IPHC Women’s Ministries General Convention Reflection
Once every four years, women from across the United States and around the world have the opportunity to come together during the IPHC General Convention. It is a special time to reconnect, worship together, celebrate all God has done, and look with expectation toward what He will do next.
This year’s IPHC Women’s Ministries General Convention was a beautiful expression of who we are and what we are called to do together.
Our vision is to inspire, equip, and support women in their discipleship journey to live and lead like Jesus. Our mission is to create opportunities, resources, and relationships that help women grow as disciples and advance Christ’s mission through the local church. Throughout our time together at General Convention, we saw that vision and mission come to life.
From beginning to end, our time together was marked by God’s presence and the joy of being together. Tara Bethea led us in a powerful time of worship as women from different churches, conferences, cultures, nations, and generations lifted their voices together to Jesus.
Our guest speaker and dear friend of IPHC Women, Natalie Runion, brought a timely and challenging message, calling us to be women of welcome and to become “gates called Beautiful.” We were reminded that God has positioned each of us to open doors, make room, and create spaces where others can encounter Jesus, experience belonging, and find hope.
Throughout our gathering, we also celebrated all that God has done through IPHC Women’s Ministries over the past four years.
The growth and expansion of this ministry throughout the quadrennium has been remarkable. Across our conferences and local churches, women have continued to gather, disciple, lead, serve, give, mentor, pray, and carry the gospel into their communities. New resources have been developed, leaders have been equipped, connections have grown, and opportunities for discipleship have continued to expand.
The story of these past four years is ultimately a story of God’s faithfulness.
Behind every number is a woman. Behind every gathering is a leader who said yes. Behind every resource is an opportunity for someone to grow. Behind every act of generosity is a life or ministry impacted. And behind it all is a faithful God who continues to work through women willing to say yes to Him.
We give God all the glory for every gathering, every leader, every woman reached, and every life changed. We are also deeply grateful for the countless women throughout the IPHC who faithfully serve in their local churches, conferences, communities, and around the world. This ministry continues to grow because women continue to answer the call to make disciples and invest in others.
Some of the most meaningful moments of the convention were also the simplest. We shared a delicious meal around the table, reconnected with longtime friends, built new relationships with women from across the IPHC family, and experienced powerful moments of praying with and for one another.
Those moments reminded us again that ministry is about people. It is about walking alongside one another, making room for one another, calling out the gifts in one another, carrying one another in prayer, and faithfully pointing one another toward Jesus.
As we close one four-year season and begin another, our hearts are filled with both gratitude and expectation.
We believe there is still more. More women to reach. More leaders to develop. More generations to disciple. More communities to serve. More connections to build. More room to make at the table. More opportunities to carry the hope of Jesus into the places God has entrusted to us.
The challenge from our time together does not end when convention ends. May we continue to be women of welcome, women who open doors, make room, notice those standing on the outside, encourage one another in our callings, invest in the next generation, and create spaces where people can encounter Jesus.
May we be women who stand at the gates God has entrusted to us and make them beautiful by the way we welcome others through them.
We celebrate all God has done throughout these past four years. We give Him all the praise and thanks for His faithfulness.
And together, we step forward, full of faith and expectation, for all that God has ahead for IPHC Women’s Ministries.