Motivation Monday - The Reason For Gather
“Gather is committed to see the voices of women represented in equal value and strength in all kingdom conversations taking place across our nation and beyond. Gather is committed to see the presence of women in equal value and strength in every area of influence including the local church. ”
In 2021, Joyce Chang, 28, was doing a google search for Christian women leaders that could provide mentoring when she came across Gather Women. She applied for the DevelopHer Internship program, and in her words:
“Gather changed my mind set about myself. It helped me to grow in confidence in my skills and my strengths. I found women who supported me, encouraged me, not just within Gather but outside. I learned my worth is not how much I produce, but my identity is completely rooted in God who He says I am.” Watch her story here https://youtu.be/3phIE3m9Q6s
A few years back, as I flew home to Canada from yet another American women’s conference, I asked, “where are the women?” Pastor Eugene Cho had offered the challenge: “the grass is always greener on the other side. You need to go home and water your own grass.”
I knew I was being called to cultivate the soil, the mission field, between my two feet, which was the work of raising and releasing Christian women in Canada.
Gather organically grew to become the network that leaned into powerful questions that were being asked in the hearts and minds of others. What would it look like if Canadian women of faith coast to coast were stronger together through a connected network? If they were championed in their callings, unified in their geographically, generationally, denominationally and culturally diversity?
A gap existed in Canada for a national woman's initiative that linked women of faith to each other and offered opportunities to connect face to face and virtually; a gap not filled by any existing organization. A poverty mindset poverty existed, evidenced by the ever-increasing influx of and reliance on imported resources, conferences and speakers from outside Canada. Who was committed to the work of investing in our national ‘talent’ by identifying and developing potential in our own women?
Gather is committed to see the voices of women represented in equal value and strength in all kingdom conversations taking place across our nation and beyond. Gather is committed to see the presence of women in equal value and strength in every area of influence including the local church.
What we believe about the value of women is of vital significance. What message does the Canadian church offer women in the 21st century? What message are we sending to the world by how we value and mobilize our daughters? What is it costing when half the church’s gifts go untapped?
Gather is an invitation.
To champion a culture of support as we walk out our callings; unified and diverse.
To connect us all regionally and nationally
through a robust network on the ground and online.
To call forth a national voice for Canadian Christian women, coast to coast.
Do you see yourself in the story of Gather? We see you. We love you. We are here to serve you. To raise you up. To come alongside you in your journey. We are inviting you to see yourselves in the greater story of God being written on your hearts, and in our churches and across our nation.
The story is not and will never be complete, without you.
God Bless,
Cathie