Seven hundred Seventh-day Adventist women from France and Belgium gathered in Paris Aug. 29 to 31 for the first meeting of its kind in the region, an Adventist women's ministries conference.
Seven hundred Seventh-day Adventist women from France and Belgium gathered in Paris Aug. 29 to 31 for the first meeting of its kind in the region, an Adventist women’s ministries conference.
Meeting under the theme, “Don’t Let Anyone Steal Your Joy,” the Sabbath, or Saturday, morning service was held in a rented facility, Eglise Saint Joseph, in order to accommodate all participants.
Organizers said the women were brought together for encouragement and leadership training. “The work of women’s ministries can do a lot to assist the growth of the church in that part of the world,” said Heather-Dawn Small, women’s ministries associate director. “Like most of the world, a majority of the Adventist Church [there] is women.”
As a result of this conference, the church’s Franco-Belgian Union Conference has voted to establish a women’s ministries department. Josiane Beauregard, women’s ministries department director for the Adventist Church in North France, has been chosen to head up the new department at the union level.
Many Adventists in France are originally from former French colonies, including Haiti, Martinique and Guadalupe. There are some 10,000 Adventists in this country of 60 million.
