Aug 30, 2020
By Katrina Goodrich
On the evening of July 28, 2020, the Seventh Day Baptist Annual Women’s Society meeting was held via web platform. It seems silly right now to say it was a historic moment, but the reality is we are living history. With current conditions necessitating the disruption of regularly planned and executed Conference schedules, the Women’s Society meeting looked very different from years past—but I am so thankful we were able to gather together, even if only in the virtual sense.
Last year if you would have told me we’d be meeting for conference virtually, I’m pretty sure I would have been very skeptical about how that would work and the logistics of such a thing. Honestly, I wasn’t all that certain an hour before the meeting began how it would go. But God is good and while only seeing people through the screen of my computer was not ideal, there are some amazing things that this mode allowed us that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible.
Women were in attendance who would not have been able to attend an in-person meeting. One Society member spoke of how she had missed attending Society meetings because she had been unable to attend Conference for quite some time—it was beautiful to have her there after such an absence—a blessing.
We discussed many things including the need for better community, fellowship, and support among the Women’s Society throughout the year, safety procedures at Conference, how inclusion makes us stronger, and how to continue to diversify our Society and Conference across the board. We prayed together as sisters in Christ for healing of one of our members who was experiencing some difficulties. We also appointed a committee to decide on the disbursement of the Love Gift (we are still taking donations!) since the Women’s Interest Committee is not in session this year.
One thing that I am very excited about is that this will not be the last time we will meet virtually. With the success of this virtual meeting, and the expressed desire of the Society to encourage fellowship among Seventh Day Baptist women, we are making plans to hold more virtual meetings on a regular basis (quarterly) to discuss the business of the Society and fellowship with each other, strengthening our connections and sharpening each other in Christ. So, if you missed the Women’s Society meeting this year, you will have more opportunities to join us, regardless of your physical location! Stay tuned for more details!
Reflecting on the 2020 Conference experience, I have to say I’ve missed seeing all of you in person, hugging and singing together; however, I believe God has opened a new avenue for us to do His work. Things for the church are extremely different and difficult right now, but that does not mean that God has stopped moving. So, we can’t meet as a Conference or in most of our churches in the traditional way, the comfortable way. I’ve seen churches setting up tents, having church in parking lots—and many churches I know have been meeting for Conference this week via the web.
God is only limited in our minds—He can do s anything. Instead of allowing grief to consume, remember God is in control and overcomes the world—don’t try and limit what He can do in a crisis. We have the opportunity to emerge stronger because of the crisis. I am excited to see the Women’s Society continue to strengthen women in the denomination and how we become better because of these moments in history.