Leadership Profile: Jane Crane, Writer, Advocate, United States

Q. Tell us about your family.
A.
I have been married to Chris for twenty-eight years, and we have one son, Andrew, age 25.

Q. Give us a brief overview of your work and ministry.
A.
I am writing a book about the plight of widows in Africa, many of them young, with young children. I’ve interviewed over fifty widows in six countries (Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and have the privilege of telling their stories. I was also delighted to interview several of the African men who are on The Lausanne Movement’s leadership team at the recent leadership team meetings in Boston.

 

I also chair a Lausanne Special Interest Committee focused on empowering men and women to work together for the gospel, a topic that came out of the 2004 Forum in Pattaya, Thailand. I also served as officer on the Billy Graham Crusade in San Diego in 2003. I hold a MA in peace and justice from the University of San Diego.

Q. What is your favorite quote?
A. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

Q. Who has been the most influential person in your life/ministry, and why?
A.
My father, who was a very fine man. Even though he died when I was just 15, what he sowed in to me in terms of values, integrity, and unconditional love was more than many people receive in a lifetime. And because I was his only child, he gave me both girls’ and boys’ toys (I had dolls and fun train sets). I never felt limited by him because I was a girl.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
A.
That spending extended time worshipping God brings wonderful direction from him. I have certainly experienced this to be true.

Evangelism. On Point.

Q. Describe a time in which you shared your
faith in Christ with someone who didn’t
know him, and then saw God clearly work in
that situation.

A. I was able to share Christ with a handyman
working at my house who was having marriage
troubles. He has since reunited with his wife.

Q. What one issue do you believe is the greatest barrier to evangelism, and why?
A.
Women are often treated as “second-class citizens” in Christianity. I know of many women and men who disdain Christianity for this reason.

Q. What book do you most often recommend to others, and why?
A. My book recommendations change with what I am currently reading. Right now, I recommend a couple of riveting books about the history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: King Leopold’s Ghost and In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz.

Q. What websites, bloggers, and Tweeters do you regularly follow?
A. I follow women’s issues internationally, especially as related to Africa. One terrific resource is the Rwanda Association of University Women, which sends out regular emails with information from around the world. There is a modest annual fee.

Q. What would you like to be doing in five years?
A.
Speaking to the United Nations and various governments to help change the plight of oppressed women internationally.

Q. How can people be praying for you?
A.
Please pray for the book I’m writing—that it would be what God wants and that many would be helped through it.