1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,920 Good morning, women of Trinity. I've got Karen and Jordana here with me. They are part of 2 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:15,360 the Women's Ministry that we have going at Trinity Streetsville. If you're just joining 3 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:19,440 us, we're going to do a little conversation. We're going to have a little chat in between 4 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:26,240 our two services with, as I said, Karen and Jordana. They have been involved in some events 5 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:31,520 and some activities with Women's Ministry. I know that they have some in store as well for us. 6 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:36,000 I can't wait to find out more about what's in store for us. Thanks for joining me. 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:39,520 Thanks for having us. We have the men of Trinity for the Men's Ministry 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:44,000 join us about a month ago. I've just been counting down the dates that we could have the women 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:52,400 join us. Now I'm really listening. Before we begin, I do have a little game to play with you, 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,960 too. I did not tell them about this game. The fear that you see in their eyes is real. 11 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,160 In front of you, ladies, you see some pieces of paper. We're going to start with Karen. 12 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,120 Karen, could you just pick that piece of paper up and point it towards the camera? 13 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:14,240 You're going to see it, actually, Karen, on the camera. If our amazing tech stuff can turn off 14 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,320 our camera there. Don't look, Karen. Close your eyes. There we go. We've got a camera. 15 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:25,200 So you know, perfect. They're listening in. So, Jordyna, can you, in one word, try to see if 16 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:32,160 you can get Karen to guess this person? Now, this is called a women of the Bible guessing game. 17 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,680 So there is a person there that is a woman in the Bible. One word. One word. And then we're 18 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,200 going to see if Karen can guess it. And if she doesn't get this person in that word, 19 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:48,560 then you can give her another word. This is actually based on the old game show called Password. If 20 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:54,960 you need to do a hyphenated word, that's all right. Can I tell, can I give a name? Yes, 21 00:01:54,960 --> 00:02:00,880 as long as it's not the name of the person. More than I. Well, I'll be honest. You can see 22 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:06,880 through the paper. I can see through the paper. Okay. All right. So I would not have got it from 23 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:14,160 that. But I can see that it's Esther. It's Esther. So Karen can see through the paper. So next time 24 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:18,960 she's going to close her eyes. Perfect. All right. That's actually, I think my hardest one too. So 25 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,640 next time we're going to have you close your eyes. So no cheating for the next one, Karen. 26 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:30,160 At least she's honest. Wonderful. That's a good word. I didn't know it. The only one woman associated 27 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:36,080 with him. Very good. And I think there was a study on the book of Esther with women, 28 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:41,040 not too long ago. So yeah. So there you go. All right. Jordana, it's your turn. And I'm going 29 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:45,200 to kindly ask that you close your eyes just in case you can see through the paper as well. 30 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,480 All right. Oh, she's got it with a book behind her. She's very good. All right. There's another 31 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:56,800 famous woman in the Bible. And I'd like Karen to take a look at that woman. Can you give a word? 32 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:07,280 Boaz. Oh, Ruth. Well done. All right. These ladies know their Bible. All right. Next word, 33 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:13,760 Karen. Perfect. It was Ruth. It was Ruth. I'm not sure which person I thought. 34 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:19,520 There we go. I hope the camera can see that with my tiny writing there. 35 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:33,520 Mother. Mother. Mary. There you go. Come on. Exactly. Perfect. Jesus is mother. I did have 36 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,760 to put in brackets Jesus is mother because we've got a couple of Mary's that pop up in the Bible, 37 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,200 don't we? All right. And Jordana, you're very last one. Okay. Oh, she's got her book ready to go. 38 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:49,680 You guys are good. Maybe we should have this game in one of our future women's ministries events. 39 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:57,520 All right. I'm going to ask you not to use another name. Okay. Just making it a little extra challenging 40 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:05,920 for her. We can see the word sin. Hmm. Original sin. 41 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:15,920 All of these are women, right? It's a woman. Okay. Then it's Eve. It's Eve. Absolutely. 42 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:22,080 Camera can go back on. I was about to say Satan. No, no, no. Sin. That's right. We had to remember 43 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:27,120 it was famous women in the Bible. So well done. You're very good at that. And you're good sports. 