“There are always more than two sides to every story,” writes Linda M. Ambrose, and “a life is never quite as simple or easily categorize as it might first appear to those looking on” (241). This is certainly true with the life of Bernice Gerard (1923–2008), an itinerant evangelist, musician, pastor, campus worker, radio host, feminist, politician, and activist. In Pentecostal Preacher Woman, Linda M. Ambrose tells Gerard’s story with generosity and nuance.

Bernice Gerard’s life is remarkable. She spent much of her early life in the care of British Columbia’s child protection system, in the care of adoptive families. Her faith, first sparked by itinerant evangelists, was shaped as she lived with families that supported her religious inclination—if not always its pentecostal flavour!

Her life choices were not typical. Despite an early interest in men, she decided not to marry. Her closest friend was co-evangelist Velma Chapman. When Velma married Dick, the newlyweds invited Bernice to live with them.

The subtitle of the book, Faith and Feminism, again shows the care with which Ambrose handles Gerard’s story. By conventional perspectives, Gerard’s stance against abortion would disqualify her as a feminist. Yet, she earned credentials in the United States as a minister of the gospel and functioned as one even as her home fellowship, the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, was debating whether or not to allow women to be ordained.

Nothing about Bernice Gerard’s story is simply or one-sided, despite how the media portrayed her. Thankfully, Ambrose tells her story faithfully, with all the care and dignity a human life demands.

Ambrose, Linda M. Pentecostal Preacher Woman: The Faith and Feminism of Bernice Gerard. UBC Press, 2024