Canadian photo album

Women's Ministries began in the Canadian District in 1976. In 1978 the first WMF District Retreat was held in Rosetown, SK.		Annual election of officers was held at the WMF Annual General Meeting, held at the same time as the District AGM.		Missionaries were assigned to each church for prayer and support.
An annual retreat was organized for the fall of each year.		This ministry continued for the next 30 years!		In the early 1990s the role of women in society began to change. Attendance at the AMG and retreat declined, and WMF became dormant.
The Vision Task Force was created in 2001 and God was reopening a door for the Canadian District women as Margaret Scholz was asked to be on the team.		She helped create Women's Ministries, Church of the Lutheran Brethren (WMCLB) and passed the torch to Linda Roberton...		...and Janet Thomson who became representatives on the team in 2005. They set a strategy focused on prayer, developing an organizational structure, and several projects a year.
Marilynn Sager was recruited as Treasurer, and we began implementing our action plan for our chosen projects...		...distributing Handbooks to all churches; hosting 2 workshops; distributing WM items at Bible Camp; Appreciation Gift to pastor's wives; mailings to help link women of the district.		Canadian representatives Margaret, Linda, and Janet have attended the National Women's Ministry Team meetings held 3 times a year, are involved in the Annual Convention and implementing the Team projects.

A Time for Uprooting, and a Time for Planting 

Have you ever watched the end of an organization? After 20 years of fellowship and serving God through mission support and special projects, a motion was passed to dissolve what was known as The Canadian District Women’s Missionary Fellowship. Any remaining funds were donated to the Church of the Lutheran Brethren Canada, (CLBC) a box containing a binder and a book of minutes were given to the President of the CLBC to keep as he felt necessary and the final retreat photos were put in the photo album. The women in the Canadian District no longer had a desire to meet annually for a retreat as the physical distance between us seemed to have grown as our days became busier. Many local groups felt led to turn their ministry focus to the women in their surrounding communities and the need for fellowship seemed to have lessened as the women became busier working and volunteering outside the home.

Ten years have now passed and we praise God for He has rekindled the fire in the hearts of the Canadian women and once again we are serving God and fellowshipping together!

In 2003 when the National Women’s Ministry Team (NWMT) was formed Margaret Scholz from Peace, Calgary, Alberta was approached to be a part of that team. As there was not an organized Women’s Ministry in Canada, Margaret joined as the Canadian Representative rather than the District President.

For two years Margaret and the team prayed for women’s ministries in Canada. They prayed that God would raise up women who would see the vision of women ministering to women through women and that there would be a renewed desire to serve God on a district level. In January 2005 a Canadian District Women’s Ministry Team was formed as the vision to equip, encourage and edify women was revealed to Janet Thomson and Linda Roberton, both of Calgary. God shared with this team that it was time to move forward with His vision and a strategy was developed as to how this vision could be shared with the Canadian women.

The Canadian District Women’s Ministry Team has been contacting the local congregations on a regular basis, praying for the women in the Canadian District and trying to raise awareness of what Women’s Ministries is and how Women’s Ministries can support them in their ministry to women.

A vision that Janet and Linda had was to have the NWMT come to Canada so that the Canadian women could meet this marvelous group of godly women who were sure to inspire the Canadian women with their passion for service and their deep love of God. In June 2005 the NWMT agreed to hold their fall team meetings in Calgary! “Praise the Lord!” we said, “Let’s plan a workshop!” A day later, the theme Life With Purpose was chosen and the workshop was organized.

God then began to speak to Marilynn Sager, a long time member of Grace, Okotoks, Alberta. Marilynn joined the Canadian District Women’s Ministry Team just in time to provide 16 bag lunches for the NWMT road trip to Banff!

On October 1, 2005 forty-eight women gathered at Peace Lutheran Church in Calgary to learn how they could live their life with God’s purpose in mind. We heard about women mentoring younger women, we heard about ways to start a Bible study and we talked about leadership and how we can all be leaders if we trust God and lead in faith. We had an opportunity to share our concerns about women’s ministries in the local churches and to hear the comments of many women who offered wisdom and encouragement. As with any event, we ate, ate and ate some more! We sang, prayed, laughed and cried and then we left, inspired and encouraged. God had set a fire in the hearts of many of the women!

Jeremiah 31: 28 says “Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

God was with us when WMF was uprooted and dissolved some ten years ago, and now He is with us still as the hearts of the Canadian women have become alive with the passion and desire to minister to women through women! Praise God for He is Good!

-Linda Roberton
Canadian Representative, NWMT

Canadian photo album