Glimpses of the Kingdom: Reflections from Dubai
Esther Sung shares about her recent experience attending a Pastors’ Wives conference. It was encouraging to see how God is at work in the world, building and equipping the saints to build up His church.
Recently, Emily and I had the privilege of traveling with our two littlest ones to attend the Feed My Sheep conference for pastors' wives in Dubai. Hosted by Covenant Hope — a church plant of ECCD — the gathering featured Deana Menikoff and Tina Pritchard as main speakers, focusing on the vital themes of loving Christ, the church, and our husbands, as well as the heart of biblical counseling.
It was a profound experience to sit alongside women serving in diverse and often challenging contexts, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Iraq. Seeing such unity in Christ amidst such global diversity offered a powerful and beautiful glimpse of God’s kingdom here on earth.
Heart Lessons for Ministry
The sessions served as a timely reminder that our service to God must always overflow from a personal love for Him, rooted in treasuring His Word and abiding in Christ. We were challenged with several key takeaways:
Loving the Church: While the church is God’s beloved, it is also a body of sinners. Though the church may disappoint us at times, it ultimately serves a much greater, divine purpose.
Supporting our Husbands: Our husbands carry heavy burdens in their ministry roles. While we are called to help bear those burdens, we must recognize that our own capacity is limited; we must lean on prayer and look to Christ to provide the strength they need.
Wise Care: We learned that biblical counseling isn't just for "professionals"—it is a tool that equips all of us to love and care for others more wisely and in ways that truly honor God.
With both of our husbands being newly minted pastors and elders, Emily and I deeply appreciated the practical wisdom shared by the speakers. One of the most striking pieces of advice came from Deana Menikoff, who suggested that husbands should actually tell their wives as little as possible regarding certain ministry matters.
This was a surprising perspective for me; I had always believed that listening to every detail and praying through specific congregational struggles with Andrew was the primary way I could help bear his ministry burdens. However, Deana wisely pointed out that a husband’s role is also to protect his wife. By exercising discretion and not oversharing the weightiest matters of church life, a husband helps guard his wife’s heart, recognizing that her own capacity is limited and that they must both lean on Christ for strength.
Encouragement and Fellowship
One of the greatest highlights was the opportunity for fellowship with other pastors' wives from around the world. Hearing their stories from different types of ministries was deeply encouraging. Furthermore, visiting ECCD allowed us to see firsthand the fruit of our church's global partnerships. It was such a joy to reconnect with Keri Folmar and Ruth Phillips on their own "home turf". After having met them previously in Singapore, seeing them within their own ministry field at ECCD provided a wonderful perspective on the global reach of our church’s partnerships.
Personally, I left the conference with a renewed commitment to pray more for those who are difficult to love, and to continue marveling at the sheer depth of God’s love for us.
While Emily and I were the only representatives traveling from Southeast Asia—though I did meet an Indonesian sister serving with her husband in the UAE—we were deeply encouraged by the hearts of the women we met. Their commitment to praying for and partnering alongside GBC was a beautiful gift. It is our hope that even more women from this side of the globe will be able to join this conference and fellowship next year!