WIC Resource Letter for PCA Women in Leadership
Spring Quarter 1999 Vol. VII, No. 2

Letter from Susan

Conference Update from Jane

Conference Preparation by Kathy Keller

Great Ideas for WIC Ministry

New:  Prayer Manual

The WICK Bulletin Insert

Dear Daughters of the Covenant,

The nature of the covenant should determine our models for ministry. Compassion is a characteristic of the covenant, so compassion should characterize our lives and our ministries.

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God put him in a cleft in the rock and covered Moses with His hand. Then God passed by. But what did He show Moses?

". . . he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34:7).

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God showed Moses His character.

God began by revealing Himself as the LORD, or Yahweh. This is His personal name of covenant faithfulness. This is the name that thrills children of the covenant because it reminds us that the God of the Universe has entered into a covenant relationship with us.

Then our covenant God told Moses that He is a God of compassion. But of course—it is His compassion for poor fallen sinners that drove Him back to the Garden to make a promise rather than demand a payment. It is His compassion that engraved our names on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16).

He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. He maintains love and forgives wickedness. And so must we.

When Moses came down from the mountain "he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD" (Exodus 34:29). I’m intrigued by the fact that glory could actually be bouncing off a person and he was not even aware of the brilliance of the illumination. But then again, doesn’t it have to be that way? The more I am aware of my agenda, my comfort, my preferences, my reputation, my desires—myself—the less others see of God’s glory. John the Baptizer said it well: "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

My prayer is that we as daughters of the covenant will be so dazzled by God’s glory that we will be unaware of ourselves—for it is then that we will radiate His glory. What will this look like?

Picture this: women loving their husbands and children, encouraging their pastors and elders, supporting their deacons, nurturing community-life in their churches, binding up the wounds of the hurting and the oppressed, reaching out to single moms with practical help, loving the rising generation and showing them Jesus, putting their arms around the widows and orphans, teaching other women the wonders of God’s grace, caring for the strangers in their midst, joining their hearts in prayer, and visiting those in prison. I think this is part of what female expressions of compassion look like.

This is the splendor of God’s glory radiating from His children who are empty of self and filled with Jesus. This is what the ’99 WIC Conference is about. I hope you and women from your church will join us in this crusade for compassion.

For His Glory,
Susan Hunt
Director of WIC Ministry

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1999 Conference UPDATE
From Jane Patete

A Conference To Do List for Local WIC Presidents

1. Note the article in The WICK about Covenant PCA in St. Louis. Here is an example of a church who honed in on two strategic purposes of this conference, and they are utilizing the conference to help accomplish their church’s goals. Use this example to help your church think strategically about the conference.
2. Be sure that women who have registered for the conference have made hotel reservations through the Atlanta Housing Bureau.
3. Use the bookmark pattern to pair the conference attendees from your church as prayer partners and to encourage them to pray for the conference speakers.
4. If women have not received a confirmation packet within 3 weeks after sending in their registration, please call our office.
5. Meet with your pastor and deacons to plan a way for the women to report to the congregation and to determine how to utilize the training they will receive at the seminars.
6. Have a conference prayer calendar for May through August. Ask women to sign up to pray on specific days.
7. Have monthly prayer meetings with the women who are registered. Use this time to prepare them for the conference. Make copies of Susan’s letter on page 1 and Kathy Keller’s article on pages 4-5 to give each woman. Ask some to read one of the books on the list on page 3 and have a couple of book reports at each meeting.

MEA CULPAS……IN ADVANCE!
A PLEA FOR PRAYER AND PATIENCE

This conference is larger and more complex than any we have ever planned. The pre-conference seminars, housing women in various hotels, processing hundreds of registrations, and coordinating plans for so many seminar leaders and speakers, are just a few of the balls we are juggling. We know that we will make mistakes and drop some balls. Please pray for us and be patient with us. Our prayer is that we all will be sanctified as we prayerfully seek creative solutions and as we love each other through the process.

