International Association of Women Ministers
Office of the President
4, Rajpur Road
Delhi- 110 006
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” Luke 2:14
Dear Sisters in Christ,
Advent greetings to you all.
It gives me a great pleasure to address this letter to my sisters in different parts of the world.
Though we are all away from each other physically we are all one in the Spirit and we are one in the Lord.
As we prepare for Christmas let Jesus be born in each one of us and let us spread the message of love and peace to all our sisters and brothers. In today’s time we are all engulfed by very disturbing new of wars and death all around us. There is racial prejudices, hatred and vengeance, fear and distrust everywhere. We are bombarded by the social media which most of the time negatively impacts us especially our teens and young adults. This leads to more anxiety and fear.
But amidst all this, our hope comes from the Lord. We can only find solace in God’s word and pray for God’s peace to reign over the earth. Christmas is a reminder that whatever it is we hope for in our lives—healing, restoration, forgiveness, or a fresh start—it is available to us through Immanuel – God with us. All true hope is a result of the presence of God. And because God is trustworthy and keeps all his promises our hope in Him is sure and steady.
In the month of July 2024, we held our IAWM Assembly in Vieques, Puerto Rico which was grand success. The theme of the Assembly was, ‘The Heart of our Ministry is to Preach Hope’. I realize that travelling to this part of the world was not so easy and therefore we had few members attending this Assembly. All the same it was an enriching and a heartening time of meeting our sisters from across the globe. And hear their stories and understand the challenges we all face in our context and how we can support and help each other with our prayers. I encourage you to read The Woman’s Pulpit (July- September 2024 for more details).
In the past we have had some very meaningful virtual gatherings and good participation too. We will keep you updated on our virtual gatherings so that many of you can attend them.
Let us pray and encourage one another and may I also take this opportunity to invite people to volunteer to write letters to the women in our prayer calendar for 2 weeks or a month to women listed on the prayer calendar. If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to Carol Brown, csbrown550@hotmail.com, and she will send you a portion of the list assigned to you. It is a great joy and delight when we receive letters of encouragement from our dear sisters. So, I encourage you to sign in at the dates most convenient to you.
This is also to remind our members that dues are increasing as of January 1,2025.
We are excited for the next Assembly to be held in 2026.
I request you all to keep this in your prayers and look out for all updates.
Have a blessed and meaningful Christmas.
Dr Ella Sonawane
President
IAWM
2024