Thursday Spotlight

On Thursday’s  we want to give you an insight into the lives of some of the women involved in the Scottish Women’s Convention.  Some of these women are involved in full time ministry in the local Church, while others balance serving in the church with a secular job.

We sent them a questionnaire asking them to give us a taste of what they do, the challenges they face .

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Meet Leonie…Leonie lives in Sileby – a large village situated in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough.

What area of ministry do you work in?

My official title is “schools and children’s work co-ordinator for the United Benefice of Sileby, Cossington and Seagrave”!  Which means I am responsible for teaching children about Jesus: on Sundays in XTB – our Sunday groups, during the week in school assemblies – we have 4 primary schools, in toddler groups, youth groups, after school club and summer holiday club and it’s termly follow up sessions on Sunday afternoons.

How did you come to work in this particular area of ministry?

I had the good news about Jesus taught to me from a young age at Sunday school, camp, after school club, youth group – I think that is where my passion for ministry with children really began!

As a student I worked with UCCF as one of the very first Relay workers, enjoyed working with students but felt ill-equipped so then did the Cornhill course in London – a year spent learning how to teach the Bible. I didn’t really have a plan, I just knew I wanted to teach the Bible – I was employed by a group of churches in rural Essex as an apprentice and did mainly youth and children’s work there for 3 years and I’m still doing it 18 years later, having ministered in churches in Burton on Trent, Aberdeen and now back in the Midlands.

Give one great challenge and one great joy of working in gospel ministry?

Sometimes I walk up the road to school thinking “I’m taking another assembly” when God kindly reminds me by his spirit that I am not just “taking an assembly” I am teaching the good news about Jesus to the lost . I stand in a long line of those who have sought to pass on the Good news, invited to take part in God’s great salvation plan. The challenge is always to keep the cross central, lifting your heart and mind to the spiritual realities as you live or sometimes slog, day to day on this earth. The great joy is that we do have good news of a great saviour to share and the reason I know is because he saved me and opened my eyes.

What one thing has the Lord been teaching you about yourself and himself in recent times?

I have been preparing Sunday school lessons from Luke’s gospel, about the people Jesus meets and interacts with and this has caused me to ponder about Jesus’ mission to the lost. Namely, that He has a heart for the lost as the very fabric of his being, it is his eternity’s work, love, labour, plan and delight to seek and save the lost. I am just a Johnny come lately to this game. I need to ask him in prayer to bring me up to speed with his plans and to humbly ask where I can serve. Which is a great comfort when I feel tired, don’t see much fruit, don’t have my faith in the right place, forget that God’s power is shown in weakness. He will never give up his mission til all his sheep are safely home. He could do this work without me but he chooses to use my bumbling efforts to bring about his plans. Who would ever have thought up such a plan?

Leonie will be leading a seminar at the convention.  Next week we will share more details of her seminar.

SWBC is for you!

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Wondering whether you should go to the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention and why you should be excited about “another Christian conference”?  To help we asked different people why SWBC is for all women and is something we should all be excited by.  These people have either already booked their tickets, are involved in planning or are enthusiastically advertising at their churches.

unnamedThis week we asked Jon Gemmell, minister at Bruntsfield Evangelical in Edinburgh, why he is encouraging the women in his church to go and is volunteering his help behind the scenes.

Jon writes, “I am so excited about the inaugural Scottish Women’s Bible Convention. Women gathering around God’s Word and seeking the Lord together is always a thrilling and fruitful endeavour and one hopefully modelled and catalysed at this Convention. Women’s ministry is under-resourced across Scotland as a whole. I am praying that this convention can go some way to addressing this urgent need, spurring the church to take seriously its responsibility to serve, nurture, grow and unleash women to be confident, dynamic and dangerous for the gospel.”

Thursday Spotlight

On Thursday’s we want to give you an insight into the lives of some of the women involved in the Scottish Women’s Convention.  Some of these women are involved in full time ministry in the local Church, while others balance serving in the church with a secular job.

We sent them a questionnaire asking them to give us a taste of what they do, the challenges they face and what they are looking forward to about the Scottish Women’s Convention.

IMG_20160603_141326Meet Miriam…Miriam lives in Edinburgh with her husband.

What are you usually doing at 2pm on a Wednesday?

Sat at my desk, working. Not all that exciting, I’m afraid! I work as the Admin Co-ordinator in the Free Church of Scotland offices in Edinburgh; the administrative/financial hub of the work of the denomination. It’s a varied role that largely depends on what’s going on and what others need, but it gives me a fascinating insight into the inner workings of the church. It’s so easy to forget the everyday tasks that go on behind the scenes to allow gospel work to happen, but it’s actually really fulfilling (and challenging!) to know that everything you do, however mundane it may seem, is for the glory of God.

