I still don't get it.

A couple of weeks ago Hilary, Greta, and I went to the Belong conference in Columbus, Ohio.  While it was still a good conference, it was not what we expected.  When it was first presented at the final Women of Faith conference, we felt that it would be changed a bit to hit the younger generation of women while still appealing to those who had attending WOF for many years.

What we experienced was more like a motivational seminar.  The speakers were good. The music was decent.  The atmosphere was positive.  However, there was the absence of worship music, praise teams, and scripture, even references to how God worked in the speakers' lives.  Yes, there were a few references to God, but not enough to really focus on spiritual growth or empowerment.

After checking the FB posts for the event, we felt like others shared our views, while some were very positive about the change in format.  There was a stress on appealing to younger women who were not involved in a church and giving them a safe place to Belong.  I get that.

When I received a response on my FB post, asking me to private message my phone number and a member of the Belong staff would call me to chat about my feelings on the weekend, I did send both my cell phone and home phone numbers.  Yesterday I received the call.

I explained how Greta, Hilary, and I felt - all three opinions.  What the rep said in return, however, was a little unsettling.  She said that this conference was really for those women of ALL ages who did not know Christ, and it was to show them that  conferences like this that were Christ based would not be threatening to them, since many wouldn't walk into a church per se because they did feel threatened or uncomfortable.  They felt that they reached more women over the weekend and brought more women to Christ than if they had stayed in the previous WOF format.  I am a little stunned about that because how can we bring women to Christ and to believe if very little about Christ is spoken of or sung about. 

I was further told that if I AND my daughter AND my sister needed more in-depth study, then a Bible study offered by our churches or small groups would serve that need.  That is not what this conference was about.  Also we could listen to worship music in our cars or on CD and that would suffice to give us the musical aspect of our faith; we didn't need to hear it at the conference.

The more she talked, the more I felt like she was talking down to me.  Since Cooper was peddling around the living room on his tricycle and making quite a bit of noise, and since I felt like it would be pointless to argue with her, I didn't.  I had already decided that I would be looking for something different to attend in the future.

I agree that more young women need to find Christ and we as older women need to find ways to do that.  At our church we have young moms groups and a strong youth program with  adult sessions available for the parents.   What I don't understand is how we can proclaim that more women are coming to Christ after a weekend when Christ wasn't the focus.  How can that be?

A comment was also made that the evening session opened SO much discussion in hotel rooms and in the vehicles driving away after the session ended, and that the trips home were full of discussion on Saturday evening.  Greta, Hilary, and I did talk about the session and we used the booklet as a guide, but the prompts had nothing to do with spiritual growth.  "What if I could do something on my wish list?"  or "What if I could learn something new?" or "What if I could changes something about my job?"  All good questions---but there is nothing in them to lead to a discussion of faith.

I just didn't get it.  I still don't. 

Women of Joy?  Where are you?