Maya Pilbrow
8 May 2023
Hundreds of women gathered to worship and study the gospel together at the Entrust Women 2023 conference.
Women of all ages braved the wet weather on Saturday morning to meet at New Hope Baptist Church and hear from Christian women in Victoria.
The morning began with worship songs led by an all-women band before event MC Sarah Allen introduced the first of two keynote speakers, both members of Anglican parishes.
Holy Trinity Doncaster lay minister and GAFCON Australia board member Fiona McLean spoke for 45 minutes on John chapter 14, looking specifically at verse 6, “I am the way and the truth and the life”.
She said Jesus’ claim to be the truth was emotionally and intellectually satisfying because it fulfilled a need for objective truth.
Ms McLean said living in a post-truth world made it difficult to trust the beliefs and narratives of others.
She said relativism had shattered our world into shards of individual truth, so no one got a clear picture of reality.
“Whom can we trust? Who’s telling the truth? Brittany Higgins or Bruce Lehrmann? George Pell or his accuser?” she said.
Ms McLean said in a world where many Christians had troubled hearts, it was comforting to be able to accept Jesus as utterly trustworthy.
She said there was no life without Jesus, and that life must be accepted on His terms.
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The second keynote speaker Laura Paul discussed John chapter 15.
Ms Paul said the Jesus’ statement “I am the true vine” was not a command for his followers to bear fruit, but a request that they abide with and reside in the word of God.
Ms Paul said this message was especially important for women, who were often expected to multitask and perform emotional labour.
She said bearing fruit meant making space to meditate on Jesus’ teachings.
Ms Paul said we lived in a world that struggled with obedience, but it was important to obey Jesus thoughtfully in our hearts even when we did not fully understand his commands.
The conference also featured testimony from converts and Christian book reviews.
Entrust has been running conferences for eight years.
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