Women's Winter Dinner...

A report of the dinner that will hopefully appear in the Trowel & Sword:

Every year in the middle of winter, the women from the Christian Reformed Church’s of Kingborough gather together to share great food, good company, and encouragement from one another.

This year we enjoyed a three course meal at Hotel Soho in Hobart and heard from women who all use where God has put them in life to share his love with the people around him. We heard from mums with young kids who use the drop off and pick up time from school with great intent to meet other women. We also heard from women who work full time and how they minister to the people at their work, as well as the ups and downs of friendship evangelism.

It was a really great night of encouragement to keep going where God has put you in life and to use our everyday things in life for his glory.

Titus 2

Last thursday we had our first 'State dreaming' lunch for women's ministry. There were about eight of us, we shared lunch and fellowship, ideas and prayed for women's ministry in the South.

It was great. We will post the details for the next one if you are interested in coming along. We'd love to have you there.

There are some great things happening and some great things in the pipe line. There is a church who is currently running a T2 program - it sounds great. It is one older woman sharing her thoughts on different topics to the younger women in her congregation - real topics about real things that affect younger women, raising children, to be or not to be in the workforce, money, sex.
What a great program and we will continue to pray for it.
Recently I ran a table discussion on one-to-one discipleship and had one older woman who felt like she wanted to help the younger woman but didn't want to impose and two younger woman with young children on the table who would love an older woman to come along side of them and share their wisdom! I guess from that shows us that there is a real need out there and we all need to be ready to take up the calling! God gives us rich blessings in our community!

I promise to share some more of what we talked about another time

Belinda has been a Martha!

I have been having a crappy time. My personal walk with God has been somewhat lax, my stress levels have risen way too high, I have been disappointed at people, been saddened at people's lack of zeal, the list could go on and on.

This is not a post to feel anything for me but for me to stop my 'spiral' and point you to Christ.
I think that's where it's gone all wrong for me, this morning in His great mercy it was the story of Mary and Martha that in my reading plan - coincidence? I think not!

In some further readings to do with the story I came across this - 'the story is not meant to teach the value of a contemplative life compared with a life of action but to show that service to Jesus must not fill people's lives to such an extent that they have no time to learn from him'

I think I stopped myself from learning from him and replaced it with: look what I do for you!
Hmmmmm

Equip '09

Equip trip is over for another year & the question “was it worth it?” has been asked quite a few times. Is it really worth going all the way over to Sydney for a women’s conference??

Well, I have to say this year it definitely was. Not only was it a great conference, with really good speakers, it was just great to be apart of something so huge. There was so many Christian women learning & being encouraged from Gods word. & I am very happy to have been able to be one of them.

It also just showed the importance of doing women’s conferences, & how much worth does come from them, so that was a huge encouragement for me, being apart of the TWBC organisation.

So, yes it was worth it! & plus I got some great shopping done :)

The practice of godliness

In keeping with the theme (somewhat, you may say) I find this on the Equip Bookclub blogspot:


WISE WORDS from Jerry Bridges:
I have been in a full-time Christian ministry for well over twenty-five years and have served both overseas and in the United States. During this time I have met many talented and capable Christians, but I think I have met fewer godly Christians. The emphasis of our age is on serving God, accomplishing things for God. Enoch was a preacher of righteousness in a day of gross ungodliness, but God saw fit that the brief account of his life emphasized that he walked with God [Genesis 5:18-24]. What are we training ourselves for? Are we training ourselves only in Christian activity, as good as that may be, or are we training ourselves first of all in godliness?


(Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, NavPress (Colorado, Colorado Springs), 1996, pp 33-34.)

As a response to Belinda's previous post here are a few of my thoughts as a woman who is busy in the home with a husband & 3 young kids, but also works a part time job to help support the family and serves in the church as a women's worker. For me, I must help my husband, look after the kids and work, so ministry is the only thing I could possibly remove from my life.

On a regular basis I ask myself the question am I too busy because of the ministry I do? On every occasion I think through this issue, especially when it comes to the affect it might have on my kids, I am confronted by what being a Christian means for my life and for my kids.

How can I teach my kids to:

• Love others as Christ loves them without spending time with people and sacrificing for them
• Tell people about Jesus, when I dont put myself out there forming real long-term relationships with non-Christians are share my faith with them
• joyfully serve in Christian community when the only time I see other Christians is for two hours at church on Sunday
• Grow in their faith, when I put no effort into learning and being discipled in the Word and prayer on a daily basis
• Understand the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for them if it hasnt impacted my own life and I am not spurred on to sacrifice and take up my cross.

