The Bible clearly speaks about the ladies’ involvement in spiritual ministries. In the Old Testament numerous ladies were involved in God’s ministry in the areas of fasting, prayer, music, prophecy and so on. In the New Testament also we can read about many ladies who were called and dedicated to witness and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

According to the history recorded in the Gospel of Luke, the front runner of the New Testament ladies ministry is Anna, a prophetess from the tribe of Aser, who was also a widow and of a very old age. When Simon was praising God in the temple, holding the Baby Jesus in his arms, Anna also had the privilege to stand along with him and praise God. Then she “spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” That was the beginning of the ladies ministry in the New Testament. She who was tarrying day and night with fasting and prayer, not departing from the temple, looking forward to the coming of the Redeemer, after getting the privilege to see the Messiah, started to share with everyone that good news.

I believe all the sisters have the responsibility to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. While it was angels who first declared to mankind about the birth of Christ, it was a few sisters who were given the duty to announce the glorious message of His resurrection. Even though no women were appointed to the office of the apostles in the first century church, the New Testament speaks about many sisters who had contended with the apostles and labored much in the cause of the gospel. Women not only have the responsibility of witnessing and evangelizing, they also have ministries in the areas of prayer and Christian charity.

The ladies ministry of the Eben-ezer Church of God is a ministry that started in 1987 as a result of the desire of the sisters who were aware of their responsibilities. Though we must admit the fact that we were able to do only very little evangelizing, God enabled the sisters to get together regularly and do intercessory prayer from the very beginning of this ministry. Every Tuesday morning the ladies come together in meeting for prayer. I am very happy to say that we were able to receive answers from the Lord for almost every matter we prayed for in these prayer meetings. Also we have a ladies ministry meeting on one Saturday of every month in the church. We see very good participation from our sisters for both of these meetings. We thank God for our pastors who lead these meetings and teach us from the Word of God. Our annual ladies meeting conducted along with the Annual Convention of the church each year has been a great blessing to everyone including our guests. For a few years it has been our practice to conduct quarterly seminars in the church with the young girls who are members of our youth group.

God enables us to go out as small groups, visit families which are going through various difficulties such as sicknesses, accidents and other kinds of problems and to comfort them by praying and sharing the Word of hope with them. The sisters utilize the opportunities they get to share the gospel with coworkers, neighbors, and people they meet. It has been a practice of our sisters to fast and pray one day every week for our young generation that God may bless them and keep them. We also have been able to see the results of such prayers in the lives of our young people and offer thanks to God for that.

The funds we have from the offerings received in the monthly meetings and special contributions have been utilized to aid selected places in the mission fields of North India and elsewhere and charity works including buying sewing machines and helping to meet marriage expenses for underprivileged sisters in India.

We are grateful to the pastors and all the brothers of our church who encourage the women’s ministries. The current officials of the ladies ministry are:

Sister Sosamma Daniel – President
Sister Saramma Mathai – Vice President
Sister Annie Ninan – Secretary
Sister Susan Geevarghese – Treasurer

These sisters are doing a great job in their respective responsibilities. Also I am thankful to all the other sisters who served in such capacities in the previous years who also had done wonderful jobs for this ministry. I certainly want to appreciate all the sisters of our church, young and old, for their prayer, participation, and support for the success of the ladies ministry.