Lausanne World Pulse – LAUSANNE REPORTS – Mentoring Young Women Leaders in the Lausanne Women’s Network

By Robyn Claydon

Mentors are often, though not always, older people who are happy to give time to another by providing support, friendship, wisdom and advice. A mentor makes his or her personal strengths, experience and knowledge available to another to help that person reach his or her potential. Let me tell you about some of the young women who are part of the Lausanne Young Women Leaders Mentoring Network.

Women all over the world are ministering for Christ.

Evangeline started a school under a tree in the slums of Hyderabad, India. Today she is principal of the school (which now numbers 560 students). Evangeline has also started a ministry for women and children in a nearby village for those who have leprosy and has recently started a church there. I had the privilege of speaking to hundreds of children during one Vacation Bible School (VBS). Evangeline organizes a VBS each year for the Hindu, Muslim and Christian children from her school and from the surrounding neighborhood.

Elke has a vibrant Bible teaching ministry in Germany and is a preacher and convention speaker in many parts of Europe. She is also an author and is currently the Lausanne International Deputy Director for Western Europe. Elke and I have ministered together in many different parts of the world.

Christel, a German Christian and a young mother, is a speaker and editor of a German women’s magazine. I have twice spoken at women’s conferences which she has organized in north Germany.

Eva is from Croatia. She is an excellent speaker and Bible teacher. She and her husband are ministering in a church they have recently built. My husband and I were privileged to be at the baptism of a group of people who had recently come to faith through her ministry. Many of these individuals had drug-related backgrounds.

Hilda is from Tanzania and has recently been ordained. Her thesis was on the role of women in the Church of Tanzania. She is currently lecturing at the Bishop Madinda Christian Formation Centre. I first met Hilda when she was working in women’s ministry in Dodoma and invited her to the conference in Berlin. After the conference she decided to go to theological college to prepare for the ordained ministry.

Olga is from Russia and has just finished her doctorate. She is dean of students at a theological seminary in Moscow. She is also a speaker, Bible teacher, author and has recently spoken on the importance of theological education for women ministers at an international women’s forum. I look forward to ministering with Olga in Moscow later this year.

I met Irina in Moldova where I was ministering at a women’s conference.  Irina was a young Christian woman with great leadership potential. I invited her to the mentoring conference in Berlin; as a result of that time she decided to go to Prague to get a master’s degree in theology. She is now back in Moldova teaching at the College of Theology and Education in the capital, Kishinev.

There are so many more: Xiaoli, who is preparing to minister in China; Charlotte, who is preparing for ministry in Sweden and has an outstanding music ministry in Europe; Christina, who is about to go to Africa for ministry with her husband; and Jolly, who is in Kolkata involved with a ministry called Word Made Flesh which works in the red light district of the city.

These and hundreds of other outstanding young Christian women are the future leaders of the Church worldwide and each one of them is committed to using the gifts and opportunities the Lord has given them to share the good news of the Lord Jesus with others and to equip leaders younger than themselves to do likewise. And so the mentoring goes on as older leaders stand alongside those preparing to take the reins in ministry. May God bless, sustain and guide them.

Comments on this article

This is a great work. I am also into women and development. This network is powerful. I see that the work of our master will be done faster. When will Robyn coming to Nigeria?

Stella :: 19 Jun 2006