SCHOLARSHIPS
Please encourage women to add a few dollars to their registration to be used as scholarships for missionary women, international women, and ministry wives. If each woman added a few dollars, we would be able to help a significant number of these ministry women attend.

UPDATE ON BILLIE
In the last Resource Letter we reported that Billie Underwood, our administrative assistant, had successful surgery for colon cancer. Since that time, at the recommendation of her doctors, she is undergoing chemotherapy as a preventative measure. As many of you know, this treatment is arduous and getting the treatments regulated is even more difficult. Billie suffers from a lack of energy and sleep resulting in overwhelming weariness. Please pray for Billie and for us as we seek to have God’s wisdom and grace in knowing how much we can lean on her with all the conference responsibilities she shoulders, and for Billie to know her limits. Pray specifically that she will be able to rest at night and be strengthened to fulfill the responsibilities of her family and work.

HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE YOUNG WOMEN
Please consider encouraging young women to attend this conference. The world is not teaching them a biblical perspective of womanhood. The array of women who will speak at this conference, and the stories of women that will be told, will present a picture of biblical womanhood that will challenge and inspire our rising generation of young women. We believe this conference can knit the hearts of young women to their mothers and to the women in their churches.

BOOKS TO GET YOU READY!
We recommend that before the conference you read the books listed below. May the Holy Spirit use the words and thoughts to saturate our minds and hearts, preparing us to be His compassionate daughters.

• Treasures of Encouragement – Sharon Betters $10.00
• Each for the Other – Bryan Chapell, $14.99
• Kidnapped – Debbie Dortzbach, $6.95
• Micah Mandate – George Grant, $18.99
• Bringing in the Sheaves – George Grant, $12.99
• Carry a Big Stick – George Grant, $14.99
• Heirs of the Covenant – Susan Hunt, $12.99
• Ministries of Mercy – Tim Keller, $9.99
• On the Threshold of Hope – Diane Langberg $10.99
• Restorers of Hope – Amy Sherman, $15.99
• Joni – Joni Eareckson Tada, $6.99
• When God Weeps – Joni Eareckson Tada $20.00
• Equipping God’s People for Kingdom Praying – Barbara Thompson, $6.00
• WIC Teen Manual – Barbara Thompson $10.00

These may be ordered from the CE/P Bookstore: 1-800-283-1357

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Conference Preparation . . . Getting Ready
Kathy Keller

Kathy Keller moved to Manhattan with her husband Tim and their three boys in l989.  After ten years, she loves it more than ever! She is on the staff of Redeemer as the Director of Communication.

The power of women united in vision for ministry is nowhere more emphatically demonstrated than in the history of Redeemer. In 1988 the Women In the Church donated their annual Love Gift toward the planting of a center-city church in New York City. As important as that financial gift was (it represented about a third of the initial start-up money), they also did something far more important—they prayed. In what I believe might have been an unprecedented outpouring of prayer support for any single church plant—certainly in the PCA, if not the history of modern missions—women in every circle, every church across the entire denomination prayed fervently for our family and for the establishment of a church in Manhattan.

How do I know? For one thing, they told me. For the first two or three years I got letters and phone calls weekly, sometimes daily, telling me how a family or a Sunday School class or a circle was praying for us. I remember getting one letter, and not the only one of its kind, from a woman who taught a pre-school Sunday School class. Not only did she pray weekly with her class for us, but they had also collected seventeen dollars and change (enclosed) so that our family could go out to dinner at McDonald’s.

The other way I knew that we were receiving such massive prayer support is something a little more difficult to explain. It was as if nothing could go wrong. Every decision we made worked. Every idea clicked. Every potential crisis was averted. It was a little like walking on air, rather than the hard, cold pavement. I’ve never experienced anything like it before or since, and I know that it was the prayers of the Women In the Church that created Redeemer.

