Cook and Jackie Hill Perry. I’ll always be thankful for how God birthed this writer’s heart through the sisterhood, camaraderie and inspiration of Woman Alive. I’ll never forget it.

Hope Bonarcher

Revealing God’s presence in women’s stories

Three and a half years ago, I sat down to conduct my first interview for Woman Alive – the first of many conversations with ordinary women, whose lives reveal the reality of God with us in the midst of life’s joys and challenges. To sit with them (albeit virtually), to ask questions, to listen and gently probe deeper, drawing out stories of loss, discovery, resolution and perseverance across family life, business, activism, politics and more, has been such a privilege.

These women, through their honesty and often bravery in sharing, revealed to me something more of the mysteries of God, and of how we hold in tension all the complexities of our human existence. Voices like Dr Selina Stone and Wendy Grisham remind us that doubt and questioning are not failures of faith, but essential parts of the journey. Stories like Claire Wilson’s experience of miscarriage and adoption, and Sara-Louise Martin’s confrontation with forgiveness, show, through lived experience, that God’s presence is often found not in certainty or neat conclusions, but in unexpected places.

It has been an utter joy to listen to and capture the stories of such incredible women. Without question, writing for Woman Alive has been one of the most meaningful and enjoyable experiences of my writing journey. 

Jane Knoop, freelance writer

Investigating the big issues

I first started writing for Woman Alive in August 2022. At the time, I was exploring going freelance as a writer and had prospectively submitted a short piece I’d written about what changed for me when I read the Bible in a year. It was commissioned as a longer article and printed in the magazine. That decision set me on a course as freelance writer and as a regular contributor to Woman Alive. In the last four years, the magazine has meant the world to me. 

I’ve wanted to tell the women readers that they are in every way equal to men in value, ability and calling

There are two WA Plus articles I wrote that really stand out to me: ‘Are we ageist?’ (May 2024) and ‘Christ in strip clubs’ (June 2025). With the ageism article, I got to investigate one of the most pressing societal issues which is still under-acknowledged, despite the reality that almost all of us will encounter it at some point in our lives. And for the strip clubs article, I got to discover some of the extraordinary places where God is at work and the women who are helping to make that possible. Stories like these are particularly close to my heart, and it has been incredible to work on these pieces as well as numerous others, for a magazine that has been so committed to exploring and voicing the diversity of Christian women’s experience, while never shying away from the big topics. 

Alex Noel, freelance writer

Keeping the conversation on sexuality going

I started writing for Woman Alive four years ago. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to share many opinion pieces that I believe have been super important for the times we are living in. And I have valued the space Woman Alive has provided for different Christian female voices to share their knowledge, perspectives and journeys in Christ. I also love how Woman Alive platformed the oh so taboo topic of sexuality in 2023 and featured monthly excerpts from my book Sacred Sexuality, for the entire year! They have continued to keep this crucial conversation around sexuality going ever since! Go, Woman Alive!  My favourite issue was, of course, December 2022, because I had the honour of featuring on the cover. I still smile whenever I come across it. 

Bobbi Kumari

To read all the articles mentioned here, go to womanalive.co.uk