Presbyterian Women from County Tyrone meet for PW annual conference

Women of all ages in Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) congregations from across County Tyrone gathered to worship and find out how Presbyterian Women – or PW as it’s known - has continued to make a difference to the lives of so many across the country and overseas this past year, at the organisation’s annual conference in Belfast.

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Supporting the development of ministry among women in PCI congregations, upwards of 1000 women attended the meeting where they heard that Mental health and counselling at home and supporting Christian broadcasting across the Middle East and North Africa will be the special projects Presbyterian Women will be focussing on this year.

Founded over 130 years ago the annual conference, which is the largest event organised by PCI after its General Assembly, also heard from guest speaker, Rev Ali Calvin, the current rector Christ Church in Kilkeel, who spoke on this year’s theme ‘Being Transformed’, which is taken from Romans 12:2.

Pauline Kennedy, PCI’s Women’s Ministry and PW Development Officer, explained that Presbyterian Women is an organisation within PCI, “that enables, encourages and equips women to become disciples of Christ. We are very blessed as an organisation of some 450 groups, many of which come from County Tyrone, as we are able to do more together than we could do alone. Together, PW is a real partnership that is able to support the development of ministry to women in the Church each year, and support our Mission Fund annually to the tune of around £300,000. We are so grateful for the generosity of our groups up and down the land who also enable us to support our various special projects,” she said.

Esther Parker, Ann Wilson, Ali Calvin, Pauline Kennedy at the Presbyterian Women's Annual Conference.

In her address, Presbyterian Women’s President for the forthcoming year, Ann Wilson, said that it was good to be able to come together without the restrictions of the recent past. “We are thankful to God that this past year so many PW Groups have got up and running once more, despite the challenges they may have faced. Moving forward hasn’t always been easy, and for some of our groups difficult decisions have had to be made...”