Women´s Conference in Sarajevo
The European Women’s Conference was held in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, from June 7 to 11, 2023
The Women in Leadership team, which operates as a HOPE FOR EUROPE organization, was responsible for the preparations for the conference. The team is led by the Germans Elke Werner and Hannelore Illgen.
The number of participants in the post-corona conference was half of that before. However, it gathered around 70 women from 20 different countries.
The theme of the conference was ”Embracing change. Fresh perspectives”.
The changing world and spiritual challenges in Europe have created the need to study changes together and find solutions to them.
Fresh perspectives
The program content of the conference was diverse. In the mornings, the topics of the Bible lessons dealt with the theme of the days: ”Dream of change. Bring change. Courage to change.” Participatory discussion around the round tables brought fresh perspectives to the topics.
In the afternoons, there were workshops, which dealt with themes from a wide range of areas, e.g. about emotional intelligence and the technology that affects us.
The changing realities in Europe were the topic of Usha Reifsnider’s speech. She has a broad perspective as one of the European regional directors of the Lausanne Movement. Her field has especially included cross-cultural missionary work and a focus on immigrants.
The conference included prayer, praise and discussions, including at the Bosnian Dining Table. There was one different night of prayer in the program. A silent moment of meeting God was arranged in the middle of the tight schedule. We passed through different points, where we also got to talk quietly to God through experiences. The most touching was at the foot of the cross, where you could nail the message you wrote. The sounds of nails hitting broke the silence and vividly reminded of Jesus’ work on the cross.
Finns at the conference
Two women from Finland participated in the conference. The Salvation Army was represented by Tuula Takala. It was very telling, inspiring and encouraging to hear how women do important and impressive work all over Europe in different Christian organizations. I met many attractive, praying women, rejoices Tuula Takala.
The second was Marja Toukola, who belongs to the European Women in Leadership team from Finland.
The next women’s conference is in two years. Its design work has already started, but the place is still open.
Marja Toukola, 15.6.2023 | Donne Europee