44 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,520 So we're talking about women's ministry and I was wondering if maybe Karen, 45 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,160 you can start us off and Jordana, feel free to jump in. But I'm wondering if you could 46 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,240 define or describe for us what is women's ministry maybe in general, 47 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:46,880 but then what does it look like here at our church? So women's ministry in general is 48 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:59,040 providing programs and ways for women to connect through ministry, through friendship, through 49 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:08,880 learning, through social events, different things like that. So it's yeah. I love that you use 50 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:14,720 word connect because I know that through different events, that's how we actually get to know one 51 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,600 another within a church. Coming together on a Sunday morning is great, but the connection often 52 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:24,400 happens outside of the church or outside of the church service, I should say. Yes. So what does 53 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:30,560 it look like here at Trinity specifically? What can we expect or what do we sort of have going on 54 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:35,600 at the church? Well, right at the moment, we have a women's Bible study, which Jordana will talk about 55 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:46,160 in a couple of minutes. So we've had, do Bible studies. We try to provide these as both online 56 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:53,840 and in-person engagement so that it's available to everyone. We had had some women approach us and 57 00:05:53,840 --> 00:06:01,520 say, well, I don't drive at night. And so with the pandemic taught us that we can do these things 58 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:11,920 virtually and we can still connect together and learn together. I love that. Yeah. We do, 59 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,680 in the past, we have done retreats where we've gone away for a weekend, like the men are away 60 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:26,320 this weekend. Right. Yeah. Waiting for our turn. We have done women's days apart, which we'll talk 61 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:36,480 about a little bit later again. And we do women's breakfast. We've done women's hikes. And we've had 62 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:44,400 craft events, worship painting and things like that. Excellent. So I hear a lot of diversity in 63 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:49,120 there. So really something that might reach out to all women. Exactly. All these events, which is 64 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:54,720 great. It's great. So maybe I'll ask you, Jordana, why did you want to get involved in women's ministry 65 00:06:54,720 --> 00:07:02,240 here at the church? So when I was just about coming back to church a few years ago, I think my only 66 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:08,720 connection was through the moms group with Jen Cessin. And it was really nice to be able to just 67 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:17,520 sit with other women and connect and chat. And it was a good place to reconnect with people 68 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:26,160 at a time when I couldn't necessarily come on a Sunday every day time. So once the pandemic sort 69 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:35,360 of began to subside, and I was coming to church very regularly, I thought that's a good place to be. 70 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,320 I wanted to connect with other women. I wanted to continue studying the Bible. And there was a need, 71 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:47,600 I think, for it for that. There was a hunger for it. So that's got me first working with Jen 72 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:55,520 on an online Bible study. Okay. And then just continuing with that to just see how we can 73 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:03,520 get people conversing again after the isolation of the pandemic. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And 74 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:08,880 then so what brought you into wanting to sort of take a leadership role in the women's ministry, 75 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:21,840 Karen? I was actually part of a women's ministry team back in the 1990s here at Trinity. And it 76 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:31,680 sort of disbanded. And then as we started having more reason to connect and get back together, 77 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:40,640 it just seemed like a natural fit for me to come back into that ministry. And there were people 78 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:49,680 that were interested, but nobody really wanted to lead the team. And so I was happy to do that. 79 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:54,960 That's wonderful. Yeah. We're really happy to have both of you. I know I'm speaking personally, 80 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:59,760 I'm very happy to have both of you taking on some of those leadership roles for the women in the 81 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:05,760 church. Now, I'm going to ask a question. One that I think is sort of challenging, but also sort of 82 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:11,600 more or less just really interesting in a world where equality is really in the forefront of a 83 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:19,120 lot of our public conversations and gender equity is a hot topic. And why would we focus on women's 84 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:24,080 ministry? And we've got men's ministry as well, instead of just people ministry. What do you 85 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:31,200 think the value of having a women's ministry is? I think women long for a connection in a way that 86 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:42,320 is different than men. Men have a want to connect in a different way than women do. And so much of 87 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:56,480 what we do is as couples or as the masses. And through women's ministry, having that connection, 88 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:04,000 because women have different issues. Like Jordana was saying, she started coming to the 89 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:13,280 Mums group. And so that was a way to connect with people who were at that same similar stage of life 90 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:18,640 who also had young children, have young children. And that's a group that's still going. It's not 91 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:26,000 officially under the women's ministry banner, but in a lot of ways it is part of women's ministry. 