New England news & perspectives
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Waterbury women gather for retreat to encourage one another in loss and the faithfulness of God
"Our retreat was full of laughter, crying, praising, and praying," said Margaret, an attendee at the 2nd annual women's retreat for the ladies of Waterbury Baptist Ministries in Waterbury, CT. Spearheaded by Tamika Goldson, the September retreat occurred at the Rice Lodge, next to the BCNE building.
Pastors' wives and women’s ministry leaders meet for fellowship
It is beautiful when women gather to encourage one another and worship Jesus together. The leaders of Iglesia Bautista Casa de Restauración in Lawrence, MA and Iglesia Bautista Dios con Nosotros in Glastonbury, CT, had two wonderful opportunities in April for women in their congregations to meet and fellowship.
The encouragement women (actually) need: Part 2
Christian women are starving for encouragement that leads to greater and deeper love of Jesus. We are exhausted of platitudes and cliches. Examining Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in John chapter 4, we can glean four biblical truths to encourage all women. In The encouragement women (actually) need: Part 1, we discussed the first two biblical truths: Jesus chases after us and Jesus calls us out of hiding. Here, we will look two more encouraging truths from this passage:
The encouragement women (actually) need: Part 1
Messages targeting Christian women, whether from books, podcasts, or even (some) pulpits, are often confusing, contradictory, and sometimes even simply unbiblical. Sometimes light hearted attempts at encouraging women result in vague, silly, or unintentionally condescending platitudes.
The importance of women’s faith to the Church
Written in a time and culture that devalued women, the Bible is remarkable in the honor it ascribes to the faith of women. For example, this theme is one of the elements we see clearly in the Gospel of Luke. Let’s take a look at what we can learn from the stories the Holy Spirit prompted Luke to record.
A woman’s place is in the home
My dear neighbor posted a sign in her yard that says: “A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance.” The sign faces my house so I’m drawn to it every time I go outside or pull into our driveway, and it has sparked so much thought. Is our place in the resistance? What does that even mean? Where is the place of a woman? What about a Christian woman who is a wife and mom? I’m convinced by God’s Word that our place is actually in the home.
Prophesying out of their own hearts
Scrolling through Instagram the other day, I landed on a post that was both startling and encouraging. It was written by a Christian woman I follow and contained forthright words of biblical wisdom targeted to women. In essence, she called out our recent memorials of glass-ceiling-crushers as idolatry.
How moving changed my perspective on being “called” to ministry
Before moving to Rhode Island two years ago, I lived most of my life in Florida. Jacksonville is my “hometown,” although I was born in Georgia. It was in Jacksonville that I surrendered my life to Christ and accepted His call to ministry.
Armed with a two-year Bible degree back in 1998, I set off to fulfill my calling. I spent the next 20 years serving in various roles of ministry. It seemed as though the vocational ministry possibilities were abundant while living in Jacksonville. Many of my friends served in part-time or full-time ministry roles. In fact, I was probably in a subculture of Christianity called the “ministry bubble” without even realizing it.