That power for ministry has been passed on to the women who now attend Redeemer. I wish you could all see for yourselves the harvest of fruitfulness that your gift and your prayers have produced among the women (not to mention the men) of New York City. Women are actively using their gifts as home fellowship group leaders, Bible teachers, missions directors, diaconal coordinators, administrators, and supervisors of all the Sunday activities (ushering, tape ministry, book table, set-up, hospitality, etc.). The list could go on and on.

But just let me mention one of the most significant ways that women are serving at Redeemer—in mercy and compassion ministries. Kate Lemmer is the Interim Director for Hope for New York, our mercy ministry. She replaces Yvonne Dodd Sawyer, who led the ministry since its beginning, and has recently married and moved away. Through Hope for New York, hundreds of Redeemer men and women volunteer in AIDS ministries, ministries to the homeless, prostitutes, and drug addicts. They tutor children, visit prisons and hospitals, give computer training to the unemployed, and help other women who are beginning life all over after prisons of various sorts. They partner with other churches and ministries to help the poor regain dignity and self-direction.

This sort of wholesale involvement in meeting mercy needs should not be seen as unusual or merely the province of urban churches. That would be a serious theological error. As I write this, we have just finished celebrating the incarnation, where God left the safety of heaven and became incarnate in this world, sharing our burdens and problems. Jesus’ message was that he came to "bring the Kingdom." Dealing with our alienation from God by his substitutionary atonement was the necessary prelude to re-establishing God’s Kingdom on earth, but in one sense it was just the beginning.

Now that we are redeemed from sin and adopted as God’s children into his family, calling him Father, how do we show the family likeness? Well, one thing we do is "go into the family business"—extending the Kingdom on earth. What did Jesus do when he confronted disease, ignorance, poverty, hunger or any of the other ills that afflict this fallen world? He eradicated those problems, bringing instead the health and healing of the Kingdom, and told his followers that they would do the same deeds as he, and even more so.

As a teenager in Young Life, I heard evangelism defined as "one beggar telling another beggar where to get the bread." This is a good image, because it recognizes that all of us share the status of beggars before God. Having received his mercy and forgiveness, how strange and perverse it would be if we would then deny mercy and forgiveness to our fellow suffering beggars. We are compelled by our theology to recognize that the only appropriate response to being saved by grace is to extend graciousness to others, whatever their needs.

Jesus was "mighty in word AND deed." Presbyterians are widely known as being "mighty in words" but not so well known as doers of deeds of mercy. But how else should Christians be known? As someone once said "Before you try to tell me what you believe, show me."

New York City enjoys a large Jewish population, many of whom are Hasidic Jews who are Orthodox in their theology and roughly analogous to the Amish in their dress and adherence to ancient customs. In the Hasidic Jewish community a strange paradox exists, and I have often mused on its relation to the situation in our own denomination. There are a myriad of laws and traditions proscribing every area of the Hasidic man’s life, but relatively few rules pertaining to women, primarily because women were excluded from the religious life of the community.

This exclusion, however, has resulted in an oddly freeing situation for Hasidic women. Because there are so few laws and traditions concerning women, many more things in the modern world are open to them than to their husbands and fathers. While the men must still dress and act as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago, for instance, the women may dress in modern fashions, (and indeed, are very stylish) and can hold secular jobs.

While the situation for women in the PCA is hardly so dire, I still have a sense that many women are more free to think creatively about ministry because they are not trying to pay homage to non-biblical cultural traditions that sometimes bind the officers in their churches. They can "think outside the lines" because no one bothered to draw the lines for them in the first place.

The women in our PCA churches—driven by theology and freed from worrying that "we never did it that way before"—are in a unique position to create, organize, staff, and supervise ministries of mercy and compassion in their churches. Knowing first hand their powerful prayers and powerful vision, I can only say that I hope they do.

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GREAT IDEAS

Lunch N’ Study

Kathy Noll, Pam Heisey, and Patty Coiner, Coordinators of the Lunch N’ Study program at Reformed PCA Church in Ephrata, PA, share this great idea.

