SUNNYVALE, Calif. (ABP) — Women from 11 different countries and of diverse faith traditions gathered here Sept. 14-16 to investigate issues affecting women worldwide.
Held at the Iranian Christian Church in Sunnyvale, Calif., the annual Global Voices conference, sponsored by Birmingham, Ala.-based Global Women, focused on the needs of women in some of the world's most remote areas, offering workshops to show attendees ways to help meet those needs.
Global Women is a ministry founded to serve unreached women in countries like Myanmar, India, Moldova, Russia, Hungary and the United States. It focuses on combating the problems that many such women around the world face, such as sex trafficking, spousal abuse, family violence, poverty and displacement.
The conference was led in part by Donnell Shariat, a co-pastor at the Iranian Christian Church and member of the Global Women board of directors. More than 100 women attending enjoyed a Persian meal, storytelling in multiple languages, and a party with food from Iran, China, Brazil and the United States.
Jan Bowman, president of the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Fellowship, addressed the participants.
“I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to worship in an Iranian church among Muslim converts,” said Lilian Lim, a Global Women board member and president of the Asian Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary. “I never dreamt I would have such an experience.”
In other business, Trudy Johnson became Global Women's full-time director of education and development. Johnson previously directed the Christian Women's Job Corps, a ministry of the Woman's Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Global Women's 2008 conference is scheduled for Sept. 12-13 in San Antonio.
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