The TEKAN Women 2016 Skill Acquisition training
The TEKAN Women 2016 Skill Acquisition training
It has been an annual event for the Women Leaders of all member denominations of the Tarayyar Ekkilisiyoyin Krista a Nijeriya (TEKAN) to gather in skill acquisition training. The Lutheran Today was at the 2016 edition of the workshop which was held at the TEKAN headquarters in Jos on the 26th to 30th of July.
The Assistant secretary of the TEKAN Women Fellowship Mrs. Deborah Augustine told the Lutheran Today that the Programme have been very impactful in the lives of the women such that the continuing training has become expedient. She said the fellowship desired that the women are empowered and their lives made meaningful by way of contributing to the development of their homes and the church. “We want our women in our churches to be impactful; we want to discourage idleness among the women in the churches. We want them to be enterprising; we want them to be self-reliant even when their husbands can take care of the family they should also contribute because no one knows tomorrow. When you look at our country today women are often left to take responsibilities and some are caught unprepared. We are teaching our women to brace up for the future challenges that they may encounter.” The secretary said over the years the women leaders have been able to learn various entrepreneurial skills that have been stepped down to the congregations in each denomination. “We invite resource persons in various areas to teach us these skills so that we will take it down to the congregations and teach other women. Over the years we have seen how these skills have changed our lives. At this workshop some have come to display what they are producing. We have women who have learned the tie and dye, pomade making and other skills.”
According Mrs. Augustine the coming together of the women leaders to learn under the same atmosphere has also increase the bound of fellowship among the women from different denominations. “Our coming together has no doubt increased our fellowship and unity. This year we have delegates from 13 member churches, it means that only two churches have not been able to make it here. This workshop is designed to assist the women in their day to day lives.”
The sponsorship of the programmee is done by the TEKAN body of the women also through the registration that is collected at the workshop. “Each church is expected to register with a certain amount and all the 13 churches here have paid registration fees, without it you will not be given the training manual.”
The Leader of the TEKAN Women Fellowship Mrs. Kuli David said the workshop has been a thing that most women leaders look forward to. “The whole thing is every year we change topics just like preaching we are always facing new things; the women are getting more and more interested in it. This year we have a theme: “Oneness in Christ” the speaker dealt with the topic and we have been refreshed. We claim to be one but we are not one. We have maintained some level of differences among us. There is selfishness among us. We had teaching on natural foods. We have learnt that the processed foods we are using have been the cause of some of our health problems. The leaders will have to step down the training they received. We will find out from them by September if they have done so. Last trainings women learnt how to make bags, soap and others, they are doing it now and many of them are earning a living from it. They have brought samples here. There is a woman from MBCN that brought some sample as a gift.” Mrs. David said her desire is to see that the women in the churches are empowered. “I don’t want to see any woman living in poverty or living a bad life. We teach them integrity and here they will learn some practical. As we do this we want them to learn some business skills also and we will check next time to see how they have used what they have learned.”
The General Secretary of TEKAN Rev. Moses Ebuga said the women in TEKAN have been very instrumental in the bound of the fellowship in the body. He thanked God for the successes recorded in the past programmes of the women fellowship. “I want to appreciate God for the women Fellowship because the skill acquisition and the teaching that comes every year. I also want to encourage them that whatever they have learnt here they should ensure that they have passed it on to the rest at the various churches. One of my teachings is that women should be the change we want our churches to be. Do you want to see the church growing? The women should be empowered first. Women are backbone of the every society. They should be the change we need. We will have a progressive and strong church if they apply what they learn here. The issue of lack of jobs will not arise among them. They have learnt natural cure of some common ailments this they can use to keep their families healthy. As the GS I always encourage the women to see to the success of their programmes. Our challenge is that it is not all the churches that may have same attitude towards things like this; but we will get there one day. We are in a very hard time. Financial challenges are everywhere but I call on the churches to support the women and ensure that all that they have learnt is practiced because by helping the women we are helping the church to propagate the gospel.”
The Leader of the LCCN Women fellowship Mrs. Mary Solomon who was also at the workshop told Lutheran Today that the LCCN women have benefited from the previous workshops because the leaders after learning like that ensure that they stepped it down. “After attending the workshop every July at the TEKAN body we usually organize our own at the headquarters in August every year to step it down. Our women have benefited so much from it. We have women who are doing these things and are earning from it. We have plans to encourage more women to practice what they are learning. The women should use the knowledge and not depend on a salary that is not even coming.”