How did you become a Christian?

I’m very blessed in having no memory of a time when I wasn’t a Christian. My parents are deeply committed Christians and my dad is an Anglican vicar, so Jesus Christ and faith were integral to our everyday family life. I was always encouraged to develop a living faith of my own through prayer and Bible study, but there was never a question about God or the Bible that I couldn’t ask. My faith has matured over the years, but one of the key periods for me was studying Theology at university, when I specialised in the New Testament. There is something remarkable about being taught to translate the gospel from Greek to English that really makes you own the truth for yourself.

How do you serve within your church?

I’m part of St Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh, where I serve as part of the church praise team. I’ve always loved music, and the Free Church tradition of singing unaccompanied psalms  has made me appreciate the psalms as worship far more than I ever had done before. I also write the church prayer diary and help my husband Dean, who is one of the church elders, with a house group.

What one thing has the Lord been teaching you about yourself and himself in recent times?

It took me a while to find my answer to this question, but I think it would have to be how to appreciate seasons of blessing. The last few years have been a real time of blessing and encouragement from the Lord, and this has helped me to mature and settle in my faith, and has taught me that God’s biblical promises of protection and benefit to His people are not just for eternity; they can be for now as well. This season of stability and peace has also enabled me to develop good habits in terms of supporting others and encouraging them in their walk with the Lord. In the end, we need to put our trust in God over and above all others things and people, and the blessings of recent times have given me the trust in Him to do that. Of course, I know that trials will still come, but I hope and pray that the lessons I have learnt in the good years will stay with me through any lean times in the future.

How did you get involved in planning the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention?

By being in the right place at the right time! We were having tea at the manse one night with our minister and his wife, Derek and Catriona Lamont, and Derek just asked me straight out to get involved. His words, so far as I can remember, were: ‘Miriam, I’ve had an email asking if there’s anyone in the congregation who would get involved in the steering group for a new Christian women’s conference. Are you keen?’ My answer was: ‘Absolutely!’

What thing about the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention are you looking forward to and why?

It may sound geeky, but my answer has to be robust biblical teaching for Christian women. All too often, material for Christian women is aimed at emotional stimulation, rather than mental sustenance and challenge. The Bible can be hard to grapple with, but the message of God was never meant to be an easy comfort. It is meant to sustain us through the challenges of the Christian life, and sanctify us for eternal life with the Son. I’m so glad, therefore, that the SWBC aim is to ‘equip women with the Word’, giving them the tools to delve deeper into God’s Word for themselves, and the confidence in the gospel to share their faith with others. Our faith and fruitfulness can only grow when we understand the Bible better.

On a very selfish note, I’m also hoping to be able to actually make it to the Convention! I’m due to give birth to my first child on the 7th October, the day before the Convention, so I’m hoping the baby will be a few days late so I can come along. We certainly don’t want any dramatics on the day, but I don’t really want to have to wait until next year to be there in person!

Our venue

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On Mondays we like to draw your attention to certain aspects of the Scottish Women’s Convention.  This week we are excited to introduce you to our venue.  This year the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention is happening at Charlotte Chapel on Shandwick Place, Edinburgh.  Check out their newly refurbished premises at this write up from the fiec – https://fiec.org.uk/news/article/a-2million-facelift.
This fabulous building is the venue for the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention on 8 October.  There are 600 seats and we would love to fill every one.  We’ve decided on a place for the 10ofthose bookstall, a room for nursing mums and we’re working out the best configuration for the coffee queues.  We’d love to see you there – at the Convention, not just in the queue!
Don’t forget to get your early bird tickets for £8 on Eventbrite.

A new name for the Convention!

We are now the Scottish Women’s Bible Convention.  Why?  Well, we made a mistake and didn’t realise that the name Scottish Women’s Convention was already ‘taken’ (by a registered charity).

So Scottish Women’s Bible Convention it now is.  And actually, that’s a good name because we want to have the Bible in the driving seat.  We are convinced that God speaks today through what He has spoken.  So we will open up the Bible as clearly and faithfully as we can throughout our day together.  That’s what we’re about – so we’re not sorry to add Bible to our name!

We hope to see you there.

