Restore My Heart
Women of Excellence Conference
Jakarta, Indonesia, March, 2008
Denise Glenn, founder of MotherWise Ministries and author of Restore My Heart Bible study, was the guest speaker at the Women of Excellence Conference for 2008 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Denise, who currently lives in Perth, Australia, brought together a MotherWise team to pray, build relationships and lead small groups in the conference:
Sue Ford, Australia; Judy Williams, Jakarta; Debbie Ward, Texas; Patrice Arnold, Lori Ballington and Claire Crigler from Georgia. The local team was made up of committee members from Women of Excellence, 2008.
190 ladies came to the Hotel Santika in Jakarta on Friday, March 7. The conference included Saturday, March 8, which was International Women’s Day, as well as Sunday, March 9. Over 34 ministries and churches were represented. Ladies from the ages of 22 through 65 attended. Many were from Indonesia and other parts of Asia but also there were many ex-pats from the US who are living in Jakarta and surrounding areas working for US companies and serving as teachers in schools.
As our team began to know the ladies and have opportunities to visit with them, we had the privilege of listening to hearts’ cries for needs to forgive and for forgiveness; seekers of Christ’s love and salvation; needs of spiritual leadership in their homes; lost trust from humans but found trust in Christ; leaders who had been hurt while serving in ministry; those healing from fresh grief or loneliness; hurt from divorce; struggles with being the only Believer in their family. Truly, as Denise spoke from Restore My Heart, many women found peace in Christ. It was a marvelous retreat for many women.
Our team found ourselves in a country where people are very willing to help others in need, beauty in nature that could only compare to our dreams of the Garden of Eden, many people working very hard from early in the morning until late at night, people leaving full time secular jobs at the end of the day and then going to give of themselves in various ministries, more traffic than you could ever envision and, of course, satan at work overtime in any way he could find possible.
Before we went to Jakarta we were warned by many people that it could be dangerous and that there were people in Jakarta and other parts of Indonesia who did not want Westerners in their part of the world. What we found were warm, loving people who are willing to be receptive to God’s love if they are only given the chance.
Again we recognized that our mission through MotherWise is to train people in Indonesia who will train and equip Indonesians, who will then be able to reach their own people. Teaching the people of Indonesia how to apply God’s word to their daily lives is not our project…it is their project. We were asked, in relation to Matthew 24:14, what is our “bridge” to reach others for Christ? It is the water of God…to drink it in ourselves so we can share it with others, swim in the deep water in relationships with God and people and to water the vine so that the vine life of Christ can flow through us to others. We also heard that we need to know, in each country, the needs of the people…not their wants. It was verified to our team that it is very strategic to take international teams to do ministry to ex-pats because they need to talk to people in confidence who do not live in their present country.
We were blessed to be able to spend a day actually seeing the island of Java and then visit a ministry that night that serves as an orphanage for older teens from one of the Indonesian islands. These teens were brought to Jakarta for safety and education and what they are finding is Christ. Another day we were blessed to visit a ministry whose sole purpose is to accurately translate scripture into the many languages of the native peoples of Indonesia. They taught us all the things that translations entail, the least of which is learning the heart, culture, history and native tongue of the people.
I think I can speak for each member of the team that when we committed to join the team, we were simply following God’s invitation through obedience, not knowing what was ahead in Indonesia. What we found was God’s love in a country many miles from our homes and a longing to serve Him in whatever way He chooses to call us.
Claire Crigler, Team Leader
