GC Women's Ministries Newsletter June 2000 EDITORIAL | NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF. . . | Archives | About WM Newsletter | Home |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TED/MEU WM Directors Travel to South Sudan In Spite of War Conditions WM Statistics On the Rise: 105,241 Baptisms in 1999 57th General Conference Session: Meetings Sponsored by WM
News from the World of Women's
Ministries is Director & Editor: Ardis
Stenbakken You may contact the editor by writing: Ph: 301-680-6672
|
TED/MEU
WM Directors Travel to South Sudan In Spite of War Conditions
It was a privilege for Valerie Fidelia, WM director of the Middle East Union, and myself to spend three weeks in March with the women in South Sudan. Because of the ongoing civil war, the headquarters for the South Sudan field is located in Arua, Uganda. This is where our twelve hours' drive to Bar Nam began. The roads are challenging, but the armed soldiers and the many check-points along the way are more disturbing and scary than the condition of the roads. We spent the first week in Bar Nam where 27 wives of pastors, lay evangelists, global mission workers, and church elders attended a Women's Ministries program at the Adventist Secondary and Vocational Centre. The educational need among the women is phenomenal. Little things we take for granted -- like opening our Bibles to read God's W ord for ourselves -- is perceived as an unobtainable dream for most women in South Sudan. This makes it difficult for them to apply God's Word to their situation and experience.
On Sabbath morning one of the women demonstrated, with great expertise, her new-found knowledge and teaching skills by conducting an excellent children's Sabbath School for 25 primary and junior age children. The women shared with us their dreams of beginning small cottage industries in their villages to improve their situation. Soap making, sewing classes, grinding mills, and gardening are all projects the women are able and ready to be responsible for if funds can be found. The field president Beart Odermatt also spent a couple of valuable hours with the women listening and discussing what best could be done to support them in the future, and affirmed them as women and wives of great importance to the ministry. A very moving and significant moment occurred on the Sabbath morning when the women asked if they could sing at the divine service. Before they sang, Rose, one of the pastors' wives, spoke on behalf of the group and said, "It is the first time we as women stand before a congregation without having to look down. Today we are able to look straight at you. We have learned a lot this week, and we want to praise God and thank Him for this week and for the knowledge that we are valuable." After this brief speech they sang so the roof almost lifted. Their joy and happiness was so evident and their enthusiasm so catching that a number of husbands left their chairs to stand with the women and join them in praising God.
With one women in each group able to read, the women "read" the Bible passage together and discussed its content and application. The women experienced another first when they were divided into prayer groups. The tears that were shed as the women shared prayer requests and prayed for one another told their own stories of hardship, sorrows, and joys. A week later when we arrived in Maridi, the North Sudan government had begun to increase their bombing of South Sudan and things became more difficult and tense. One morning we had to hide three times in a bomb shelter. The shelter was no more than a hole dug in the ground. Inhabited by spiders and bugs, it had some poles laid over the top and was covered with dirt. There was a small entrance, and no steps. That very morning we had felt the first drops of rain, and as the airplanes circled over Maridi with their deadly cargo, we thanked God for the rain clouds which hid us from their view. Later in the evening we learned that the North Sudan bombers had bombed the compound where we were to sleep the following day so we were advised to head for the border. South Sudan is without doubt the most challenging field in the Trans-European Division. Women's Ministries in the Middle East Union has already begun working on plans for establishing cottage industries in several villages in South Sudan as well as looking into the possibilities of beginning adult literacy classes in connection with our primary schools. Each project will make a vital contribution to the lives of many women in South Sudan. by Birthe Kendel, Trans-European Division Women's Ministries Director (back to headlines) WM Statistics On the Rise: 105,241 Baptisms in 1999 The 1999 statistics continue to bear witness that Women's Ministries and women throughout the world field make a difference in their homes, communities, and churches. Each of the 12 divisions (or union), unique in size, demographics, population, political and/or governmental issues, cultures, and even it's inception, has needs specific to their area. And the opportunities and resources available to meet these needs, are just as diverse. Therefore, one cannot compare divisions. It is evident that all are ministering effectively with what they have available to them and God is blessing. The reports, collected annually from union and conference WM leaders, were reviewed, compiled, and forwarded to Archives and Statistics Department here at the General Conference.
57th General Conference Session, Toronto, Canada: Meetings Sponsored by Women's Ministries
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
