About TBKB

Hello! My name is Ruth Perry. I started this blog in 2014 with my friend Becky Buck as a place to share what we were learning as we deconstructed our patriarchal Baptist backgrounds. Over the years, TBKB (formerly The Beautiful Kingdom Warriors) content has expanded to include broader issues of injustice, inequality, abuse and emotional healing, with the desire to host “redemptive dialogue” in our comment threads. Ultimately, I believe that God’s kingdom is beautiful, and as God’s ambassadors, it is our calling to join in the healing work of redeeming all that is broken so that God’s will is done “on earth as it is in heaven”. Thank you for following along and joining in as we learn and grow together! 

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Ruth Perry has a B.A. in Music from Gordon College and a M.A. in Educational Ministries from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and is a pastor in the UMC in Virginia. She is married to Logan and has three growing teens and young adults. She is passionate about discipleship, writing, and empowering women and girls to find their callings in God’s kingdom.

Contact Ruth via ruthperry@thebeautifulkingdombuilders.com

Listen in to Ruth’s conversations on The Beautiful Kingdom Builders Podcast! And follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Twitter, and YouTube

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Years ago, this is how I introduced myself on this blog: I am a passionate Jesus follower, lover of The Book, and devoted to God’s redemptive work of restoring His Kingdom.  As a beautiful daughter of the King, I believe that God’s creation is good and His design for the world was perfect before the Father of Lies infected it with sin.  Before the Fall, God presented Eve to her groom as his ezer,

“a powerful Hebrew military word whose significance we have barely begun to unpack.  The ezer is a warrior, and this has far-reaching implications for women, not only in marriage, but in every relationship, season, and walk of life.  Eve and all her daughters are ezers–strong warriors who stand alongside their brothers in the battle for God’s kingdom”

(Carolyn Custis James, in Lost Women of the Bible).

Joining with Jesus in redeeming Biblical Womanhood from the muck and mire of a sinful world, I am eager to do so with grace, humility, and kindness.  I do not want to polarize people of differing views, but engage them in beneficial dialogue.  I try to carefully guard the comments section, deleting comments that are not loving, peaceful, forbearing, kind, gentle, and self-controlled.  Fight the good fight with me, bearing in mind that we are all on a journey of understanding and if we do not contribute in love, we are only doing harm.

The Christian Warrior. a hymn by L.M. Montgomery (pronouns edited by Ruth)

1. The Christian warrior, see her stand In the whole armor of her God; The spirit’s sword is in her hand; Her feet are with the gospel shod.
2. In panoply of truth complete, Salvation’s helmet on her head, With righteousness, a breastplate meet, And faith’s broad shield before her spread.
3. With this omnipotence she moves; From this the alien armies flee; Till more than conqueror she proves, Through Christ, who gives her victory.
4. Thus strong in her Redeemer’s strength, Sin, death and hell she tramples down,— Fights the good fight; and takes at length, Through mercy, an immortal crown.

Today, we have exchanged the word Builders for Warriors, because we hope to participate in the redeeming work of the faithful remnant who follow the third, more excellent way, joining in the creation of God’s beautiful kingdom.