Yes, on a daily basis that means I teach my kids about God through family prayer and Bible reading and I spend quality time with them so that they feel like my most important ministry is them. This also means I need to make sure my own daily walk with God is strong. I am the first to admit that I have fallen short in these areas!

My faith, however, is the foundation of my life, and to teach and show my children real faith in Jesus I need to "live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God...(Col 1:10)" To this end I strive and for this reason I will be "busy" every day that God has graciously given me to serve Him. This is not a legalistic endeavour, but relies every minute on God's grace to forgive my shortcomings and give me strength! Along the way I will pray that God will cover my failings as a wife and mother and help me to grow and change to be more godly and to get the balance right.

As a child, like Belinda, I have only ever known busy Christian parents. Their sacrifice for the gospel has shown me true Christianity on a daily basis. Yes, sometimes they have been too busy, but I never felt neglected and my faith would not be what is it today without my parents showing me real gospel sacrifice in ther own lives. They continue to motivate me today to live for God wholeheartedly in all that I do.

I exist, and therefore my children exist, to serve and glorify God. How can I teach them this fundamental truth? By being a living example of this and so I will continue in my everyday ministries even though sometimes it will make me, perhaps, dare I say it, too busy!

Busy at home

I got my first “I’m too busy for Bible study this year” email recently. I have to be honest in saying that these kindof messages cut to my heart.
I do, however, need to be mindful, maybe they are too busy and it leads me to think about the issue of Christian women trying to balance the demands of everyday life.
My first reaction would be to ask: ‘what are you too busy with?”

There are definitely going to be circumstances when women will be busy but can those words leave our lips if we are Christian women? How can we be too busy not to be engaging with other Christian’s over God’s word?
How do we go about deciding what to do with our time?

Our priority, as Christian woman should be “to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds and souls” and for some of us women we are given the greatest privilege: part of showing our love for God is through the loving and serving of our husbands and children.
As women who are married and with children – our mandate, so to speak is to ‘seek the good’ of our family.

In my opinion what can be a better ‘good’ for our family (married or not we are all part of a family) than being a godly woman?

Here are some random thoughts and questions that you might find helpful in trying to balance everyday life.


Have I set aside time to read the bible and pray most days?

Prayer and bible reading are essentials!! It’s obvious – we can’t be profoundly influenced by what we don’t know. God has given us His word, the Bible, so that we might know what He is like and how we should live in fellowship with Him. Prayer is the means for us to respond and express out trust in Him.

Do I need to find/be employed in outside employment of the home?

For the benefit of the family some must find paid employment and in the same flavour – it may be beneficial for the woman to be working. The verse that comes straight to mind is Titus 2:5 “busy at home”. Some may interpret it to mean that it is inappropriate for the wife and mother to be employed outside the home. And for some wives and mother’s this may be the case, however what the author is advocating is that if one is to undertake the calling of wife and mother, she is too love and not neglect her husband and children.
Some women are able to fulfil this role as well as one outside the home

What the author of the text is opposing is being idle. The other verse that comes to mind is Proverbs 31. Proverbs 31 describes a wife and mother whose work for her family broadens far beyond the household tasks of the family home. (for example verses 16 and 24 “She considers a field and buys it…she plants a vineyard…She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies belts to the tradesman”)
We see the woman in Proverbs working really hard to care and to fulfil her responsibility to her family and not only from the kitchen!

“Doing things/activities for God list”

Carolyn Mahaney (Feminine Appeal pg. 105) has some excellent questions to ask of every ministry opportunity:

“What are my reasons for considering this opportunity? Are they selfish or God-honouring?”


“Will pursuing this venture glorify God and honour the gospel?”

I would also add the question about the kid factor – how is this ministry gong to impact my family?

For instance when my kids were young a playgroup ministry run from our church was awesome, they came with me! In the same token we do however need to understand that when God’s priorities are ours there is going to be a cost. The bible is clear about that, my instinct is to protect them from the ‘costs’, however if we want them to grow up with a real faith in Jesus we need to prepare them for the “costs”.
I watched my parents give up days of work in order to meet the pastoral needs of members of the church I grew up in. They also assisted the homeless of our community and I never felt ‘duped’. I also observed my father praying on the couch each morning. These activities together showed me Christ.



How are you showing Christ to your family? How are you seeking good for your family?
Is your godliness showing through your busy weekly timetable?


Any thoughts?