VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 8/24/16)—American Baptist Women’s Ministries national event for women and girls, “3D: Dwelling, Discovering, Discipling/Dedicando, Descubriendo, Discipulando,” in Washington, D.C., July 21-24, 2016, reflected AB Women’s Ministries initiative of living out God’s beloved community.
Planned by a volunteer team that included women aged 18 to 70+, and including a multitude of racial/ethnic and language backgrounds, 3D went beyond celebrating diversity by encouraging the strengthening of relationships among conferees with each component of the event. Rev. Dr. Trinette McCray, who has been consulting with AB Women’s Ministries in the three-year “Beloved Community” initiative, led interactive Bible studies on Friday and Saturday morning that reflected God’s intentional desire for diversity in our world. The conference featured “table conversations” in which participants chose from a dozen topics each day to discuss together, sharing knowledge, questions, and information. Every worship experience included interactive elements such as small group conversation, prayer groups, and the creation of a prayer chain from construction paper that was broken apart and sent home with participants for their continued prayer after the event concluded.
“Praise, worship, and Bible study with [Baptist] women from Myanmar, Puerto Rico, and from all over the USA was awesome,” said Gail, a conference participant. “It was a time of becoming closer to our God through each other and the Holy Spirit was present in so much of our time together.”
Executive Director Virginia Holmstrom spoke of the risks taken by the planning group for this 2017 event. “I am grateful for the planning team’s commitment to design a multigenerational and multicultural event that experientially illustrated what Beloved Community is all about. It was a giant step forward for American Baptist Women’s Ministries.”
The event also highlighted on Friday a service of Biblical Lament, and a celebrative banquet and worship service on Saturday evening in recognition of AB Women’s Ministries 65th anniversary.
In 2017, American Baptist Women’s Ministries will sponsor Women’s Day on June 30, 2017, in Portland, Oregon, and will partner with American Baptist Women in Ministry in a cruise event in the fall of 2017. For these events and others, visit www.abwministries.org.
American Baptist Women’s Ministries is a Christ-centered ministry with a commitment to encourage and empower women and girls to serve God.
American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.