A Place for You - by Kendra Dahl (Paperback)

About the Book

The feminine life is beautiful, yet navigating womanhood isn't easy. This book shares a biblical framework for women's value, purpose, and belonging.

With empathy and compassion, Kendra:

• invites women to embrace their dignity and delight that God made them female.
• tells the truth about the plight of women throughout history and in lived experience today.
• addresses the longing for purpose, the impact of the Fall on our vocations, and the unique ways women contribute to the church, home, and society.
• writes about our need for one another, the difficulties of female friendships, and the challenge of being a single woman.
• casts a vision for community where vulnerability and weakness are welcomed, and the gospel is proclaimed.

We have human longings--to be valued and understood, and to contribute in meaningful ways. This book showcases God's noble design, gives voice to women's desires, and encourages us to hold fast to truth.

Book Synopsis

The feminine life is beautiful, yet navigating womanhood isn't easy. Women are bombarded with competing voices and messages from both outside the church and within it. Is there a compelling alternative to the narratives clamoring for women's allegiance?

A Place for You shares a biblical framework for women's value, purpose, and belonging. Kendra Dahl invites women to embrace their dignity and delight that God made them female, persevering in the way of Christ with courage and conviction.

With empathy and compassion, she:

• tells the truth about the plight of women throughout history and in lived experience today.
• addresses the human longing for purpose, the impact of the Fall on our vocations, and the unique ways women contribute to the church, home, and society.
• writes about our need for one another, the difficulties of female friendships, and the challenge of being a single woman in the church.
• casts a vision for community where vulnerability and weakness are welcomed, the gospel is proclaimed, and people learn to help each other in tangible ways.

We have human longings--to be valued and understood, and to contribute in meaningful ways. A Place for You showcases God's noble design, gives voice to women's desires, and encourages us to hold fast to truth.

Review Quotes

"Finally. I've been waiting for a book about what it means to be a woman in Christ that adeptly works through the pertinent texts with sound scholarship, simplicity, a lack of agenda, and a love for the gospel, and finally, here it is. Not only do I love how Kendra adeptly explains and applies the Scriptures, I love the vision she presents for what it looks like for men and women to live out all that it means to be an integral part of His kingdom work in the world."
--Nancy Guthrie, author and Bible teacher

"This is the book I have been waiting for--for myself, for my daughters, for my friends. Reading it was like sitting down with a wise sister in the faith and diving deeply into what the Bible says about us as women. It turns out, contrary to many narratives in our world (and sometimes in the church), women are created with dignity, value, and essential purposes in the spheres where God has placed us. There is a place for you--a necessary role for every one of us--in our homes, in our churches, in our culture. Kendra Dahl writes with clarity, conviction, and compassion and I genuinely want every woman and teen girl I know to read this book."
--Jen Oshman, author, speaker, women's ministry leader

"Kendra has written a deeply thoughtful and gospel-rich book that invites women to engage Scripture with both conviction and courage. With clarity, warmth, and theological depth, A Place for You shows how God's grace speaks directly into the questions many women carry about value, vocation, and belonging in the church. This is a wise and faithful resource for women seeking to live before God with integrity--and for pastors who want to care well for the women in their congregations."
--Justin S. Holcomb, bishop, author, and seminary professor

"Womanhood is frequently defined by culture, experience, or tradition, but Kendra challenges the reader to define it biblically. Her warm and honest style set a gracious tone to wrestle through rich passages on womanhood that have often been maligned or misapplied. A Place for You is a gift to the church."
--Karen Hodge, Coordinator of Women's Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and the author of Transformed: Life-taker to Life-giver and Life-giving Leadership

"Few issues in contemporary Christianity are as controversial and emotionally charged as those concerning the personal significance, role, and 'place' of women, the daughters of the King. In A Place for You, Kendra Dahl has given God's family (Jesus' sisters and brothers) a 'reframing' of the conversation that flows from reverence for and careful interpretation of God's Word; is discerningly conversant with cultural pressures; celebrates God's grace in Christ; and brims with transparency, realism, humor, and wisdom--all drawn from the joys and struggles of everyday life in home and church. You will come away from this book thinking, Kendra is a sister who understands, whom I can trust, who loves Jesus, and who has helped me discover the "place" He has given me, where I can flourish for His glory. You will be right."
--Dennis E. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Westminster Seminary California; Assistant Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Dayton, TN

