The last worship song to conclude the Sabbath service is about to start. Listening to the tunes while struggling to structure all my thoughts and everything I just heard about the women of the Exodus. Nothing familiar in the tunes. The title - “Miracles”, also doesn’t speak much to me. The song started: the lyrics, the tunes, the music…. It came so close to me. I suddenly stopped myself from thinking of anything else and just wanted to absorb this final song. The song was over but it has all just begun to make sense to me. The whole idea of a National Women’s Ministry Conference, the very real role of the woman in society, in church, in the family, my place there, the purpose of this ministry, the miracle of that simply being there, wherever I am.
This weekend drew over 170 women, few men and a bunch of children, to an event that I think very much needed to happen right here, right now - 28th - 30th April 2023, in the village of Arbanasi, surrounded by mountains, situated near the historical city of Veliko Tarnovo (former capital of Bulgaria).
The sermons the night before, “Being enough”, and on Sabbath morning, “The women of the Exodus”, brought so many questions to my mind (and certainly to the others’) that I still reflect on them in my everyday actions. Dagmar Dorn, leader of the Women’s Ministry department at the Inter-European Division, shared God’s Word with us and also her personal experience of not being enough and being too much. On Sabbath, she focused the audience’s attention on those special women of the Exodus, around the story of the Prince of Egypt, Moses. “Today, we are those women of the Exodus, waiting for the Prince of Peace to deliver us.” The Bulgarian Women’s Ministry department leader, Bilyana Valchinova, addressed the audience with a series of provocative questions: “Is it enough to just gather good memories from this event? What happens when you all go [back] to your own churches? What will you do?” And then she shared that the mission of the national Women’s Ministry department is to encourage and support the local women’s ministries and to pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in doing so.
Sabbath afternoon and Sunday morning were the interactive parts of the event where six women and one manled six different workshops. Each participant could join three workshops, out of the following: 1. To win him without words; 2. An interview with a Bible girl; 3. To learn or to stay; 4. Intimacy and long-term relationships; 5. Emotions’ prevention in crisis; 6. The cherry of the Forum.
The discussions continued around the table; in the garden; after dinner and in between sessions. The air was filled with life, laughter and prayers. Witnessing what God has done through them and in them, those women of faith had called Heaven on Earth.
Why “Ladle and heels to borrow”
This is a programme of the Bulgarian Women’s Ministry department for the 2023 year. It emphasizescommunication between women, which gives personal support and is the core of the organised ministry. The name of the programme refers to the female nature, needs, and everyday life in personal as well as in social aspects.
The ladle, personally, is a symbol of the routine, everyday tasks, motherhood, housekeeping. In the social aspect it presents the mission work organised by women and their ministry for the benefit of society.
The heels symbolise the personal care and development, the vision, the feminine tune, the self-esteem, and the relationships with the opposite sex, and in the social aspect - the activities organised by the department to meet the women’s needs.
To borrow: the exchange of accessories, items, services, ideas…is typical for the female world. It is also a symbol of the support, assistance, acceptance, and cooperation in the organised ministry.
On a more global scale, the name of the programme addresses the big issue of balancing “the ladle and the heels”. Personally, this is the ever-existing choice we have to make between time and personal care and between time and care for others. In general, for the ministry, this is the balance between in-reach and outreach.
A Charity Project to Share - “A bazaar with a cause”
This is a project of the Bulgarian Women’s Ministry department for 2023. It is a typical women’s form of service, which naturally combines the “ladle” and the “heels” - the two opposite sides of the female nature, needs and everyday life. The project aims at raising funds by creating and exhibiting a trading area of secondhand good quality items, which women usually posses. It creates a friendly environment allowing for closer communication. Its purpose is to provide finances in benefit of a particular cause and to bring much joy to both the donors and the beneficiaries.
All steps of how to organise and implement such a project at the local level, and how to request the equipment for it from the national Women’s Ministry department, is detailed in a brochure that has been shared with each participant.
“I hope this event will be repeated soon,” shared Tanya, one of the participants.
On the question “What would you say to those women who could not make it to the event this year?”, Dagmar Dorn naturally exclaimed: “Come next time!”
