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South African: CWJC is ‘roadmap’ for helping people


TALLADEGA, Ala. (BP) — Why travel from South Africa to attend a ministry training conference in Alabama? For Patricia Ihlenfeldt, the answer is succinct: “to be encouraged and refocused and reenergized.”

Ihlenfeldt, from the Baptist Union of Southern Africa, is director of its Women’s Department. She was among 130-plus leaders and staff members at 2018 Christian Women’s Job Corps/Christian Men’s Job Corps National Meeting at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Ala.

The CWJC/CMJC training event, held every three years by national WMU (Woman’s Missionary Union), highlighted the theme “Be Transformed” from Romans 12:1-2. Designed to help participants focus on a variety of topics related to their ministry efforts, breakout sessions addressed such matters as “Spiritual Development of a Leader,” “Finding the WHY of Your Ministry,” “Taking the Fear Out of Mentoring” and “Developing Dignity through Job Creation.”

Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps equip women and men in a Christian context for life and employment. Thousands of participants each year gain practical training and hope for their future through programs offered at certified CWJC/CMJC sites across the nation and internationally.

In addition to the leadership training, Ihlenfeldt said participating in the Aug. 1-3 conference allowed her “to network and to tell people our story” as well as “invite people to come and see what the Lord is doing” in South Africa.

“Having grown up in South Africa where the balance between the wealthy and the poor is so great, it’s just been a continuous challenge as to how do you as a Christian reach out into a community that is so diverse and so unequal economically,” she said. “That is really what has motivated me to get involved in this ministry.”

As a pastor’s wife and teacher with a degree in psychology and adult education training, Ihlenfeldt emphasized that “education has always been a motivating factor in my life.”

Through CWJC, she said, “I see there is opportunity to empower women to improve their economic situation. My desire has always been to equip local women in local church communities to use the facilities and the skills they have to empower and to encourage and to make a difference and to improve the quality of life of people in their community.”

In her broader role with the Baptist Union of Southern Africa, she said a primary goal is “to train and equip women to be used of the Lord in the community where He has placed them for His glory. Christian Women’s Job Corps has been a vehicle for me to do that.”

Ihlenfeldt was first introduced to Christian Women’s Job Corps in 2008 through a ministry partnership with North Carolina Baptist churches. “Since then, we’ve just slowly but surely been trying to roll out the program…. One site at a time, we’ve tried to make a difference.”

South Africa currently has three CWJC sites, including one that works primarily with refugees.

In addition to teaching business skills, discipleship and life skills such as baking and sewing, Ihlenfeldt said one unique program is making “Good News dolls” which she described as “a tool that we’ve been using in our country to teach our children to share the Gospel. The dolls are made in different colors with different cultural dresses and hair. We’ve been selling the dolls and ensuring some kind of employment for those refugee women” while providing them a sense of dignity, worth and purpose.

Noting that “unemployment is a huge problem” in South Africa, she said, “Into that context, we are trying to uplift women and address that issue while partnering with Christian Women’s Job Corps.”

Affirming the ministry impact of CWJC, Ihlenfeldt added, “You have a desire to help people, but you don’t always have the tools or the know-how of where to actually start. That’s what appealed to me about Christian Women’s Job Corps in that there is a roadmap which you can use as to how to proceed with a ministry.”

Beyond equipping participants with job skills, she said involvement in CWJC “ultimately is about giving people life and telling them about Jesus Christ.”

The three-day CWJC/CMJC conference attracted participants from 17 states –- from California and Utah to Michigan and Ohio — as well as Ihlenfeldt’s involvement from South Africa.

National WMU has 191 certified CWJC/CMJC sites in the U.S., Mexico and South Africa plus 12 international sites where leaders are unable to disclose the locations due to security concerns.

“Within the Unites States, we have sites in 25 states,” said Lena Plunk, WMU’s ministries consultant for mobilization who serves as the national CWJC/CMJC coordinator. “In 2017, we served 3,830 people collectively” through high school equivalency diploma preparation, English as a Second Language classes, computer classes, Bible study, mentoring and job readiness skills.

For more information about Christian Women’s Job Corps and Christian Men’s Job Corps, visit www.wmu.com/jobcorps or contact Lena Plunk at [email protected].

    About the Author

  • Trennis Henderson/WMU national correspondent

    Trennis Henderson is the national correspondent for WMU (Woman’s Missionary Union). A Baptist journalist for more than 35 years, Henderson is a former editor of the Western Recorder of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Arkansas Baptist News state convention newsjournal.

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