92 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:39,440 Women like to connect and form relationships in different ways than you would as a couple. 93 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:48,720 And sometimes you need that different type of support than you can get in a men's, 94 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:53,840 like in a combined ministry. Right. No, I think I completely understand and completely agree. 95 00:10:53,840 --> 00:11:00,160 Do you have anything to add to that, Jordana? Yeah, just from my experience with the Bible 96 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:06,400 studies, when it's only women getting together, there's just more personal sharing. I just second 97 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:12,720 what Garen says that when you're comfortable with just other women, there's a baseline of 98 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:19,200 understanding that does not need to be consistently explained and verbalized. And there's plenty of 99 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:24,880 small groups where there are men and women throughout the church. So there's plenty to engage in that 100 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:32,960 is open to everyone. But this is slightly different because it creates that space for personal struggle 101 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:40,560 or to be verbalized, I think, in a way that might not. If it's another man and not talking about 102 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:45,360 your partner, I'm just talking about other men, right? Who are more strangers. And so, of course. 103 00:11:45,360 --> 00:11:52,720 So it does create a different dynamic for sharing and connection, I think, than something that is 104 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,000 for both. Absolutely. Now, I'm going to jump ahead in my questions a little bit because I want to 105 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,880 talk about some of the activities that we had last year and then look forward to some of the 106 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:07,360 activities that we're going to have this coming year, or at least ones that are planned. And let's 107 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:12,880 start off by talking about something that we had called the Women's Day Apart. Now, some of you who 108 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:18,720 are watching or listening in may have been a part of this event, but I know, Karen, that you were 109 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:24,000 one of the organizers of that. And we have a beautiful prop, or I shouldn't say prop. It's a 110 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,320 quilt for those of you who might be listening and can't see it, an absolutely gorgeous quilt 111 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:33,520 that was made by the women at the Women's Day Apart last year. So can we talk a little bit about 112 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:38,640 that special day? And maybe as Karen's talking, we might block your face a little bit. But, 113 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:43,680 Jordyna, we practiced this earlier. Jordyna, if you could help me just hold up the quilt and maybe 114 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:52,000 Karen can just talk about it. Sure. So the Women's Day Apart last year, what we did, we had a speaker 115 00:12:52,000 --> 00:13:02,000 from by the name of Dr. Wanda Malcolm, who's a professor emeritus of pastoral care at Whitcliffe 116 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:10,320 College. And she came and led us through a reflective retreat. And this particular, where the quilt 117 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:19,040 came from, is we read through Mark VI, we read three different versions. And while we read that 118 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:29,760 slowly and reflectively, the women who were at the Day Apart painted what they heard or what they 119 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:42,240 felt. Now, and we dubbed it paintings for God's fridge. And truth be told, we did not tell the 120 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:49,520 women ahead of time that this is what we were going to create. So each woman did their own 121 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:55,360 painting. And then at the end, we said that we were going to have it made into a quilt. So, 122 00:13:55,360 --> 00:14:05,680 Janet Figaro, she and her daughter actually made this into the quilt. I didn't know that. Yes. 123 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:10,480 It's beautiful. Yeah. And so this is something that we're hoping will be displayed somewhere in 124 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:19,840 the church. I love it. And other aspects of that day, we had a movement, a centering movement, 125 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:29,840 a session we had, a session where people could create Anglican prayer beads. We had a session on 126 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:40,400 Visio Divina, Electio Divina. And we had a session on spiritual friendships. So when we have the 127 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:47,360 Women's Days Apart, like we'll have a keynote speaker come who will lead us through some 128 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:52,320 different sessions. And then we have breakout sessions. Wow. That sounds great. I actually 129 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:57,600 missed it last year, I remember, but being kind of disappointed that I missed it because it looks 130 00:14:57,600 --> 00:15:03,440 great. What I love about just looking at this quilt, seeing that obviously several, I'm going to 131 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:08,720 say about 40 women were inspired and by the scripture, the same scripture passage. But I 132 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:13,600 see how it came to life in so many different ways for these women. And it's that just right there 133 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:20,080 is a testament to the life that Jesus's word brings into our lives and how it can be experienced 134 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:26,320 individually. Which is just beautiful then to share that with one another. So yeah, 135 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:31,600 we'll definitely get that put up in the church somewhere. I think it's great. But we have other 136 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:36,080 activities coming up this year as well. I've heard some rumblings, but nothing official. So maybe, 137 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:40,960 Jordy, can you tell us a little bit first of all about the Bible study happening right now? And 138 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:47,440 then we can talk about what we have in store for the women of Trinity. Yeah, we've just begun a seven 139 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:54,240 week study going right through the Bible. This is the study guide, if you can see it. It's seamless. 