When our church family completed phase one of our building program, several women began exploring ways to develop a more organized and effective ministry to the unchurched women in our local community. Because our new facility is within walking distance of downtown Ephrata, we decided to target women who are employed outside the home. Ephrata has a population of 12,300 and has a strong small town community feeling. Our church has 302 communicant members. Out of our desire to use our new building for downtown ministry, we developed a program called Lunch N’ Study.

Each series of studies lasted four weeks.

• We provided lunch and all study materials free of charge.
• The women from our church provided and served a lavish buffet with a varied menu each week.
• We printed a brochure for each series.
• We canvassed the community with these brochures.
• We printed bulletin inserts to publicize the program in our own church.
• We encouraged women from our own church to attend and bring an unchurched friend.
• We simplified the need for Bibles by providing copies of the specific passages for each participant.
• We contacted Dianne Balch, and adapted her excellent studies in the gospel of John to fit a 40-minute format. We learned about her resources from the August ’97 Helpers By Design Conference.

Results: Over 35 church members helped with this ministry in publicity, canvassing, food preparation, serving, clean-up, and teaching. The women who attended were overwhelmed by the genuine hospitality shown to them. Many of these women became regular attenders and we saw a genuine and deepening interest in studying God’s Word. The momentum continues and we are now in our second year with eighteen women attending.

(For more information, you may contract The WIC Committee of Reformed Presbyterian PCA , 21 East Locust Street, Ephrata, PA 16117)

Senior Citizen / Youth Get Together

These GREAT IDEAS from Carol Arnold can be adapted for any intergenerational gathering such as a Mother/Daughter banquet. Many say that the generation of grandparents is the key to reaching the rising generation, known as the millennial generation. We can touch the future by connecting these two groups….take this idea and run with it!

"Name That Tune" with a combination of oldies and current music

"Mission Impossible"
A project/game they have to work on together. One idea is to form groups of three to four. Give each group unlimited straws and pins and a small paper cup with eight pennies in it. The group that builds the highest structure to mount or suspend the cup and pennies wins.

 "This Is Your Life"––Intergenerational Q&A
Assign each older woman to a group of younger women, teens, and girls—or whatever arrangement works with your group. Let the younger interview the older. Here are some questions you can use.

1. What year did you turn 16 years old?
2. What style of music was popular during your teen years?
3. Who were some of the most popular artists?
4. Which ones were your personal favorites?
5. What kinds of clothes were in fashion at your high school?
6. What were some other fads or trends of the day?
7. What did teens do for fun on weekend nights?
8. What were the temptations that teenagers faced back then?
9. Tell a story of something you got caught doing that you shouldn’t have been doing.
10. What were the greatest pressures you faced as a young person?
11. What do you think is most different about the world today, compared with when you were young?
12. Did you ever have a family? (Give a brief summary of your marriage, how many children, grandchildren, etc.)
13. How did you meet your spouse?
14. In your opinion, how would you define true love?
15. For you, what has been the most amazing technological advancement you have seen in your lifetime?
16. What national or world event that happened during your life do you think is most significant and why?
17. Excluding your wedding day, or the birth of a child, what was the best day of your life?
18. What was the worst day?
19. What is one bit of advice you would give to a young person today?

 Several objectives were met:

• The teens discovered that seniors were young once!
• The teens discovered that older people had the same struggles and problems when they were young.
• The teens got to know the seniors better.
• The teens realized that they would be old some day.
• The teens learned to respect the wisdom that comes with age.
• The seniors got to know and appreciate the teens.

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Equipping God’s People for Kingdom Praying
By Barbara Thompson

Kingdom Praying is participating through praise and petitions in the revealed will of the Father as set forth in His Word. Another way to say this is that Kingdom praying is praying God’s Word. Kingdom praying points us to scriptural references when we pray. In Kingdom praying, a prayer request is tied to a specific scripture.

