Empower.

The local pastor and other "we-men" attend Women's Ministries conference in Qatar

Seventh-day Adventist Church members in Doha are spiritually vibrant and active in fellowship.

Middle East and Northern Africa Union (MENA)

[Qatar] Doha is busy everywhere preparing for the 2022 FIFA World Cup of soccer game with new construction of stadiums, hotels, and metro stations. In this sprawling capital city of Qatar with about 1.8 million population, there is one active Seventh-day Adventist Church with more than 300 expatriate members from the Philippines, India, Nigeria, Ghana, Europe, and other places of the world. These church members are spiritually vibrant and active in fellowship and outreach.

The Doha Seventh-day Adventist Church held a Women’s Ministries seminar, August 23 and 24, 2019, with the theme, “Nurturing Each Other, Winning Another.” Friday sessions were held in a hotel as the church does not have its own building. For Sabbath, the sessions were moved to the rented Anglican worship center where the Doha Adventist congregation normally meets.

Of the eighty participants registered for the weekend seminar series, a considerable number were men. Pastor Noel Nadado of the Doha Adventist church explained, “We-men” wanted to join and learn.

Raquel Arrais, associate director of Women’s Ministries of the worldwide Adventist Church, was the main speaker and conducted seven sessions during the two-day event. Her seminar sessions focused on the three pillars of Women’s Ministries—Nurture, Empower, and Outreach—with these titles: The Three Factors on Winning Another, The Nurturing Pattern, The Do’s & Don’ts as We Cross Over, The Secret, The Calling, The Go, and Women Can.

Between sessions of the seminar, Hannah Yi, Gulf Field Women’s Ministries coordinator, taught massage skills for hands, shoulders, and ears. Even these microphysical movements of exercise helped the audience focus better on lectures and activities of each session. She also shared how she can become a friend to local Emirati ladies using her massage skills.

The entire church congregation was blessed by the meetings on Sabbath. Arrais passionately delivered the message of assurance of our salvation based on the book of Ephesians and touched the entire congregation. She used the metaphor of two dresses, one rugged and one new, appealing the congregation to come to Jesus during any time of need.

The last session Sabbath afternoon enriched and encouraged the attendees even more. Arrais articulately presented the message that regardless of their economic situation or position in society, all women are called by the Lord to be His daughters and to proclaim His gospel to the world. She reminded the audience that with love and sympathy, all women can still share Jesus and His words effectively, even when verbal language communication is limited. The heartfelt meeting was concluded with all participants shouting in one voice, “We Can, We Grow, We Can in Christ!”

Contributed by Hannah Yi, coordinator for Women's Ministries in the Gulf Field

Published in Mosaic newsletter, 2019 Q3, summer issue

Photos by Raquel Arrais