A Pot in His Hands: Reaching out to Women During the Coronavirus Pandemic

During the Coronavirus pandemic, it was hard not to notice all the damage it caused, not only financially but also emotionally. Bethlehem Bible College’s “A Pot in His Hand,” a counseling and guidance ministry for women acted to reduce as much damage as possible through its programs and social media. Dr. Madleine Sara, the ministry’s founder and director, said that they, as a team, changed their usual techniques to match these new conditions, and tried to reach out to women during this pandemic.

“The lockdown started in Bethlehem at the beginning of March. At first, we didn’t present any events or courses, because we were waiting and expecting this to end and return to our routine. After four weeks, when we saw that this was not going to end anytime soon, my team and I gathered through Zoom and put in place an action plan for the upcoming weeks. We decided to start filming short videos with strong messages, and writing short devotions or quotes related to the situation to encourage people to make it through this time.”

Each one of the team took a specific subject and talked about it from her own experience. For example, the working mom in the group filmed a video called “Super Mama” about her life with kids, including working from home during the lockdown. The student in the team talked about her experience in studying online. Dr. Madleine, as a mom of teenagers, spoke about dealing with teenagers. She also shared a video about the feelings of fatigue and stress while at home. One team member did a series of three videos called: “Journey into the Depths of Myself.” Another one filmed a video about organizing our lives during this time, separating work, home, and personal life, while staying at home and doing everything from the same place. The team tried to cover all the topics that they felt were needed.

Dr. Madleine did a free course in raising children for the community through Zoom: “I had students from Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and different countries. This course opened for me the opportunity to do an online course in a church in Egypt about family and crises and it was such a success.”

Dr. Sara proceeded with her one-on-one counseling meetings through Zoom. At the same time, she was continuing with the monthly meetings. The team arranged different events through Zoom about flexibility, adaptation, and mental health in light of crises. Women from all over the country participated and were hungry to hear a word of encouragement during these dark times.

Dr. Madleine commented: “One of the things that we noticed is how much these meetings, the small videos and quotes we shared on our Facebook page, touched the women’s lives. We observed a need for encouragement and hunger for the word of God among women, especially during this time. Women started to ask us to speak about specific topics,” she added. “We got different messages from people telling us how much the posts helped them in some way or another. We felt that the greatest thing people or women in particular needed was things about family, the relationship between partners, tips on raising children, and teenagers.”

Now the ministry’s team is working on the 14th issue of “A Pot in His Hand” Magazine. The theme focuses on crises and the new routine we are now obliged to live. The articles in the magazine will be giving advice and teaching skills on how to live this new life. In the near future, the ministry will be continuing to do meetings through Zoom until they are allowed again to meet in person.

We want to encourage you to support this ministry by praying for it and the team. As Dr. Madleine says: “Usually women’s ministries are treated as lower than other ministries. So please pray for us as we continue to teach about women’s role in the church and community. You can also support us by sending us educational materials, providing us with training conferences, and of course, financial support.”

You can support “A pot in His Hand” ministry here:

https://bethbc.edu/support-the-college/

To read more about the ministry’s work:

https://bethbc.edu/womens-ministry/