"This book reflects the wisdom and insight I've seen firsthand from Kendra. I'm praying it will help more women find their place, and their voice, for the sake of flourishing, faithful churches."
--Collin Hansen, vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition; host of the Gospelbound podcast

"It's not just Adam, but the male-female relationship that is nuclear to human identity in Genesis 2-3. Kendra Dahl explores the deep structures of this biblical worldview in ways that challenge as well as support classic exegesis. This is precisely the kind of work that we need today for a richer and more biblical understanding of 'womanhood.'"
--Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology, Westminster Seminary California

"With a combination of careful biblical interpretation and insight from the reservoirs of experience, Kendra Dahl offers a compelling vision for God's plan and purpose for women. Anyone who doubts that traditional Christianity can and should honor women's vocations to serve Christ and His church will find this work consistently refreshing. Although Dahl addresses a female audience specifically, this book is filled with a Christian wisdom that is edifying for the rest of us as well."
--David VanDrunen, Robert B. Strimple Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics, Westminster Seminary California

"The competing demands of cultural pressure, personal ambition, and biblical expectation can leave many Christian women confused about their purpose in the world. In this book, Kendra Dahl addresses all three with compassionate clarity, providing us with a rich biblical theology not only of womanhood, but of Christian identity and community. I would be pleased if every woman in my congregation read this fine contribution to an important discussion."
--Jonathan Landry Cruse, husband, father, pastor, author

"Thoroughly biblical, refreshingly reasonable, and deeply encouraging. I finished this book feeling so grateful for where God has placed me."
--Glenna Marshall, author of Everyday Faithfulness, Memorizing Scripture, and Known and Loved

"Read this book and share it! While Kendra Dahl's A Place for You may focus on women, it will benefit anyone who wants to know the whole body of Christ better. It is a great combination of solid biblical teaching and godly wisdom delivered with wit and humor (and even tears). During her time at seminary, I had the pleasure of getting to know Kendra and her passion for the care and role of women in the church. There are students who are not only a joy to have in the classroom but also help you grow in your own understanding. Kendra is one of them. This book is the culmination of years of study and reflection and worthy of your time. Kendra is not afraid to raise difficult questions, and even if you do not agree with everything, the serious engagement will deepen your own understanding."
--Joshua J. Van Ee, Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament, Westminster Seminary California

"Given the cultural landscape where words like complementarianism and egalitarianism are used to sort Christians into warring tribes, Kendra Dahl has written a warm, winsome, and theologically astute book on women's worth and roles. Always placing Christ and His kingdom at the center, Dahl reminds women that they have a valued place in the household of God. In doing so, Dahl reminds us that the bigger story--the redemptive arc of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension--is our defining story. Several parts made me teary as I was reminded about the goodness of God for women. This will be a book I share with my congregation and my daughter."
--Ashley Hales, Editorial Director for Print at Christianity Today; coauthor of A Fruitful Life (a Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount), A Spacious Life, and Finding Holy in the Suburbs

"A Place for You weaves together biblical and covenant theology with great writing. Kendra has a heart to serve the church, and I was blessed to labor alongside her during the time she served as our church's Women's Ministry Coordinator. She's written something that thoughtfully engages with the text of Scripture while asking relevant questions pertaining to the image of God, gender, callings, and church ministry. Kendra's gracious and doctrinally sound approach is needed at a time when conversations about women's roles can generate more heat than light, or be avoided altogether."
--Adriel Sanchez, pastor, North Park Presbyterian Church

About the Author

KENDRA DAHL is a Christ-follower and writer, wife to Jordan, and mom to Hadley, Adrienne, and Maximus. She holds an MA in biblical studies from Westminster Seminary California and is the author of How to Keep Your Faith After High School (Core Christianity, 2023). Kendra is passionate about helping people live in view of God's mercies: united to Christ and anchored in the Scriptures. You can find her at kendradahl.com and on Instagram (@kendra_dahl_).