9TH MORAVIAN WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
What Brought Us Together

The Ninth Moravian Women’s Conference was held at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from June 18-21, 2003. The theme “What Brought Us Together,” was perfect for the conference which was filled with fellowship and the meeting of women from all over the world. It was also a time of learning, and included three well-known speakers and a multitude of topics covered in the discovery groups held throughout the conference.

The opening communion service held on Wednesday, June 18, 2003, officiated by the Rt. Rev. Kay Ward, began the conference in the full spirit of togetherness as 27 Moravian women pastors served the large crowd the sacraments. Bishop Ward spoke of the bread, the many ingredients and their representation in our lives as she poured in one bowl the flour followed by water, salt, and yeast illustrating all the things that come together to make the bread of life. In turn, the sacrament of the bread of the body was delivered to the crowd in different forms, loaves of all sizes, shapes, and textures, wonderfully illustrating the analogy of the differences among the crowd of receivers.

On Thursday, June 19, the over 800 women from 21 countries (18 of 19 Unity Provinces were represented), listened as Ann Weems addressed the group.

Ann Weems is the daughter and wife of Presbyterian ministers. She is well known as an author, poet, speaker, liturgist, and workshop leader. Her books include Kneeling in Jerusalem, Kneeling in Bethlehem, Family Faith Stories, Psalms of Lament, Searching for Shalom, Reaching for Rainbows, and Putting the Amazing Back in Grace.

During her time with these Moravian women, she spoke of the “red letter” testament. As a child she lived for the red-letter words in her tiny little Bible. These words were directly out of the mouth of Jesus and for her, as a child, she soaked them in and learned a major life lesson as she recounted the story of how her father had become ostracized from his church after he used a Sunday sermon to preach about the war. In one short sermon, he found that he and his family were receiving a rash of calls and bearing no support from his congregation members. Ann learned then that the red-letter words were a comfort, a guideline for actions in times of trouble. She reiterated to the crowd that it’s all about Jesus and how to apply that to our lives as laypersons, or “people of God.”

Later on the night of the 19th, the group was treated to an evening speaker.

Anne Graham Lotz was born and reared in Montreat, North Carolina, the second daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham. She is the wife of Dr. Dan Lotz, the mother of three children, and has one grandchild.

In 1988, Anne established AnGeL Ministries, a non-profit corporation, which seeks to give out messages of Biblical exposition through her speaking, tapes, and books.

In 2000, she successfully launched Just Give Me Jesus revivals, which have been held in 13 major cities across the United States.

Anne’s aim is to bring revival to the hearts of God’s people, and the message is a call to people to establish a personal relationship with God through his Word.

Anne retold a story of how she and her new husband ran out of gas on their way to their honeymoon. She carried this theme by explaining that many women in the church are running on empty. They are experiencing dissatisfaction in their lives, personally, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. These women may be distorted in focus in that they are focusing on the differences between them and others and not on what Jesus would have for them. They may also be deeply discouraged by failure or what they perceive as failure. Also, she let the crowd know that there may be women out there who are disillusioned by faith or the religious experience. In all of this, she advised the crowd that we desperately need Jesus and to let go of these things that keep us from listening to what Jesus is saying and what he wants to talk about.

On Friday and Saturday, the 20th and 21st, women were heard laughing out loud as they listened to the humor and lessons of Liz Curtis Higgs. Liz has special ties to the Moravian Church as she was raised in Lititz and formerly attended the Lititz Moravian Church.

Liz has presented more than 1,500 inspirational programs for audiences in all 50 states and six foreign countries. She is the author of 20 books, with over two million in print, including her nonfiction bestseller, Bad Girls of the Bible, her Gold-Medallion award-winning children’s book, The Pumpkin Patch Parable, and her latest novel, Thorn in My Heart.

Interviews with Liz have been featured on PBS, A&E, MSNBC, Focus on the Family, and Janet Parshall’s America. Liz is also a columnist for Today’s Christian Woman magazine, and lives with her husband and two teens in Louisville, Kentucky.

Liz illustrated in the first day that we need to laugh, that laughter is the beginning of prayer. It means to put away our backpack of concerns to experience the healing affect of a good whooping laugh. She said humor is a hug and that one size fits all, and unlike the world’s sense of humor where comedians put down and offend to gain a laugh, we can instead concentrate on the lifting up and enjoyment of the Lord’s, non-offensive sense of humor.

She encouraged all women to look in the mirror each day to celebrate who they are, the gifts they have, by yelling TA DA which stands for THANK YOU FATHER! (The words “ta da” quickly became the most used expression during the conference!) During her two addresses to the participants, Liz spoke of her own wayward path that led her to where she is today and how she, as a person who has not always been straight and narrow, could learn lessons from the “bad girls” of the Bible. She spoke briefly on some of these girls but concentrated mostly on Mary Magdalene and the lessons everyone could learn from her. Her explanation was based on her best selling books and workbooks on these topics.

Later the night of the 21st, a full house showed for the closing lovefeast with the Rt. Rev. Blair Couch presiding. Bishop Couch spoke of how sometimes we need to be shepherded in by the Lord, like small children, to be guided the right way to do the right thing. She asked several different women who attended the conference to share their “voices” of their experiences with the rest of the crowd. Each of the women who shared their story of what they had lived during the last couple of days, said something different and highlighted another wonder to be had at the conference. Their personal touches to the service expressed the true spirit of the event.

For the lovefeast, the large crowd was served by wonderful men and women from the Southern Province churches. Each woman participant was given a special napkin, a mug of coffee, and a bun to use during the lovefeast. The women were instructed rather than eating from their own bun to share their bun with others, to enjoy the fellowship of sharing with others in the seats and to speak personally to them in their sharing. This is the true spirit of lovefeast.

During the service, a special conference offering was collected for the HIV/AIDS Orphans of Africa. It is estimated that there are 450,000 children in Africa who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS; and that by the year 2005 that number will be 810,000. The Masangane Ministry was founded in 1996 to educate how HIV is transmitted, help people talk about human sexuality from biblical perspectives, care for those infected and dying, care for orphans, and network with other agencies combating HIV/AIDS. This program was designated as the recipient of the conference offering which raised $11,613. Attendees were also asked to continue to pray that the monetary gift could bring a brighter future to the victims of the disease.

Before ending the service, Bishop Couch asked the crowd to celebrate that women from everywhere could be together and to remember those who could not. During a time of contemplation the crowd was asked to speak out loud the names of women who could not attend because of health reasons, or responsibilities, or whatever had held them from being able to attend so that they too might be there with everyone in spirit and love.

No explanation of the events could really show what happened at the conference. No one could truly describe in words the swelling of the heart that was experienced when women danced and sang on the steps of Wait Chapel after all of the evening services. Or the compassion that was felt when the cultural panelists explained the adversity and concerns experienced in their homelands. Each person had their own reflections of the event and how it touched their lives, but one thing was for certain, all of the women, in a sign of unity came there, despite differences, to fellowship and worship their love of the Lord, their Lamb.