So begins the charter of the newly-established Bethany Association that was unanimously ratified by the sisters at the Third International Women’s Single for the Lord Conference.

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Seventeen women from Sword of the Spirit communities throughout the world gathered at St. John’s Retreat Center in Plymouth, Michigan, U.S.A., October 22-25, 2009. We were generously hosted by the Word of Life community (Ann Arbor, Michigan), whose members prepared the way for us by their prayer and expert planning, welcomed us warmly, hosted us in their homes, and served us in many ways during the days of the conference.

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The Fruits of the Conference
When we sisters first met together in 2005 and began to build relationships with one another, we realized that we shared a common vision and a common desire to find a means to network and support one another in living out our call to live single for the Lord within the Sword of the Spirit. At our second conference, held in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2007, we came to a decision to move toward forming an association for that purpose. In the two years since then, much effort went into writing and reviewing several drafts of a charter describing our statement of ideal in living single for the Lord and our rationale for forming an association. At our recent conference, sisters with a lifelong commitment as well as several with a full commitment gave a final review of the charter – and wholeheartedly and unanimously accepted it. Three lifelong-committed sisters from Manila who were not able to be present also added their voice to the ratification.

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The establishment of the association is quite a significant and profoundly meaningful development for us. As Samy Samaniego (Jesed Community, Monterrey) said, “I’m very happy that in the last ten years the Lord has been doing awesome things. This is a miracle. When the Lord called us, we were all apart. Now we are no longer by ourselves. We have each other. Now that I know I have my sisters in other communities responding to the Lord, it is a joy in my heart that I cannot explain. I am willing to help in this, to serve in this. There are more sisters and I do not want them to pass through the darkness I went through. I want to thank my sisters, the founders, who have opened their lives to help me. I can see how the Lord is taking us by the hand and is leading us, and I just want to follow him. I am very grateful to the Lord.”

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Newly-elected President of Bethany Association Jeanne Kun (Word of Life, Ann Arbor) noted, “I've been impressed with God's determination to do this. Some in the Sword of the Spirit have been wondering if there would be more sisters living single for the Lord. After the loss of the 'sisterhood' in Ann Arbor in 1990, my biggest concern was finding my own way of continuing to live single for the Lord and not necessarily looking for something beyond that. Now I’m in awe that God has chosen and called sisters from different places to be visible to the next generation.” 

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A sister from Ireland said, “God was so present during our time together. It was overwhelming for me. I wept with joy through the ratification process and naming of the association. I had been waiting for a while for God to do something with us as a group, but I never thought he would do this so quickly and easily.  I feel this is a miracle of God alone. I am so full of joy that God has come down to earth in this way for us – and united us across the Sword of the Spirit. ” 

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The conference also provided an opportunity for us to strengthen relationships among us as women coming from diverse cultures and countries – Ecuador, the Philippines, Northern Ireland, Thailand, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the United States. We enjoyed rich times of sharing and fellowship, deepening past friendships and forming many new ones. We were also built up by inspirational teachings on the conference theme “The Lord is my portion” (Psalm 16:5) and on the beauty of the Lord.​

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