Report on the First new EBWU Committee Meeting
held in Latvia - February 2019

Alexandra Anderson

Report by Alexandra Anderson

The new committee held its first planning meeting in Riga, Latvia from 19th to 24th February 2019. Ligita Bodniece (Treasurer), lives there and she was a wonderful hostess for the five of us who had to travel to attend.

The five days were very intense. We began each day with prayer. First we felt we had to look back in order to move forward as a new committee so we went over the minutes of the last meeting of the old committee remembering all the good work they had done. We then focused our minds on the future and decided that we needed to pay more attention to the way we communicate with our members across Europe and the Middle East. More and more people are using the internet these days to keep in touch and it was decided that we would prioritise the EBWU Facebook page, each of us taking time to post a devotion or a thought to encourage our sisters around the world. We also now have an Instagram account which you can find under ‘EBWU’. 

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We worked very hard beginning each day early with devotions and prayers and then working into the evening. Our main focus was the annual EBWU conference. We decided to accept an invitation from our Polish sisters who have offered to host the annual EBWU conference this year. This will be held in the Baptist seminary conference centre just outside Warsaw, in a place called Radosc (www.osrodek.baptysci.pl), from 10th -13th October 2019.

The theme of the conference will be ‘The Fragrance of Christ, ’( 2 Corinthians 2:15) , and we discussed ways in which we as Christian women may be the fragrance of Christ in our lives and in the world around us. We will have a very special speaker from Lebanon who works as a missionary, alongside her Egyptian husband, amongst the Syrian Christians in Syria. We will also have some very interesting workshops with topics ranging from ‘What Jesus Ate’ to ‘Essential Oils and Healing’. We hope to see many of our European and Middle Eastern sisters there! 

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It was not all work however and we got a chance to meet an old friend and ex-President of the EBWU Livia Godina. We were also invited to the Baptist Union headquarters in Riga where we were entertained by Agnese Megne the President of the Women’s Baptist Union of Latvia and Lasme Asme her assistant. We also had the privilege of meeting the Baptist Bishop of Riga who told us about the pioneering work he is doing to engage young men in the life of the church and to enrich their faith.

Since our first planning meeting in Latvia, Fabienne, President, has attended the French Baptist Union conference and the Lebanese Baptist Women’s Conference, Ruth, Vice President attended the IBC conference in Germany and Cristina and myself are going to attend the Spanish Baptist Women’s Conference in September, so we are introducing ourselves, building up and strengthening our links with Christian women all around Europe and the Middle East.
We would appreciate your ongoing prayers and support for us as we seek to serve the Lord with all the gifts that he has given us to be Jesus’ hands, feet and mouth in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.