Finding Peace in a War-torn World? – Women’s Workshop

Wednesday 9th September 2015, 1.30pm-3.30pm at The Vine Church, Riches Road, Ilford IG1 1JH  

“Finding Peace in a War-torn World?”

35 women from different backgrounds and faiths attended this event at Vine Church in Ilford to discuss this topical question.  The afternoon started with a cream tea and a reminder that this was an historic day for womankind as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II would become Britain’s longest reigning monarch, passing the record set by Queen Victoria over 63 years, seven months and two days.  A short time of silence enabled the women present to reflect on this achievement .

An interesting talk from a member of the Ba’hai faith community followed explaining that unity and peace is the main teaching of this faith group which was founded in 1844 in Persia by Bahaullah, a messenger of God, stressing the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity and the oneness of the world.

Questions were invited from the floor and then the women broke into small groups  to discuss their responses to the following questions:-

  • What does peace look like?
  • How can we achieve it?
  • Do peace and spiritually go hand in hand?
  • How do we find and maintain our own peace and spirituality?
  • How important is the role of a woman in the peace process?

The small discussion groups gave everyone a welcome opportunity to speak and share openly and freely  their opinions and beliefs and listen to others.

The small groups fed back their answers in a whole group session and discovered a lot of mutual ground such as prayer, meditation, reflecting on scriptures as being helpful ways of finding peace but also some variations with different aspects of worship or reflection being described.

Comments received following the workshop included

“It was my first women’s workshop and I loved it.  I learnt so much about other people’s faith and loved the gathering”

“An excellent session – so many positive thoughts and much opportunity to learn from others”

“The general input of all members was valuable”