Find us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/scottishwomensbibleconvention/

New Twitter handle – @ScotWBC

Tickets available at – http://tinyurl.com/swbc16tix

Thursday Spotlight

On Thursday’s we want to give you an insight into the lives of some of the women involved in the Scottish Women’s Convention.  Some of these women are involved in full time ministry in the local Church, while others balance serving in the church with a secular job.

We sent them a questionnaire asking them to give us a taste of what they do, the challenges they face and what they are looking forward to about the Scottish Women’s Convention.

IMG_0456Meet Naomi…Naomi lives in Edinburgh with her husband and works for Chalmers Church.

What area of ministry do you work in?

Mainly internationals and women

How did you come to work in this particular area of ministry?

I’ve been interested in overseas mission since going on a year abroad at university to Argentina and so I’ve been keen to meet internationals and get to know them.  When I started my apprenticeship at Chalmers Church, I got to know a Korean girl who was studying in Edinburgh.  Chatting to her got me thinking about how to reach out to more internationals in the city.  So we started an English conversation class at Chalmers. It’s been great to get to know people from all over the world and, by God’s grace, to try and share the gospel with them.

Give one great challenge and one great joy of working in gospel ministry?

A great joy is seeing God work in people’s lives through reading his word and hearing his word preached.  It’s amazing to see the impact it can make in people’s lives when they understand what God is saying through the Bible.  It’s a great challenge to see people ignore his word and wander away.  It’s a great challenge to keep on remembering to focus on Jesus and the Bible and to keep on letting it change my heart, my attitudes and my actions.

What one thing has the Lord been teaching you about yourself and himself in recent times?

He has been teaching me about his Son, the servant King who humbled himself in coming down to earth and reaching out to sinful people like us.  And in teaching me this about himself he has been teaching me more about the Christian life, that we are to follow Christ in this same way – to keep serving him humbly and thinking more about others than about myself.

What thing about the Scottish Women’s Convention are you looking forward to and why?

Seeing women from all over Scotland coming together to learn from God’s word. Joining together as we try to run the race for Christ and encouraging each other to keep on going.

Thursday Spotlight

On Thursday’s we want to give you an insight into the lives of some of the women involved in the Scottish Women’s Convention.  Some of these women are involved in full time ministry in the local Church, while others balance serving in the church with a secular job.

We sent various people a questionnaire asking them to give us a taste of what they do, the challenges they face and what they are looking forward to about the Scottish Women’s Convention.

my-passport-photoMeet Rachel…Rachel was born in Belfast, lived in England for 7 years and moved to Edinburgh when she was 13 years old. Edinburgh very much feels like home now! She grew up in a Christian family and committed her life to Christ at a young age.

What area of ministry do you work in?

Women’s Ministry. I am the Women’s Ministry Coordinator at Charlotte Chapel. Within this role I lead bible studies, disciple younger women, organise events and much more. I am particularly passionate about training and equipping women to grow and develop the gifts and abilities God has given them for service.
How did you come to work in this particular area of ministry?
Leaving university I knew I had a desire to be involved in ministry but was unsure how and what it would be. I trained to be a teacher and a couple of years into teaching the desire hadn’t changed so I started exploring options. A conversation with my minister, Robin Sydserff, led to me applying for the apprenticeship programme at our church. I was accepted and did this alongside the Cornhill Training Course in Glasgow (http://www.cornhillscotland.org.uk/). After my apprenticeship I got the job at Charlotte.
Give one great challenge and one great joy of working in gospel ministry?
The greatest joy is getting to speak to people about the gospel and Jesus on a daily basis. I love being able to open the Bible with people and show them how God speaks to them  through it today. It is even better when you see God transforming lives by His Holy Spirit.
The greatest challenge is to retain a desire for personal Bible study and prayer. When spending your work hours in the Bible it can be easy to let personal habits slide. I have learnt time and time again that when I am not deepening my relationship with God I am much more tempted to rely on myself. In those times I either become proud or feel overwhelmed. To keep going in ministry I need to be growing in my dependence on God which comes through spending time with him.
What one thing has the Lord been teaching you about yourself and himself in recent times?
More recently God has teaching me what his word has to say about singleness and this path he has me on. I still desire marriage and strongly believe that the Bible teaches that marriage is an honourable thing to desire. However, what God has been teaching is enabling me to see my singleness less as a burden and more as a good gift and time not to be wasted. Elisabeth Elliot put it this way, “This gift for this day. The life of faith is lived one day at a time, and it has to be lived not always looked forward to as though the “real” living were around the next corner. It is for today we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow.”
What thing about the Scottish Women’s Convention are you looking forward to and why?
I think I am most looking forward to seeing women from all over Scotland coming together to learn from God’s word.

