At what point would you feel ready to start talking about Jesus? Yes, this article is going to talk to women. Giovanna Santos, age 17, decided, with her friends Maria Eduarda Brito, 18, and Rafaella Moura, 19, to form a Bible class. With a Missionary Bible in hand, the young women from São Paulo, Brazil, proposed to a friend who had just started to attend church the idea of studying together.
Santos says the friend in question participated in the teenagers' Sabbath School class and was always present in other church programs, but she was not yet an Adventist. Thus, they felt touched by God to begin their studies. "With her, other girls came," Brito commented.
However, they had never taught Bible studies before, so they sought help. The three girls detail that they did a lot of praying and met before the meetings to prepare the class. They also asked their parents, leaders, and other more experienced people for help.
The guide “Jesus, the Restorer of Life” served as a basis to talk about the main topics. After that, they complemented the content of the Bible class with other literature, such as books by American author and Seventh-day Adventist cofounder Ellen White.
"We didn't have any experience, but we based it on the fact that if the Holy Spirit was giving us the opportunity, He would also enable us to do it," said Moura.
They expected to help other people with the initiative, but they ended up being surprised. Santos recalled the account of one of the students who thanked them for the studies and said it was very important to bring her closer to God. Another girl also came to her to ask for studies.
For Brito, she herself was the main beneficiary of the Bible class. "I was able to remember basic questions about Jesus and about a pure and simple Christianity. The studies also helped me to reaffirm my commitment to God," she confessed.
The first study class is over, and now the trio is planning an event to invite other girls to study the Bible. When asked if they consider themselves evangelists, the answer was unanimous "Yes!"
Women in Mission
Statistics provided by the South American Division of Seventh-day Adventists show that 56.8 percent of the denomination's members in the territory are women. This corresponds to almost 1.5 million people. A survey conducted by the region’s Ministerial Association indicates that they are also the majority in departmental leadership.
"Our big challenge is to attract younger women who identify with the women's ministry," commented Jeanete Lima, director of Women's Ministries for South America. One of the initiatives to communicate with this demographic is establishing a presence on social networks. With the recently launched profiles, all the content is being developed to reach them. "We want to listen to them, we want to make the women's ministry also for them," said Pinto.
Projects such as Power Wednesdays and the Women's Ministries Evangelism Week also want to give more space in the pulpit, promoting opportunities for these women to exercise their preaching gifts, according to Pinto.
Last year, there were 12,773 preaching points during the Women's Ministries Evangelism Week. This means almost 20,000 women were directly involved in preaching. The expectation is that this number will be even higher in June this year, when the project takes place.
The original article was published on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.