By Danjuma Auta
A summit organized by the ECWA Spiritual Mothers in Ministry (ESMIM), a fellowship of all ECWA Pastors’ wives, was held recently in Jos, Plateau State. Declaring the summit open, the ECWA President, Rev. (Dr.) Stephen Baba Panya, said that Pastors’ wives are called by God in the present revival taking place in ECWA to take up their responsibilities as spiritual mothers in this end time.
He stated that, as spiritual mothers, they were not only mothers to their biological children but also to their spiritual children in the church and as well as the society.
He admonished them not be found wanting in loving, nurturing, praying and drawing both their husbands and all members of their churches towards living exemplary lifestyles.
In a message, the ECWA General Secretary, Rev. Yunusa Sabo Nmadu, thanked ESMIM for bringing women together in such a fellowship, saying that, it was a clear indication that God is leading the church to greatness.
Taking his reading from 1Samuel. 25:1-30, the cleric stated that God created the woman serve as a help mate to her husband and called on them not to see themselves just as wives to their husbands but also as soul help mates.
Speaking on the topic, The Pastor’s Wife as a Ministry Partner, Rev. Nmadu enjoined the pastors’ wives to be wise in all their dealings with their husbands and the church they serve.
According to him, pastors’ wives should strive to project and portray their husbands in good light before the world so that they can earn respect for the ministry.
Rev. Nmadu called on them to always understand the weaknesses of their husbands and give them good counsel as, according to him, the calling of every pastor goes with his wife and both must strive to succeed together.
Rob Welch, Pastor Mark Levesque and Laura Parli of the For His Glory Ministries who are working in the Democratic Republic of Congo took the spiritual mothers in a two-day teaching on discipleship during which they enjoined the women to go back to their various DCCs and multiply more disciples through the Train for Trainers (T4T) program.
According them, the T4T initiative, even though very simple, had impacted greatly in evangelism in many countries of the world and called on the women and churches to embrace the model in witnessing to the world.
Earlier in her speech, leader of ESMIM and wife of the ECWA President, Mrs. Naomi Baba Panya, thanked God for the opportunity to lead the women on the path of adding prominence to the work of the gospel in this end times.
She stated that God had been doing great things through the spiritual mothers in the church and explained that they had reached out to women across Nigeria on how to support the pastoral work of their husbands and to make them more effective and efficient.
She disclosed that the wives of the ECWA executives were working together as a team and would continue to do so towards advancing the work of God on earth. More than 200 women leaders from various ECWA DCCs attended the two-day summit with the theme, `Just one thing,’ held at the ECWA Headquarters Conference Hall in Jos, Plateau state.