140 00:15:54,240 --> 00:16:02,080 It's called by Angie Smith. And it's a very quick study that goes through just the main 141 00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:12,800 narrative arc of the Bible. It's creation. What are the different ones? It's creation, the patriarchs, 142 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,840 the exodus, the kingdom and the prophets, the messiah, the letters of Paul, and the letters of 143 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:24,080 Paul move into the final letters as well in Revelation. So you end up just going through a sense of the 144 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:30,560 story from beginning to end and where we fit in and how it comes alive. So that's a very quick 145 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:35,360 study. And it's really neat that Rob is doing that kind of a narrative arc through his sermon 146 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:40,320 series. So we're really glad that it'll intersect that way with what our study is doing. That's 147 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:45,360 right. We're starting a new sermon series beginning today all on the Bible. We're calling it the 148 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:49,440 Bible for grownups. And I'm not sure if you had a chance to see that outside in the lobby. 149 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:56,560 That's Brian, who's one of our church parishioners here, made a Bible out of wood where he actually 150 00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:02,720 has little pieces of wood that represent the different books within the Bible. So it's all 151 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:09,040 coming together. It's all coming together. Trinity, we are well aligned today. So what else do we 152 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:18,800 have in store? On May 25th, we have a women's breakfast. And we're really kind of honored and 153 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:26,320 excited. The men's ministry have approached us about cooking for us and serving for us that day. 154 00:17:27,120 --> 00:17:35,200 Wow. Which is great. It's really cool. And we are looking at what we're going to plan for the fall. 155 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:42,480 We are going to plan a women's day apart again for later in October. Okay. So mark your calendars. 156 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:50,000 And then we're looking at maybe doing some hikes and some different things like that. 157 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:55,040 Excellent. And we're always open to suggestions as well. 158 00:17:55,040 --> 00:18:01,600 All right. So I think what I'm going to do in the links below this when I put this into the 159 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:06,240 podcast on YouTube is I'll put some of the links to the registrations for those events. 160 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:12,240 And as well, feel free if you are watching, you're a woman to connect with Karen or with 161 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:19,840 Jordana or even just info at trinitystreatsville.org. And we will be happy to receive some of your 162 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:25,120 suggestions or get you connected in with the women's groups. And we're always looking for 163 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:30,320 new members of the team as well. Okay. Perfect. Now, I'm going to leave us with one of the questions 164 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:36,560 that I had in here. And that was this is official women's ministry that we're talking about. 165 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:44,800 But what does informal women's ministry look like here at Trinity? Is women's ministry only, 166 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:51,520 I guess my question is only within these organized events, or is the goal to empower and to enable 167 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:56,480 women to continue those connections outside of the organized events? Well, I think there's a 168 00:18:56,480 --> 00:19:04,240 perfect example this morning with Jane and her family being baptized. Yes, congrats, Jane. And 169 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:13,360 Jane came to Trinity through Alpha and her table leader was Ali. And Ali has continued to mentor her 170 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:24,560 since Alpha finished and encourage her and and Jen does the same thing through the mom's ministry. 171 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:31,840 Mm hmm. And, you know, there are connections that are made through whether it they can be made 172 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:36,240 through life groups. Mm hmm. For example, Elizabeth, you and I are in the same life group, 173 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:43,200 which is a women's life group. That's right. And there's mentoring that goes on there were and 174 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:51,680 one of the things that we would really, really love is to get some younger women involved and 175 00:19:51,680 --> 00:20:02,080 attending and reaching out to the younger demographic. So looking for ways that we can do that as well. 176 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,960 Right. Right. Yeah. That's great. Actually, so what we're hearing is sometimes it's through these 177 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:13,680 organized formal women's ministry, whether it's a Bible study or a day apart, that these connections 178 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:19,360 are formed, but then they're fostered and they grow outside. So I'm going to leave it there. I just 179 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,840 want to say thank you for joining me. Thank you very much. And I look forward to, I look forward 180 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:29,440 to the breakfast. I'll tell you that for sure. And again, I'm going to put some links in at the 181 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:50,800 bottom of the podcast for you. So thank you. And we've got another service to get to.