Sydney women have signed up to a new book club and raised over $11,000 for indigenous communities without the Bible in their own language.
In its 10th year, Equip Women’s annual conference launched the Equip Book Club on Saturday, to help encourage women to continue to think through and discuss issues "when they're not at Equip but in their own homes," says one of the organisers, Ainsley Poulos.
"Everyone always says that they’d like to read more. The Book Club gives any woman who logs on a chance to read some enjoyable and worthwhile books and provides them with an opportunity to think and chat about through some of the issues raised," she says.
The reading plan incorporates reading 11 books a year (one per month), including titles such as The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Sunday Philosophy Club and Don’t Waste Your Life, with a website that encourages readers to make comments and share ideas.
“They are all books that at least some of us have read and loved and want to share!” says the club’s moderator, Nicole Starling.
“As well as choosing them for diversity, we tried to choose books that would generate good discussions.”
The non-denominational conference - which raises money for a particular project each year - gathered a sum of over $11,000, which will go towards the work of Bible translation in the Northern Territory.
3800 women " and 60 babies - attended the non-denominational Equip Women conference this year, 15 per cent up on last year's numbers and, says Mrs Poulos, 1000 were newcomers.
"It was exciting to have large numbers of women who were younger (late teens early 20s) as well as older women," she says.
"Women also keep bringing work colleagues and mums and sisters who don't yet know Christ, which is a great joy to us."
What one woman learned
This year's main talks " on the theme "In His Hands' - focused on James 5, with Di Warren speaking on having patience in the face of suffering and Carmelina Read on the privilege and effectiveness of prayer.
Melissa Deare, 22, of Norwest Anglican Church says the experiences of others - as well as the prompting of her current Bible study leader - helped to convince her to go along for the first time this year.
"My previous bible study leader went to the conference last year and raved about it - so I thought I’d give it a shot!" she says.
"The speakers were sensational and you could tell the program had been really well thought out. There was something in there for every woman from any walk of life to be encouraged by.
"I came away feeling encouraged and reassured by the reminder that no matter what we face, we are in His hands," she says.
Elective topics included the "condition' of affluenza " the modern condition of increasing wealth and decreasing happiness, how women can know God’s will for their lives, understanding suffering from God's perspective and whether the "super woman' of Proverbs 31 really exists.
The format of Equip Daylight " which runs from 9:30am to 3:30pm " and Equip Twilight - which starts at 2pm and finishes at 7.30pm - continued this year.
Ms Deare, who went to the twilight session, made the most of the chance to enjoy the harbourside surroundings of the Sydney Convention Centre venue.
"I grabbed a quick lunch beforehand and then my friend and I had dinner at Star City with our boyfriends," she says."¨"¨
The experience of meeting and praising God with so many other Christian women has been a reminder that "we are not alone in our walk with God", says Ms Deare.
"Conferences like Equip are a great reminder about what is most important in life and encourage us to serve God, to put Him first and to finish the race strong!"
Photo: Kim Christopher Welinski
