Charlotte Gambill had only recently met Natalie Grant, but an experience in a women’s dressing room while shopping bonded them forever.
“I’d taken Natalie out shopping …and Natalie went into the dressing room, and she was in the changing room for such a long time that I felt the Spirit prompt me that something’s not right, So I knocked and I was like, ‘You OK? And she’s like, ‘Yeah I’m fine.’
“Bearing in mind, we barely know each other, I just couldn’t walk away,” Charlotte explained. “And so I’m like, ‘Hey, are you OK? ’Cause I’m coming in.’ Who doesn’t walk into a changing room with this person they’ve just met?”
“When I went in, she was sitting on the floor and she was shaking, with her infertility medication … which was overwhelming to Natalie at the time.”
Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant
That moment of vulnerability is recounted in the new book the women have written together, Dare to Be. And it illustrates the type of vulnerability the two enjoy and hope others might also come to know.
Through the book and upcoming book tour, as well as their ministry that bears the same name, they want to help women understand that they don’t have to go it alone.
Natalie is a Dove Award-winning and Grammy-nominated artist. Charlotte is a speaker, author and lead pastor of Life Church in the United Kingdom. The women have a genuine friendship and a deep desire to challenge girls, especially, with the contemporary message of Christ.
Their own friendship began unexpectedly 17 years ago. “I guess we weren’t looking for each other, but God knew we needed each other and it’s a really kind of unique story,” Charlotte said. “I was in California speaking at a conference, I got in that night, but I wasn’t speaking that night. I just was going to stay in because I was kind of tired, but I decided to go to the service. … And it was in the worship service that I felt moved by the Spirit to reach out to Natalie.”
That gentle nudge of the Spirit sparked a longstanding friendship that has included the women taking family trips together and eventually writing together.
Although the book includes a combination of both women’s experiences, Natalie is clear that Charlotte wrote the bulk of the story. But it’s a story about the journey they have shared. Even the most intimate details of their lives, like the dressing room story.
Natalie has been open with her fans about her struggles with infertility. But before the world knew about those struggles, Charlotte discovered through the dressing room experience. That vulnerable moment forever shaped their friendship.
That gentle nudge of the Spirit sparked a longstanding friendship that has included the women taking family trips together and eventually writing together.
“We’ve never lost that moment in our friendship of just saying, ‘You know what, I’m having a really rough day. You know, I don’t feel like doing this,’” Charlotte explained. “When I think back, that chapter in the book is special for me because I actually think it’s the essence of your relationship with God, is the essence of your relationship in your marriage, is the essence of your relationship with your children. It’s the willingness in those moments not to pretend that everything is fine, but to say, ‘I trust God.’”
Another thing the two share is the experience of being women in ministry in a male-dominated culture. They are not immune to knowing that some in church life may not value women like them in ministry.
“Let’s be honest, there are not many female preachers that are put on the platform, you know, as much as the males are. You’re kind of relegated to the women’s conference,” Charlotte said. “But I knew I was a builder of people, not just females. And actually, I just have finished a conference where I think I was the first female speaker they’ve ever had. And I was on a panel with six very well-known male speakers. I was like, ‘Yeah, I think things are changing.’
“It’s crazy that we are at the stage that we’re at and that’s still something that needs to be addressed,” she added. “The best way to address it is to be who God made you to be and not try and wave a flag for women or make it about, you know, storming the platform to have your say. I think anointing makes a way for you. I think your authenticity is your authority.
“I’ve been preaching since I was 21, and I’m 48 now, so a long time. And to think that only now you’re getting into certain platforms and that some people don’t have the patience for that, but if you do it your way, then you usually violate God’s way.”
For both women, the message is not just about being leaders who are women but leading all people to a deeper faith commitment. They want to teach women to trust God and dare to do what God calls them to do, whether that’s to address human trafficking — something they are addressing head on — or to do something else. The two know the task is heavy, but they are daring to do it anyway.
“Thank you, Jesus, that he’s been waking up his church to the fact that we’re supposed to be a hospital where hurting people get well, not museums where people just come and look at all the shiny things that we can do,” Charlotte said.
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