by Heather Hanton
We are designed to be in community. We crave it. We need to be known, heard, welcomed, accepted and loved. Yet, finding a place where we fit can take time and be difficult.
That’s why in 2015 the Central Territory Women’s Ministries Deprtment launched Embrace. Created by Cadet Sarah Micula, the Embrace program utilizes a small-group setting and a question-based format to encourage purposeful conversations that build friendships and sisterhood in the Body of Christ.
Today, Embrace is used in more than 100 corps across the territory and has spread to the Eastern, Southern and Western U.S. territories, as well as in the Canada and Bermuda Territory.
The program is reaching women from all walks of life with its beautiful, Kingdom-building purpose. For instance, one leader shared that a member finally forgave a grudge she’d been holding onto for years and found freedom; another leader reported two families began coming to Sunday worship. Still another cited her members’ use of texting to share prayer requests daily.
This year as we REIMAGINE women’s ministries and celebrate Embrace’s fifth anniversary, we are excited to be “Going Deeper.” This new component has been added to each of the four monthly questions to prompt more in-depth conversation. It’s the meat to the bones of the otherwise non-threatening questions.
As the topics of empathy, sacrifice, majesty, victory, honesty, searching, trust, hope, transparency, boundaries, and peace are explored this year through Embrace, we are excited to see what God will do.
Visit: www.uscwomensministries.com
