God's Design – Perth

Happy New Year! It’s time for one of those obligatory posts on the highlights of the previous year and what you can expect to see as we move ahead into 2016.

2015 was a quieter year than I had planned for the God’s Design – Perth blog and ministry, due to a number of significant health problems in our family which made the year more than usually challenging (and oh, we are used to doing challenging in this house!). I am praying that 2016 will be a more pain-free and less difficult year for me and my family, and that this will lead to some exciting things for this ministry. Your prayers for me, my family and this ministry at God’s Design Perth are greatly valued!

Nevertheless, despite so little activity on the blog in 2015, there were some very exciting highlights:

• The Surprising Men of the Old Testament post was re-blogged by fabulous blog, The Junia Project here and was also featured in Christians for Biblical Equality’s weekly roundup of top blog posts.
• A piece I was invited to write for Christians for Biblical Equality appeared in the Arise e-newsletter just before Christmas. Entitled “Mary, Did You Know?“, it used the style of questioning from the modern carol of the same name to consider what questions Mary might have contemplated about how Jesus would change the world for women like herself. Christmas may be over, but I hope you agree with me that it’s still worth a read.
• I am feeling very honoured to know that the “Mary, Did You Know?” piece was also listed as a “great post” by Brian Harris of Perth’s Vose Seminary in a recent blog post. Brian comments, “I’ve now read it several times, and every time I think ‘gosh, this is really good’” – I’m  humbled and very pleased to get such a review from someone I respect. Also humbling was to know that the piece was also picked up by Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog.
• Despite the quieter than planned year, the site has still had over 1000 views in 2015. The majority came from the US, followed by Australia and the UK, but reached readers in 34 different countries, including Saudi Arabia, Greece, India, Sweden, Indonesia, Peru, Poland and Zambia. Yes, some of those locations surprised me too!
• The most viewed post was Surprising Men of the Old Testament Part 2, closely followed by Part 1 of the same.

Well, that’s 2015 done and dusted. What does 2016 look have in store?

The big news is that the God’s Design Perth Bible study course is set to run at least twice this year – once later this month as two slightly-more-than=half days (limited places still available), and in term 2 or 3 over 7 evenings. The course material is currently undergoing a substantial edit and is being reviewed by a number of trusted advisers, including a biblical scholar, two pastors and a missionary. I’m very excited about the course running in 2016 and at the interest it has received so far. There will be more information later this week – so stay tuned!

If you are looking for a speaker/workshop presenter at a camp, conference or local church event in Western Australia (city or country), I’d love to talk with you about it. Topics include (but are not limited to), “Proverbs 31 Woman: More Than Just a Pinterest Supermum?”, “Surprising Men and Strong Women of the Old Testament,” “Men and Women in God’s Story – from Creation and Fall to the New Covenant,” “Radical Encounters of Women with Jesus,”  “Paul – Friend or Foe of Women?” I’d love to hear from you if this is of interest.

I am hopeful that you will see more regular posts from me, and that you will see my work appear in a few other locations along the way.

More than anything, it is my hope that my work will bless you and help you to grow more in love with our awesome God this year.

To receive email updates from God’s Design Perth or to follow us on Facebook, click the links near the top of this post on the right. Feel free to leave a comment below – we welcome comments which engage the topic respectfully.

If you are interested in attending the God’s Design Course or inviting Bronwen to speak, contact godsdesignperth@gmail.com.

Featured image courtesy of http://www.visioninspired.com.au.