Green Pastures

Internationally renowned evangelist, Donna Crouch, the executive pastor at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, will be the guest speaker at this year’s Passion Conference at Green Pastures (GP), the People’s Church in Galgorm.

Now in its second year, Passion is a weekend event intended exclusively for women.

Running on the evening of February 24 and all day on February 25, the conference is expected to attract hundreds of delegates from all over the province. Last year’s gathering – during which author and pastor, Holly Wagner was guest speaker – saw more than 650 women attend over the two-day event.

Organiser, GP’s pastor Lorraine Wright, will also be among those addressing Passion delegates this year.

“Last year, we were just blown away by the number of women who came,” said Lorraine recently. “The worship, the word that Holly brought, everything was just beyond what we’d hoped for and we knew then that Passion was going to happen again this year.”

Lorraine went on to explain why she had decided to invite Donna Crouch to speak at this year’s conference:

“It’s not just what she brings to the platform,” she said. “When I look at her, I see a Proverbs 31 girl and I think that’s just what all our girls aspire to. And I think she’s like that every day of her life, she’s dedicated to Jesus and the church and she has her own family, but she’s an amazing and inspirational person too.”

The theme for this year’s Passion Conference will be Warrior, Daughter, Princess and its designated charity will be the Freedom House. An element of GP’s Compassion Ministries programme, the Freedom House will shortly provide secure, God-centred residential accommodation and assistance to women suffering from life-controlling issues, such as eating disorders, drug addiction, self-harm and depression.

Pamela McGlade from Compassion Ministries will be talking about the project to delegates at this year’s Passion Conference.

According to Lorraine Wright, the Passion event is aimed at “ordinary girls” who need help to develop their aspirations:

“What we often see is the world telling women that they’re not enough, they’re not pretty enough, not thin enough, not cool enough, but what we say is that God is enough for anyone,” explains Lorraine. “We want these girls to come away from their everyday lives and from those people that would tell them they don’t have it in them and to realise that this is for everyone. We want to see these girls rising up and becoming what the world would never have believed that they could.”

As usual, there will be a number of activities ongoing for women during the conference, including relaxation and pampering sessions and a marketplace where exclusive handicrafts and jewellery will be on sale. Refreshments will also be available and lunch will be served on Saturday, although this isn’t included in the cost of attendance.

A ticket for the full event costs £25 or women can choose to attend only in the evenings (£10 each day) or all day on Saturday (£20). Tickets are available from reception at GP during normal office hours or you can book and pay online at www.gpastures.co.uk.