Trans-European Division

Card Making: A Ministry Project

Jerusalem, Israel - The Women's Ministries Department of the Adventist Church in Israel has launched a new project called "Bring Joy," a card making ministry.

This is an initiative with dual effects: benefiting the participants as well as the recipients. It is a labor of love, dedication, and fellowship as women grow and learn together. The project has several steps, each step having its own ministry.

First, groups of Adventist women meet twice a month as a small group. The purpose of the meeting is to grow spiritually, to enhance social relationships, and to make greeting cards. Invitations to join this gathering are extended to family members, friends, and non-Adventists. Second, church members and friends are encouraged to buy these cards and share them to demonstrate thoughtfulness, care, and love. Finally, the proceeds of this project are used to buy food, clothes, and presents for children in the hospital, abused women and children, and the elderly and needy.

The "Bring Joy" ministry hopes to do exactly that, to bring joy to the lives of people, and at the same time fulfill the worldwide Women's Ministries theme; "Touch a Heart, Tell the World."

Source: Nina Usacheva/TED News

"Don't wait for joy to come your way; go and seek God, seek
His joy, seek His presence and be strong in Him as you praise."

~Heather-Dawn Small, GC WM Director

 

FOCUS ON THE NEWS

South Caribbean Conference Reports "WOMEN MUST RUN" WM 5k

 

On Sunday, September 6, over 100 persons participated in the ‘Women Must Run' 5K race sponsored by the Women's and Youth Ministries departments of the South Caribbean Conference.

This event had a two-fold purpose. First, women and men were highlighting the positive reasons why Women Must Run: Women must run to Jesus, fitness, health, positive social values, etc; and the negative things from which Women Must Run: abuse, low self esteem, domestic violence, and poverty.

The Youth Ministries HIV AIDS Awareness group featured a team of uniformed motor cyclists and cyclists. Their focus was "Ride out discrimination against AIDS victims." Presentations on this issue were given.

Source:  Judy Haynes

 

 

 

Training in Myanmar

Southern Asia-Pacific Division

Seventy-one Women's Ministries leaders from various missions attended the Myanmar Union Mission Union-wide Women's Ministries Leadership Level 3 Certification training held in October at the Myanmar Union Mission headquarters.

Module presentations were largely taken from the GC WM theme "Touch a Heart, Tell the World." Leadership Certification seminars such as "Outreach Programs" and "Women's Role in Ellen White" were presented.

On the last day, before the commitment service, the B=B (Bible = Baptism) program was introduced to the WM leaders and 27 women leaders committed themselves to participate in this program and win souls for the Lord.

-Source: Sohila Shine, MYUM

 

enditnow in Malawi

Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division

Malawian national and regional leaders and thousands of community members participated in a 15-day campaign to end gender-based violence this month. The campaign is part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's global anti-violence campaign, enditnow, coordinated by the Women's Ministries Department and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA). The campaign's closing ceremony reached 20-plus villages in the Mulanje District of Southern Malawi and included awareness-raising poems, songs, dances and dramatic presentations. Community members participated in a one-mile march, promoting an end to violence against women and girls. Participants also took part in a mile-long march, carrying banners and signs promoting human rights and the elimination of violence against women.

The campaign was launched in October 2009 and is currently collecting one million signatures from supporters in 200 countries and territories; these names will be presented to the United Nations. 

Become a supporter of the enditnow cause by going to http://www.enditnow.org.

-Source: ANN/Nadia McGill
Photo: ADRA Malawi

 

INSPIRATION FOR YOU

Meetings for Adventist Women

A series of special meetings for women who are not delegates to the Session will be presented by Women's Ministries and Shepherdess International. The morning meetings will be held Monday through Thursday, June 28-July 1, from 9:30-10:45 a.m. Two afternoon seminars will be held Tuesday and Thursday, June 29 and July 1, from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

All meetings will feature dedicated presenters who will explore topics of spiritual and personal growth, service, and daily living. Features include inspiring and interesting reports from around the world.  No registration is required.

These events take place in the Georgia Ballroom in Building C, Level 3, Sections 1-3.

GC SESSION 101: How to be Involved

By Ardis Stenbakken

• Look around and learn as much as you can while at the GC Session.

• Attend the business meetings. If you don't understand what is happening, ask someone.

• Learn Parliamentary Procedure so you can better understand how the business works. Get a copy of the General Conference Rules of Order from Secretariat in your Conference, Union, or Division.

• Visit the booths to find out where you would like to develop a ministry if you don't have one already. Most have booklets and information.

• When you get home, get involved. If you can, serve on the church board or the Women's Ministries committee.

• Take the Women's Ministries Leadership Certification courses and become certified.

• When your church chooses officers, be sure that women are involved.

• When your church chooses delegates to a constituency meeting, serve if you can. Be sure that qualified women are chosen and put on committees and boards and are delegates. Help get qualified women elected/appointed.

• Talk to your pastor, your Conference officials, and others, about getting women included on committees and boards.

• Pray for and support women who are already in leadership.

 

Women's Workload, Global FACTS

• Female-headed households (FHHs) constitute a significant proportion of households in some countries, such as Cambodia (35%) and in parts of Nepal. The out-migration of men is one major cause. Women remain as household heads and the main farmers.

• In all, 96% of FHHs are poor, and 33% are hard-core poor.

• In Burkina Faso, the average working day for men is 8.5 hours, but for women it is 14 hours.

• In Asia, female poverty and workload is a factor in the transmission of poverty to the next generation.

• Poverty is more severe and binding for women in that it is harder for them and their children to escape it.

• In Gabon, women perform 95% of farm work, usually working around 15 hours of day. Even during peak agricultural periods, males spend only about 2 to 3 hours a day on agriculture.

• In the Central Province of Cameroon, women's working week is longer than 64 hours, whereas for men it is only about 32 hours. About half of women's time is spent on domestic tasks, but even then women spend more time on agriculture than men do (26 hours/week compared with only 12 hours/week for men).

• In many countries, FHHs are poorer than households with male heads. In Bangladesh, for example, FHHs constitute 16% of the landless and marginal households.

• Poorer rural women in West Africa usually work longer hours a day than males in similar circumstances.

• It is now commonly recognized that in poorer households, women farmers usually work longer and harder than men.

• Poor farm women not only work longer hours than men but often perform physically demanding work.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations
http://www.ifad.org/governance/index.htm

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Prayer Corner

• Heather-Dawn Small and Raquel Arrais travel to Inter-American Division
• Planning for GC Session Women's Meetings
• Women's Workload

Calendar

• March 6: Women's Ministries International Day of Prayer. To download free packet, click HERE
• February 1: Statistical Reports Due 
• March 6: Human Rights Day