Women around the world are struggling. From violence to harassment to a lack of educational and job opportunities, so many women around the world today face incredible challenges.
But thanks to your support, women are learning the Gospel and sharing it faithfully. They are leading ministries, teaching God’s Word to their families and children, and starting churches. No circumstances and no challenges can stop a woman of God.
Never Too Late
In the Middle East, men often treat women as second-class citizens. Many are not afforded educational opportunities and are illiterate. But scores of women are now taking Bible League’s Bible-based Literacy courses to learn how to read and write.
Women like Nadia, a mother who learned to read at age 32.
“I hadn’t been to school before,” she says. “I knew the alphabet and some math because I would observe my siblings when they studied. My husband used to insult me because I was illiterate. ‘You are clueless,’ he’d say.”
She thought it was too late for her to learn, but she was wrong. After completing the course, she’s able to read everything, from her Bible to hymnbooks. Today she’s helping her kids with their studies. She and her children even write down verses from the New Testament as a way to learn God’s Word and practice their reading and writing.
“Sometimes I even cried because I couldn’t read the Bible.”
“Before getting educated, each time I attended a meeting at church, I felt ashamed. Sometimes I even cried because I couldn’t read the Bible,” she says. “I feel like I’m a new person.”
Nothing Stops Her
More than two decades ago, Isabell accepted Christ as her Savior and has been serving Him faithfully ever since. She graduated from Bible League’s Church Planter Training 18 years ago.
Today, she’s leading Project Philip Bible studies with more than 70 children in a remote area of Ecuador.
“The kids here have access to one school only, and the school is about an hour away by canoe,” she says. “Most of them do not have the resources to receive an education or even boats for the journey to school. The children’s social needs in this area are great, but we know they also have a huge spiritual need.”
COVID-19 forced her and her family to change the way they minister to these children. There is one public phone in the community and Isabell calls to speak to the children often. “We cultivate the Word of God in the hearts of those kids, and that effort and dedication will not return empty.”