Training Women to Lead Bible Reading Clubs

June 27 was an amazing day!  Nearly two hundred women from around our province converged at Boniface’s school for a day of encouragement and training regarding the Bible reading clubs they lead for the ladies in their churches.  We invited both the leader and the assistant leader from each of the 127 clubs registered for 2026, whose combined total membership is two thousand women.  

Some ladies walked all day Friday from their remote homes to the meeting point for the transportation we provided.  Others rode motorcycle taxis for distances up to twenty miles on Friday evening or the wee hours of Saturday morning.  Before dawn, local pastors ushered the participants from their districts into vans with whose drivers Boniface had negotiated.  At 8:30 am, after hours on the road, vanloads of women began arriving at the school, some joyously singing hymns in harmony.  The ladies were dressed in their finest, with colorful cloths serving as wrap skirts and headscarves, and they wore bright smiles in anticipation of the fellowship and training they’d come to receive.

I brought the first message, using the story of Mary Jones to inspire hunger for God’s Word.  Next, four leaders from different districts shared their clubs’ testimonies.  Pastor Diamantino showed how Scripture transforms the lives of those who internalize it, enabling them to impact their community for Christ, then explained how even uneducated Africans can read and understand the Bible.  After a break, Matilde issued a clarion call for servant leadership flowing from love for Christ, and Anabela passionately described strategies for dealing with a lack of Bibles, illiteracy, language barriers, and comprehension challenges.

In the subsequent session, Francelina detailed how to lead a reading club meeting, asking each member to share something she gleaned from that week’s chapter.  Then we divided into groups, led by outstanding club leaders I’d briefed during the break, allowing the others to learn from their example by participating as members in a well-conducted meeting.  Lunch was next, followed by my talk about the formation of parallel Bible reading clubs for teen girls and new women in the church unable to keep pace with the experienced readers.

Matilde oriented the ladies on how to fill out the club manual with reporting on each member’s reading and suggested strategies for encouraging those who fall behind or give up.  We spent ten minutes in corporate intercession for God’s blessing on our labors to inspire women to read His Word.  Francelina clarified our policy on prizes for those who read all the indicated chapters for each year, reminding the leaders that everyone’s ultimate motivation should be knowing God and exhorting them to report honestly on their club’s progress.  Many stood to testify of the blessings that their Bible reading club has brought in their lives and communities.  Finishing at 4:00 pm, we took a group photo before the ladies boarded the vans that had arrived to take them back to their home villages.

God’s hand of favor upon the event was evident from beginning to end.  I was awed at how perfectly each speaker delivered the messages on the topics assigned to him or her.  Stephanie was an outstanding emcee, keeping us on schedule and facilitating question-and-answer sessions after each talk.  Farizana translated tirelessly all day between the national and the local language, since some women understand only one of them and many understand better when hearing messages in both.  Tarsi labored intensively at the registration table:  marking who was present, verifying names and contact information, checking club rosters, and giving Bibles and motorcycle taxi money to those indicated.  The transportation and meals flowed seamlessly in Boniface’s hands, as did the sound amplification and video recording which Teque managed.

Thank you so much for contributing to the success of this leadership training through your prayers!  Please continue to diligently intercede for our provincial network of women’s Bible reading clubs, asking God to give the members a burning desire to know Him that impels them to conquer their significant obstacles to reading and understanding Scripture.  May the leaders persevere in serving the Lord through patiently, humbly motivating their friends to be women of the Word.  And may He grant to me, to Francelina, and to the rest of our central team the wisdom we need to plan for the next months and years of this ministry so that it bears much fruit for His glory.