From 17-19 May 2024, a special conference took place in Bonn/Germany: For the first time, the Evangelical Alliance of Arabic Speakers in Europe (EAAS-Europe, an affiliate member of the European Evangelical Alliance) in cooperation with Anty Ministry, from Lebanon gathered women from all over Europe for an Arabic-speaking women’s conference. The conference was entitled ‘Women and Identity’ and dealt with three topics: Women’s role in society, Women’s role in the home and Women’s role in the church. The theme verse for the weekend conference was Proverbs 14:1: ‘The wise woman builds her house. But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.’  

During the conference, presentations were given by many able and experienced leaders on a rich variety of topics, including ‘Women’s Identity & Value in Christ’ (Dr Amal Touma), ‘The Psychology of Women & Men’ (Dr. Heba Daowd), ‘How to start and lead a small group’ (Dr Rev. Asaad Touma), ‘Women in Worship’ (Dr Susanna Hanna), ‘The Role & Effect of women in the church’ (Dr Amal Touma), ‘The Essential needs for humans generally & for women specifically’ (Dr Heba Daowd).  

In addition to the lectures, there were workshops and small group training to support women in starting small groups in their churches. Much emphasis was placed on prayer and counselling: Dr. Rev. Assad Touma, Dr. Amal Touma and Heba Daowd spent a lot of time with the women in prayer and counselling sessions during the three days of the conference. The cross-cutting themes discussed during the weekend were: The God-given value of men and women; their nature and their similarities and differences; and the potential for conflict as well as ways to resolve it. The focus was on the fact that all people called by God into ministry have needs that must be met and challenges that need to be faced.  

Welcoming remarks were given by Hannelore Illgen from the Hope for Europe Women in Leadership Network on behalf of the Women’s Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Professor Thomas Schirrmacher, President of the International Institute for Religious Freedom and Matthias Boehning, Operations Manager of the European Evangelical Alliance. All the greetings contained messages of encouragement for the women present, who through their participation in the conference, proved themselves to be pioneers in a special and innovative field of development in the Kingdom of God.   

The women wanted to stay in contact to help each other build and successfully develop their small groups according to the principles of Rev. Daowd. A WhatsApp group was started for further exchange. In addition, the organisers (EAAS-Europe and Anty Ministry) decided to hold an annual conference for Arabic-speaking women in Europe. These two measures are intended to further strengthen and expand the tangible unity and strong community that emerged among the women during the conference.  

Pastor Elia Daoud from Bonn, the host and main organiser of the conference, looks back on the conference with great happiness and gratitude: ‘Thank God, by the end of the conference, we received positive feedback from the attendees. They referred to the points that the conference was useful for them, that the subjects covered really spoke to their needs, and that erroneous understanding about their nature and their value were positively changed. All of this indicates that the event achieved its goal. The women were happy with this event and would like more similar events related to the topics of women, family & youth. My special thanks go out to everyone who contributed to the success of this conference. We are thankful to God for the opportunity of this meeting. It was a great blessing for many of the women and it helped to equip women leaders to know their real identity in Christ.’ 

Speakers, from left to right 

Dr Rev. Asaad Touma, Dr Amal Touma, Dr Heba Daowd, Pastor Elia Daoud