Tickets

Flyer front.001.jpegOn Mondays we like to draw your attention to certain aspects of the Scottish Women’s Convention.  This week we are excited to announce that tickets for the Convention will go on sale this weekend at the super early bird price of £6!  Tickets can be purchased from Eventbrite here – tinyurl.com/swc16tix

This super early bird price of £6 will be available until the end of April.  From May until July tickets will be available at the price of £8 and then from August until on the day tickets will be £10.  So get them now!  It will be totally worth it!

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Speaker – Hebrews 12

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On Monday’s we like to draw your attention to certain aspects of the Scottish Women’s Convention. We asked our speaker Carrie Sandom to share more about what she will be speaking on.  Carrie will also be running a seminar “Reading and understanding the Old Testament”.

What are you speaking about at the Scottish Women’s Convention and why?Run the Race Design

We will be looking at Hebrews 12 together under the title “Run the Race”! The longer I have been a Christian and the longer I have been in Christian ministry the more I can see that we need encouragement to keep going in the race of faith. The writer to the Hebrews knew this too and wrote to encourage his readers to fix their eyes on Jesus. We will be looking at what this means in practice and how the Lord can use even the hardest of times to spur us on.

What is the title of your seminar at the Scottish Women’s Convention?  What is it about?

“Reading and understanding the Old Testament”

How can the Old Testament scriptures, written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, have any relevance for us living in the 21st century? And what do we need to bear in mind if we are going to understand them properly and then apply them today?

Why is this seminar topic important?

Many Christians find reading the Old Testament difficult and can’t see how it relates to Jesus and the New Testament, let alone how it relates to us today. But the OT is crucial to our understanding of who God is and what His purposes are throughout history. If we are to grow in our understanding of all that Jesus has done in the New Testament then we need to understand the Old Testament better. This seminar seeks to help us do just that.

Thursday Spotlight

On Thursday we want to give you an insight into the lives of some of the women involved in the Scottish Women’s Convention.  Some of these women are involved in full time ministry in the local Church, while others balance serving in the church with a secular job.

We sent them a questionnaire asking them to give us a taste of what they do, the challenges they face and what they are looking forward to about the Scottish Women’s Convention.

DSCN3406 (2)Meet Karen…Karen lives in East Kilbride with her husband Sam and two children Ryan (9) and Lucy (6).

How did you become a Christian?

I was brought up in a Christian home, so always went to church and was taught from an early age about God and what it was to be a Christian.  In my early teenage years attended many SU camps and youth events, where a few key leaders really drew alongside me and were a huge encouragement and influence on my life.  At the age of 14 I made a commitment and was baptised.  Since then it has been a journey full of ups and downs and I am continually learning more and more of what it really means to follow Jesus – a work in progress.

How do you serve within your church?

I work for the church as their Community Care Worker, as part of my role I have the privilege of serving in the EK Community Food Bank, Harvest Store, CAP Jobs Club and CAP money courses.

I also serve in the Sunday Club teaching P5-P7, help arrange Women’s events and play the flute in the worship band.

What are you usually doing at 2pm on a Wednesday?

Usually tidying up after Harvest Store, which we hold at Calderwood Baptist Church every Wednesday.  Harvest Store is there to support individuals and families in our community on low incomes by providing a range of goods (including fruit & veg, clothes, baby items etc.) at affordable prices. If I’m lucky there is just enough time to grab a quick cuppa with my friend before collecting the kids from school. ☺

What one thing has the Lord been teaching you about yourself and himself in recent times?

That we can’t and don’t have to face what life throws at us on our own.  We have to fully release everything to God and He will sustain us through. God has used the following quote and bible verse to really speak to me recently

“We are overcomers. We are more than conquerors. We are stronger than we know, braver than we feel and loved more than we can even imagine…”  Holley Gerth Inspired by Romans 8:31-39. 

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

How did you get involved in planning the Scottish Women’s Convention?

Agnes contacted my minister as we are part of the West of Scotland Gospel Partnership.  John then approached me and asked if I would like to be involved as I am part of the team that organises women’s events and conferences in our church.  I am very excited to be involved as I love it when women get together to equip, encourage and share with one another. 

What thing about the Scottish Women’s Convention are you looking forward to and why?

Not sure I can narrow it down to one thing but being able to take time out of a very busy schedule to spend time with sisters in Christ and be fed and encouraged through Gods word, building on current friendships and hopefully making new friends along the way.