It has been an annual event for the Women Leaders of all member denominations of the Tarayyar Ekkilisiyoyin Krista a Nijeriya (TEKAN) to gather in skill acquisition training. The Lutheran Today was at the 2016 edition of the workshop which was held at the TEKAN headquarters in Jos on the 26th to 30th of July.
The Assistant secretary of the TEKAN Women Fellowship Mrs. Deborah Augustine told the Lutheran Today that the Programme have been very impactful in the lives of the women such that the continuing training has become expedient. She said the fellowship desired that the women are empowered and their lives made meaningful by way of contributing to the development of their homes and the church. “We want our women in our churches to be impactful; we want to discourage idleness among the women in the churches. We want them to be enterprising; we want them to be self-reliant even when their husbands can take care of the family they should also contribute because no one knows tomorrow. When you look at our country today women are often left to take responsibilities and some are caught unprepared. We are teaching our women to brace up for the future challenges that they may encounter.” The secretary said over the years the women leaders have been able to learn various entrepreneurial skills that have been stepped down to the congregations in each denomination. “We invite resource persons in various areas to teach us these skills so that we will take it down to the congregations and teach other women. Over the years we have seen how these skills have changed our lives. At this workshop some have come to display what they are producing. We have women who have learned the tie and dye, pomade making and other skills.”
According Mrs. Augustine the coming together of the women leaders to learn under the same atmosphere has also increase the bound of fellowship among the women from different denominations. “Our coming together has no doubt increased our fellowship and unity. This year we have delegates from 13 member churches, it means that only two churches have not been able to make it here. This workshop is designed to assist the women in their day to day lives.”
The sponsorship of the programmee is done by the TEKAN body of the women also through the registration that is collected at the workshop. “Each church is expected to register with a certain amount and all the 13 churches here have paid registration fees, without it you will not be given the training manual.”
The Leader of the TEKAN Women Fellowship Mrs. Kuli David said the workshop has been a thing that most women leaders look forward to. “The whole thing is every year we change topics just like preaching we are always facing new things; the women are getting more and more interested in it. This year we have a theme: “Oneness in Christ” the speaker dealt with the topic and we have been refreshed. We claim to be one but we are not one. We have maintained some level of differences among us. There is selfishness among us. We had teaching on natural foods. We have learnt that the processed foods we are using have been the cause of some of our health problems. The leaders will have to step down the training they received. We will find out from them by September if they have done so. Last trainings women learnt how to make bags, soap and others, they are doing it now and many of them are earning a living from it. They have brought samples here. There is a woman from MBCN that brought some sample as a gift.” Mrs. David said her desire is to see that the women in the churches are empowered. “I don’t want to see any woman living in poverty or living a bad life. We teach them integrity and here they will learn some practical. As we do this we want them to learn some business skills also and we will check next time to see how they have used what they have learned.”
The General Secretary of TEKAN Rev. Moses Ebuga said the women in TEKAN have been very instrumental in the bound of the fellowship in the body. He thanked God for the successes recorded in the past programmes of the women fellowship. “I want to appreciate God for the women Fellowship because the skill acquisition and the teaching that comes every year. I also want to encourage them that whatever they have learnt here they should ensure that they have passed it on to the rest at the various churches. One of my teachings is that women should be the change we want our churches to be. Do you want to see the church growing? The women should be empowered first. Women are backbone of the every society. They should be the change we need. We will have a progressive and strong church if they apply what they learn here. The issue of lack of jobs will not arise among them. They have learnt natural cure of some common ailments this they can use to keep their families healthy. As the GS I always encourage the women to see to the success of their programmes. Our challenge is that it is not all the churches that may have same attitude towards things like this; but we will get there one day. We are in a very hard time. Financial challenges are everywhere but I call on the churches to support the women and ensure that all that they have learnt is practiced because by helping the women we are helping the church to propagate the gospel.”
The Leader of the LCCN Women fellowship Mrs. Mary Solomon who was also at the workshop told Lutheran Today that the LCCN women have benefited from the previous workshops because the leaders after learning like that ensure that they stepped it down. “After attending the workshop every July at the TEKAN body we usually organize our own at the headquarters in August every year to step it down. Our women have benefited so much from it. We have women who are doing these things and are earning from it. We have plans to encourage more women to practice what they are learning. The women should use the knowledge and not depend on a salary that is not even coming.”
