Esther Collective member Zoë Davis reviews the brand new first book of author Hannah Fytche, ‘God’s Daughters’.
God’s Daughters is a book written by a hugely talented young woman called Hannah Fytche, who is currently in her first year of studying theology at university. She hopes for girls to realise that they are ‘loved, held, accepted, enough’ and has written this book for those who are fed up of trying to be good enough, and feel under pressure to be prettier, cleverer, or holier in order to be accepted.
Please join us in helping to raise the profile of GB all around the world by showing your presence in your local community. Over the past three years many GB members have engaged in a range of exciting events to let GB be seen. GB makes a difference – it transforms lives and enriches God’s world – and we need to let people know this!
Let’s tell our story. By getting involved you can:
Raise awareness the global situation in regards to some of the issues facing girls and learn more about what being a girl is like in different countries.
Raise money for GBI’s GIVEaGIRLaHOPEfund to help fund International projects
Raise the profile of GB in local communities – celebrating 123 years of mission among girls
GBI have produced a Walkathon resource to help you plan your event. Please join in!
2016 Easter Message from the International President
Greetings to our worldwide family
‘Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
The story of the first Easter day begins with the women folk on a mission! They had a conviction that their responsibility was to take spices to the tomb and felt called to anoint the body of their crucified Lord. Think about that mission:
It couldn’t have been easy – organising the spices in a strange city would have been a feat in itself
It would have been costly – spices were not cheap!
It would have been challenging – getting up so early before anyone else was about
It was possibly dangerous too – identifying with a condemned man.
And in addition to all this: They knew that the task they had set themselves was in reality almost impossible! (more…)
Chibok Girls: 731 days on
731 days on and 219 young women remain missing and separated from their families in Nigeria.
On 14/15 April 2016, it will be the two year anniversary of the abduction of the Chibok Girls in Nigeria. GB International is asking all its members and friends to join together in praying for these young women and the many others affected by Boko Haram’s violence.
The resource also provides an update on the difficult situation in Nigeria and urges us to pray for these young women, the many other people who have been affected by violence as well as their families. Since 2009, 15,000 people have been killed and over 2 million have been forced to leave their homes
As a movement, Girls’ Brigade cares about how girls around the world are treated. We aim to bring hope into girls’ lives, and freedom brings hope! That’s why Girls’ Brigade members from around the world are joining together to pray for the Chibok school girls in Nigeria (six of whom are members of The Girls’ Brigade).
Please join us as we continue to raise hope for girls.
The Gathering 2017
Bringing together over 150 Millennial leaders from across the Girls’ Brigade family, The Gathering 2017 will be held in Accra in Ghana on 5 – 12 August 2017. Building on the positive impact of the 2013 event in South Africa, The Gathering 2017 will bring together 18 – 35 year old GB women for a week of fun, faith development and fellowship
Organised by a team of young women from across the world, The Gathering 2017 will:
Provide lots of opportunities for you to have fun and make new GB friends
Enable you to identify and develop your God-given gifts
Develop you as a Christian leader
Equip you to turn up the volume of hope for girls
Enable you to input your voice, opinions and ideas to GB International
The event will respond to GBI’s 2017 International theme ‘Be Empowered’. More programme details will be released in the months ahead.
What an amazing challenge 18- 35 year olds in GB Africa will be facing in December (12th – 19th) when they meet in Harare, Zimbabwe, for the Unite Africa Gathering
Sessions ranging from career advice to sex and reproduction; understanding culture to being empowered as a Christian woman will certainly have an impact as the women get together and look at life in Africa and globally through the eyes of God’s love for them.
GB Queensland ‘Leadership 2015’ – all about the ‘shift’
‘Leadership’ (this year attended by 5 GB young leaders from the Solomon Islands) is a program developed by GB and BB in Queensland over a number of years, and is a hugely successful initiative that enables young women and men to grow spiritually and in life and leadership skills.
‘Leadership’ has fostered a strong and lasting community of young women that remain connected into GB Queensland long after their involvement in the program. There’s quite a collection of ‘Leadership’ tee-shirts too – promoted through the annual unveiling of the themed ‘tee’ of the year at the end of the week long course.
As you can see from the pic 2015 was all about Christian leadership calling us to be ready to shift gear to be lead like Jesus.
New Girls’ Brigade opens on the Solomon Islands
It’s exciting to see 3rd Honiara Girls’ Brigade Company reopened at the South Seas Evangelical Church, following a gap of over 30 years! Originally established as a GLB company in 1949, the work closed in the 70’s but now between 45-50 girls and young women are gathering regularly for GB again, and the four leaders are being kept really busy developing the work that began again in Honiara just over a year ago.
This great story of development is now continuing for GB and BB on the Island as Laeheng Sasabule and the GB Solomon Islands GB team, supported by a training team from BB Queensland earlier this year, facilitated training for 11 GB and 9 BB leaders in the area.
As a result of these links GB Solomon Islands was able to send 5 Pioneers (14+) to Brisbane for the 2015 GB/BB Queensland ‘Leadership’ program.
Greetings from the President’s Committee Meeting
Greetings to GB friends around the world!
My greetings come from a chilly but bright Summer’s day in London. I though you might like an update following our 2015 President’s Committee meetings, which took place recently in the UK. At ICGB, in 2014, we designated 2015 as the year to Be Expectant and we identified a number of things that we wanted to focus on as we moved forward in GB internationally. Through our discussions and agenda items at our IPC meeting we explored each of these in turn and below I share just a taste of what we discovered, planned and hoped for.
On Saturday 21st March 2015 the Hagen Urban Girls Brigade Company decided to go to Kalina Village which is situated 5-6 kilometers outside the town of Mt. Hagen in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The purpose of our going was twofold.