What are the needs of women, and how are they working to meet those needs?
Rhoda Keener, co-director of Mennonite Women U.S.A., led a presentation and discussion surrounding these needs at the assembly.
Keener explained that Sister Care seminars, which are given all over the world, are made up of four units:
- Claiming our identity as God’s beloved daughters
- Caring for self and others
- Compassionate listening
- Transforming grief and loss.
The units recognize the need for self-actualization in women and for them to understand their power as caregivers before they can learn to listen and provide care to their sisters.
Although Sister Care is a ministry of MC U.S.A., Keener said the need for women to address their self-worth and provide care for others is universal, whether the seminars are given in India, Colombia, Kenya or Canada.
MC U.S.A. is training people to be Sister Care leaders and have translated its manual into Spanish and K’ekchi, a Mayan language. Some Brazilian women are also currently translating it into Portuguese, so it will be more accessible to women worldwide. A DVD with 12 lessons will be available next January to equip even more Sister Care leaders, and, for the first time, a Sister Care seminar will be offered for a college-aged audience at Goshen (Ind.) College.
The next seminar in Canada will be held in Cambridge, Ont., from Oct. 3 to 4, 2014.
Nearly 3,000 women have attended Sister Care seminars since it was established, Keener said, and even men have found it important because the storytelling is powerful.
To see links to more Assembly content, go to Stories and images of Assembly 2014.
Read more about Sister Care here.
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