The first week in October marked the end of many months of prayer and careful planning in preparation for what turned out to be a wonderful week  with some of the most amazing women I have ever met.   They came from Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia.  Ranging in age from 23 to approaching retirement, single and married, those without post secondary education and others who are highly educated, with many different languages, they all share a passion to meet the needs of the women of their country

The goal of our planning team was that this would be an opportunity for gaining new knowledge and skills, meeting new friends who share the same challenges in their ministry, sharing ideas for strategies and projects, finding opportunities to collaborate on future projects, praying and worshipping together and having some fun and relaxation.

There were some very practical sessions on Strategic Planning, Programming and Developing a Prayer Network and Wholistic Approach to Ministry.  The major focus for the conference was on Biblical Counselling, a need that had been identified by teams from all of the countries.  Several sessions focused on specific areas such as self esteem, marital issues, violence against women and the sex trade.

Our key speaker was Phil Prather, from “Hope for the Heart” an organization that has developed an excellent set of resources for use in peer to peer counselling to offer encouragement, advice and hope based on Biblical truth. Hearing impaired from childhood, Phil articulates his words carefully and speaks at a pace that made it much easier for all to understand. He was a tremendous encouragement to those who work on the frontlines of care, and need the resources he provided. I’ll continue these thoughts next post.