Over the past year, I’ve had the joy of working on a fun project with some of my favorite women friends! We’ve titled it Some Adventist Women. And right now, it exists on Instagram with the handle @someadventistwomen.
So, what is Some Adventist Women exactly? Below is an excerpt from an article I wrote to introduce the project. Also below are the recordings of my personal top 3 conversations that we’ve had on @someadventistwomen, in reverse chronological order.
- Biblical Masculinity vs. Toxic Masculinity with Israel Ramos and Sebastien Braxton.
- Domestic Violence and the Church with Steven and Tamara Conway.
- Mental Health and Race with John Lee and Tenesha Patrick Brooks.
We’re about to start a whole conversation series on race, racism and the church. Don’t miss it! Head over to IG and follow the account!
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@SomeAdventistWomen Just Want to Talk
Growing up into adulthood in the Adventist Church, I have been blessed with a group of brilliant, godly, and wise women as peers. With this cohort of women, I spent my younger years dreaming about changing the world, thinking through social and theological issues, and navigating school, ministry, singlehood, career, and relationships together.
While I am not unique in this experience, I also know there are others in the church, especially women, who may not have similar camaraderie or support system as they journey through life. This aloneness (and have we not known aloneness in a much deeper level during the pandemic?) can be such a heavy spiritual and mental burden.
The desire for a deeper connection, perhaps triggered by pandemic isolation, sparked an idea between the aforementioned group of women in the spring of 2021. Professionally, we are a lawyer, a public health officer, a historian, an engineer, and an editorial assistant. Yet as different as our professions are, we are bound together by a deep desire to live as faithful Seventh-day Adventists and to expand the breadth and depth of women’s conversations in the church. Concurrently, we also want to invite other women into our conversations and friendship, and hopefully let them know that they are not alone.
This was the origin of Some Adventist Women.
What is Some Adventist Women?
Some Adventist Women is an Instagram-based project that provides space for Adventist women to engage with the most pressing issues in society today, inside and outside of church.
In our regular church life, at least in my experience, there are numerous topics relevant to women’s experiences that do not get enough airspace. Topics like mental health, career, work/life balance, being Adventists in secular spaces, singlehood, race, current events, and many others, intersect and collide profoundly in our lives. But it’s hard to talk about them in depth when we’re rushing to feed hungry children after church or when we’re socially distanced.
For many, this is a felt gap. Some Adventist Women is an attempt to fill this gap. We want to platform conversations—to create a space where women can talk and wrestle through things with both gravitas and humor. It is a community where we can center women’s narratives and see things through women’s perspectives, as numerous and varied as those could be.
“Part of this is going to be thinking out loud,” as Sikhu Daco, one of Some Adventist Women leaders, says. “We’re processing along with you as we go through the topics. I think maybe that’s even more valuable than the conclusion. It’s allowing a process to happen, allowing ourselves to think through things, giving ourselves permission to not know and to try to figure stuff out as we go along.”
My Personal Top 3 Conversations So Far
1. Biblical Masculinity vs. Toxic Masculinity with Israel Ramos and Sebastien Braxton
View this post on Instagram
2. Domestic Violence and the Church with Steven and Tamara Conway
View this post on Instagram
3. Mental Health and Race with John Lee and Tenesha Patrick Brooks
View this post on Instagram
Some Adventist Women is the brainchild of Amy Ratsara, Michel Lee, Josephine Elia Loi, Sikhu Daco, and Thando Amankwah. The opinions expressed in this platform are our own and do not represent our respective employers.
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