General Conference Women's Ministries Newsletter :  November 1999

Editorial. . .Noelle Vitry Director, Women's Ministries Euro-Africa Division
Spreading the Good News

Just a few days before 2000, the speculations are running wild. What predictions, each more pessimistic than the others, must we hear! Today's people seem to be projecting their fears
and anguish on this fateful date. "Surely, joy withers away among the people." (Joel 1:12, NRSV). Besides, the events of these last months earthquakes, natural catastrophes and horrors of all kinds seem to help us paint the picture in the blackest black.

It is very easy to extrapolate and affirm that in 2000 more than 4 million women will be abused only in the USA, that one child out of every two in France will be raised in a single-parent family, that more than one billion persons in the world will be illiterate, and that one billion persons will live (or try to survive) on the equivalent of $1 a day.

But our message is to announce Jesus Christ, who alone is able to respond to the women's needs in their deepest intimacy. He does not address people in the midst of a general turmoil, but each woman, each man, each child in the midst of his/her personal turmoil. He alone can respond to each individual's real needs and speak to his/her heart.

The crop is ripening. As Christian women who strive to follow Christ's example, we need to be aware of and know well the particular needs of each woman we meet, so as to respond to these needs. Each flood begins with a single drop of water. Each of us is responsible, wherever she may be, to pour out love, availability, service for one's neighbor, and understanding. Let us sow the seeds of hope for a better day. Life brings its share of challenges. So as to make the everlasting kingdom we are waiting for a soon reality, may our Women's Ministries contribute to help all the women to unite and spread the good news of salvation and Jesus Christ's soon return.

The Women's Ministries Web Page. . .
10 reasons why YOU should log on to http://www.adventist.org/gcwm

1. To know what the Women's Ministries mission statement says.
2. To see who's working in Women's Ministries.
3. To read our monthly WM newsletter.
4. To get information about our special days (International Women's Day of prayer and Women's Emphasis Day).
5. To find out more about our devotional books.
6. To learn how the WM Scholarship program has been helping young women.
7. To know what the WM Stamp poster is and how you can obtain one.
8. To read statements regarding issues on abuse and family violence, human rights, women's issues, etc.,
9. To review the 1998 statistics on how women and WM are making an impact.
10. To learn the history behind the WM logo.

General Conference: Carole Ferch-Johnson, South Pacific Division WM Director, was chosen to speak at two morning worships to all the delegates at the Annual Council held at the General Conference World Headquarters the first of October. The worships centered on the theme of "Experiencing the Certainty of His Coming;" There were five speakers for the eight sessions.

Women's Ministries hosted a luncheon for all the women delegates to the Council. Women make up about one tenth of the delegates.

During the Council several items of interest to women were voted: a statement on birth control, inclusion of Women's Ministries in the Church Manual, and the inclusion of violence as a reason for removing a person from church membership and as a reason for divorce. All Church Manual items will have to receive final approval at the General Conference Session in Toronto.

Inter-American Division: Charlotte Thoms, WM director of the Atlantic Union, NAD, went to the Virgin Islands as a presenter at their "Women Reaching Beyond the Millennium" retreat. Unfortunately, Hurricane Floyd visited at the same time and it took Thoms 16 hours to get there instead of 4-6. Because of the rain, she used the ARK experience: A for A Woman God Can Use; R for Reaching Beyond the Millennium; K for Keeping the Rainbow Covenant. Thoms reports
that the workshops were exceptional. She tells of a Sister Andrews who has conducted a major evangelistic series while holding down a full time job!

South Pacific Division: Joy Butler, WM director for the Greater Sydney Conference reports on a Women's and Family Ministries Congress in the highlands of New Guinea; over 5000 attended. It rained the whole week and the people camped under canvasses, in long grass houses and tents. "They stood and sat on banana tree trunks in the mud for hours and hours. It did not rain during any meetings which was God's gift to us. I spoke twice a day for five days an hour and half each
time," Butler reports.

Trans-European Division: The TED's Adventist News Review reports that Birthe Kendel, TED
WM director, is now seeing the fruit of her years of labor in the growth of Women's Ministries in that division. At a weekend retreat in September over 200 ladies met at Newbold College where Kendel showed slides depicting the growth of WM in TED. The women were addressed by the
Union President, Cecil Perry, who paid tribute to his wife for her contribution to his ministry. A
Saturday night social, "Challenge Serepta" (Serepta Henry began Women's Ministries in 1898)
was organized by Julia Smith and Norma Dias. The program was intended to help the women get
to know each other and had a mix of "hilarious skits, poems, new millennium dress parade and
songs, all based on the theme of Women's Ministries Forward 2000."