This prayer manual is a call to prayer. Christian Education and Publications is committed to equipping God’s people for this vital ministry, and we are delighted to introduce this new resource. This is not a study on prayer. It is a tool to help people pray. It provides resources to help the local church start a prayer ministry, or fresh ideas for an existing prayer ministry. There are ideas for a day of prayer, prayer retreats, and prayer groups. There are guides for praying for the church, family, and world. Please make your pastor aware of this resource.

–– Charles Dunahoo, Coordinator of CE/P

Prayer is foundational to all we do. Prayer is one of the primary ministries women should have in a local church. The Women’s Advisory Sub-Committee gave much prayer and thought to what resource we should provide to encourage and equip women for this ministry. There are many good studies on prayer, but the desire was to provide a tool to help God’s people actually pray. It is important to study prayer, and this manual lists some outstanding studies on this topic. But we need to pray. This manual is for the church at large, but the ideas are easily adaptable to your WIC prayer ministry.

–– Carolyn Muse, Chairman, Women’s Advisory Sub-Committee

Price: $6.00

To order call the CE/P Bookstre
: 1-800-283-1357

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THE WICK
Women In the Church
Presbyterian Church in America
Spring Quarter 1999

Answered Prayer Before the ’99 WIC Conference

Dear WIC Staff,

After our conversation about a scholarship for the WIC conference, I thought "Well, if I get an unexpected check in the mail tomorrow I know what we’ll use the money for." What a fool I was to say something so lightly! Little did I know that our sovereign Lord had already touched the heart of someone who had been blessed by my husband’s preaching when they visited our church for a few weeks. (They were here on an out of town assignment.) The day after I spoke to you, we received a note of thanks from them and a significant check, "We’ve thanked the Lord and your church, but we wanted to thank you in a personal way for your ministry to us while we were visiting from out of town. Please accept this check as a small token of how the Lord has used you to work in our hearts."

Our God is so good! To know He cares for me so specifically never ceases to amaze me. Needless to say, I no longer need scholarship assistance, but I will continue to pray for the Lord to provide for those who do.

Covenant Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, MO
A $100 scholarship is being given to every woman in the church who wants to attend the ’99 WIC Conference. Additional scholarship help is available if needed. Pastor George Robertson gives two reasons for this strategic decision.

Our Session wants the entire congregation to realize that they are covenantally connected to a larger church, not just because it is a Presbyterian concept but because it is a biblical encouragement. As Elijah was comforted by the fact that there were 7000 others who had not bowed the knee to Baal, our people need similar encouragement that they are not walking the Christian life alone.

The second reason we want women to attend is the conference’s emphasis on mercy ministry. By the leadership of our diaconate, we have made mercy ministry a major emphasis over the last several years. Marvin Olasky, the New City Fellowship churches, and others have helped us de-velop an aggressively proactive mercy ministry that reaches out from our suburban location into the city and other pockets of need in St. Louis. The Women In the Church have been of great assistance in this outreach and we see the national conference as an additional help in providing vision and training for this important ministry.

This is an illustration of community and compassion, two of the focal points of the WIC ministry. Through the WIC core curriculum, training events, and conferences, women are encouraged and equipped to cultivate community and to be channels of compassion in their homes, churches, and world. This conference is one more way the WIC ministry is calling women out to fulfill their high calling as daughters of the covenant of grace.

Alta Woods Church, Jackson, MS
Following the ’92 WIC conference, one WIC Circle established a conference scholarship fund. Each month $10 from the Circle offering went into this fund, enabling this Circle to give several scholarships to the September conference. They write: "Some of these ladies had already made decisions not to attend because of the cost, so this will enable them to participate. This is evidence of spiritual mothering taking place in our midst as some of the older women, no longer able to attend conferences, send the younger ones in their place."

Trinity Reformed Church, Kaiserslautern, Germany
This congregation has less than 25 families, but the elders have committed to send two women to the conference.

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