Dear Theophilus Archive: October 2002

It’s a Girl!

This is such an exciting time for the women at Emmanuel, in fact, for our entire Emmanuel English Congregation. We just launched our Women’s Ministry with our first Women’s Retreat in July, followed by a Women’s Brunch in September. Women are seeing and expressing the need for closer relationships with one another, discipleship, and training as women after God’s own heart. We’re seeing a glimpse of a familiar passage in Titus 2: 3-5 which says, “Teach older women to be reverent in the way they live…; to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands, and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” This is the essence of “mothering mentors” where women (married or single) who have gone through different stages in life can walk along side by side with the “younger” women to share their lives through encouragement, discipleship, support, etc. There is something magnificent and wholesome when sisters are united in heart and get blessed. That blessing is not just contained among the sisters, but it spreads to the church, families, and beyond. No, we do not have it all… wouldn’t it be great if we could meet the needs of all women of differing stages and ages? We will be a work-in-progress until we are fully in God’s glory. We need your support as we take baby steps to nurture this Women’s ministry. We need your prayers as we endeavor to trust in God (Proverbs 3: 5-6), keep our eyes on Christ (Hebrews 12:2), love God and his people (Matthews 22:37-39), live for God (Romans 12:1-2), and uphold God’s words (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). May we all learn “how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24).