The inaugural conference of the Irish Women’s Convention was held on 20 October 2012 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Recordings of the conference are now available free to download from the conference website: www.irishwomensconvention.com
IWC shares the basis of faith of Christian Conventions (which work closely with organizations such as Proclamation Trust and Gospel Partnerships) and its committee is comprised of an interdenominational group of evangelical women firmly committed to the belief that the Bible has direct and relevant application to the lives of twenty-first century women of all ages as they seek to live for Christ.
The committee were astounded by the response: over 950 women from across Ireland (as well as two visitors from Australia!) packed into Assembly Buildings, many with groups from their church, to learn from God’s word, to praise Him and to meet other women. A further 250 were on the waiting list and hence unable to attend. The speaker at the two main sessions was Carrie Sandom, who spoke at the Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference and who has been involved in women’s ministry in London and Cambridge for over 20 years.
Carrie’s theme was ‘God’s design for women’, on which Carrie has written and spoken extensively (it forms the basis for her recently-published book, Different by Design: God’s Blueprint for Men and Women, published by Christian Focus). Opening up Genesis 1-3, Carrie’s careful, clear and courageous exposition helped those present to understand the roles of men and women in the family, where it all went wrong and where our hope for change lies. To take but one example, noting the perceived lack of godly men in our churches, Carrie challenged the audience about whether our own propensity to take the lead has in fact allowed and encouraged men to sit back and let us do so rather than stepping up and assuming their God-given responsibility. She finished off on a note of hope where God’s blueprint is restored in Christ – the One who won the battle with the serpent.
Delegates could choose one of three seminars complementing the main theme. Brenda Kelso, a Biblical counsellor and educational psychologist, spoke on God’s design in suffering. Brenda’s seminar was interwoven with Biblical truth and real-life examples from her counselling experience. She shared four heart issues – in suffering, God wants us to turn our hearts to him rather than away from Him, to offer our hearts to the Lord for healing, for our hearts to be motivated to comfort others and for our hearts to be focused on eternity. The seminar was very well received and the women were comforted and challenged to trust God in a new way.
Hilary Nicholls, a minister’s wife, mother and proprietor of her own personal styling business in London, spoke at the session on God’s design for our image. Hilary ably and winsomely imparted her perspective on how we are conditioned by our society to think about beauty but how, by contrast, God thinks of us in Christ and of how Christians should think about true beauty, which is ultimately to be found in Christ.
The third seminar was on God’s design in purity and was taken by Linda Marshall, who worked for the British evangelical student movement UCCF. Linda has authored a book called Pure (published by IVP), to help young people glorify God in sex and relationships and, focusing on Titus 2:11-12, Linda shared how the hope for sexually scarred sinners lies in the gospel and in being captivated by a better affection for the Lord Jesus.
We are so thankful to God for the faithfulness of the teaching and the positive response from those who were there, and we are delighted that Kathleen Neilson and Ann Benton (England) have agreed to speak at this year’s conference (12 October 2013).
Further information: info@irishwomensconvention.com
