It was a privilege to represent WICC at the 17th Asian Church Women’s Conference (ACWC) and the ICFLC 43rd Annual Meeting in Hsinchu, Taiwan from November 5 – 12. ACWC is held every four years and ICFLC usually plays a significant role in the conference. Liza Lamis, Executive Director of ICFLC, worked on the planning committee and her role helped ensure the success of the event.
It was a joy to share the ACWC event with 60 women from 13 Asian countries. It was especially meaningful to me because some of the women were from Myanmar. My church in London, Ontario has supported a number of Karen refugees from the same area. To be able to share fellowship and worship with all of these women was uplifting and a blessing.
ICFLC’s Annual Meeting followed the ACWC event. Our main purpose, apart from the usual Annual Meeting agenda, was to finalize the Strategic Plan for the next two years. Unfortunately, not everyone could make the in-person meeting, but two members joined us by Zoom. All participants worked hard to complete the task.
The completed Strategic Planning document focused on three main areas – Advocacy, Engagement and Financial Sustainability. It was agreed that the organization needs to do more to promote the prayer movement by keeping the FLC story relevant within our regional contexts. We plan to achieve this by reaching out to our church families and in particular inter-church families. Grant and scholarship recipients will be invited to Zoom meetings to share what they have done with our support and how they could be more involved with FLC. Many other ideas for expanding our network were discussed and written into the document. Watch this space for more information throughout the year!
It was a special moment for me on behalf of WICC to find out that our Grant application for the After the School Bell Food Program in Nova Scotia was approved for a grant of $4000. The funds will be sent in May 2024.
Some dates to keep in mind are:
March 15, 2024 – closing date for Circle of Prayer submissions
June 28, 2024 – Call to Prayer
June 30, 2024 – Closing date for Project Grants and Scholarship Grants Applications
September 2024 – new FLC Liturgy for Ingathering Service becomes available
In closing, the theme of the ACWC was “Women Caring for God’s Earth” (Romans 8: 20-23). ICFLC is proud to work in partnership with them.
by Cathy Reid – WICC Board President and FLC Liaison