Article of the week: Riverbank women’s conference

Deputy Director of Family Ministries Liz Hall looks ahead to the Riverbank women’s conference (formerly Women and God Weekend) on 10–12 June

‘ON the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there’ (Acts 16:13 New Living Translation).

When Paul and Timothy arrived in the city of Philippi, having been guided there by the Holy Spirit, they set off to find the synagogue. After discovering that no such building existed, they went on to the riverbank, the place of prayer, to find the men with whom they could share the good news of Jesus. Instead they encountered the first women’s fellowship recorded in the New Testament.

Why was that group of women, a mixture of Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism, at the riverbank that day? They were doing the best they could to serve God in the only way they knew at the time.

The Jewish women in the group who knew their Scriptures would have taught the Gentile converts to Judaism. However, none of the women knew anything about Christ’s life, death, burial and resurrection. Each woman was an example of a worshipper and a seeker, someone who was right with God as far as their revelation of him had taken them. They were doing the best they could, but they needed to hear the good news of Christ if they were going to become all that God wanted them to be.

Lydia, a businesswoman dealing in luxurious purple cloth, was among the group. As Paul and Timothy sat down to teach them, God opened her heart. She was baptised and invited Paul and Timothy into her home so her family and household could hear the good news as well.

Riverbank 2022 will take place in June at an amazing new venue: The Slate conference centre at Warwick University. It’s a beautiful space overlooking a lake, which will give a real sense of being on the riverbank. It will be an event where God can break into our lives, as he did in Lydia’s life, and give us a glimpse of his plans for us, our families and our communities.

The theme of the conference is Just imagine!, which will lead us to imagine – and in some cases reimagine – what God wants to accomplish through Christian women in the 21st century. We already have some amazing guests lined up, who will help us unpack Ephesians 3:20 and 21: ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory.’

We will explore what it means to be: rooted and rested in God; loved and lavished on by God; and empowered and energised by God. We invite you as worshippers and seekers to come to the Riverbank conference to meet with other women and discover a place where we can encounter God in worship, engage in Christian teaching and explore our God-given potential.

• Further information and online booking are available at salvationarmy. org.uk/riverbank-womens-conference and via facebook.com/sarmyfm