Empower.

WM congress encourages church members to bring guests

Attracting a large group of women for a congress in Thailand is usually difficult, but not this time.

Southern-Asia Pacific Division (SSD)

[Thailand] Usually it is difficult to bring together a large group of women to attend a country-wide Women’s Ministries (WM) congress, but 575 women heeded the call of the Holy Spirit and streamed across Thailand and trickled in from Laos, October 21-23, 2016. They even brought 30 friends with them for the weekend; friends who are not yet members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Using the congress theme, “Buildup, Encourage, and Serve,” the main guest speaker Debbie Chan, Southeast Asia Union Mission WM director, addressed four main topics: “Beautiful Woman of God”; “Encourage One Another”; “Cyber Smart”; “Cyber Safe.” Other seminar topics teaching specific skills were presented on Sunday by other guest speakers.

A cultural program Saturday night commemorated King Rama IX of Thailand who died a few days earlier on October 13. The king had reigned for 70 years and the country was in mourning. Attendees sang one of the patriotic songs the king composed. (A gifted musician, particularly, a jazz saxophonist, he wrote 49 compositions in his lifetime). The women watched a video about his work, participated in a skit, and wrote commitments for doing good things, which will also bring glory to Jesus.

Participants enjoyed bringing goods to sell in a Saturday night market set up for themselves.

The congress concluded with a charge for commitment to sing the light of Jesus with others in this mainly Buddhist country. A candle was lit and passed among the WM leaders of the nine zones of Thailand, and finally to all the women in the congress hall demonstrating their commitment that others would see the love of God through themselves. The women were challenged by Debbie to win souls and bring 1,000 new attendees to next year’s congress. Hanna Detwinya, Thailand Mission WM director and host of the event, closed out the weekend.

Contributed by Hanna Detwinya, Thailand Mission WM director

Published in Mosaic, 2017 Q2