Why Joel?
As our ministry has grown in the three years since DiscipleHER, we’ve become more and more convinced our purpose is simple, but narrow: to help women to read their Bibles.
In less than two months, our ministry team will be hosting its second conference, Yet Even Now: A Weekend In Joel. When God asked us to put on our first conference back in 2017 (DiscipleHER), we were answering a call to focus on the specific topic of discipleship. God had given us the topic first, and a conference seemed the best way to tackle it. This time around, we knew that God was calling us to put on another weekend event, but our direction for the content wasn’t certain.
As our ministry has grown in the three years since DiscipleHER, we’ve become more and more convinced our purpose is simple, but narrow: to help women to read their Bibles. This is the mission that guides all of the decisions we make as a team. Though we weren’t yet sure of our focus, we felt a conviction to choose a specific portion of Scripture to study instead of a Biblical theme. We agreed this direction would make the most of our time together and serve the mission to the highest degree. We spent quite a bit of time praying and processing the decision, and eventually chose the book of Joel.
I kept coming back to Joel. There was something about the book that seemed especially relevant to our community here in Dayton.
Our first thought for the conference was to choose a passage where Scripture talks about Scripture. (It doesn’t get much more Scripture-saturated than that, we thought.) We threw around the idea of using Psalm 19 or 119, but it didn’t seem like the best fit for the time allotted. So we extended our search. For the sake of time, we looked at books of the Bible that would be small enough to tackle in a weekend. We ended up looking to the Minor Prophets and some of the shorter epistles.
As I was doing my own personal prayer and study over our plans, I kept coming back to Joel. There was something about the book that seemed especially relevant to our community here in Dayton. The verses that stuck out to me in a big way were Joel 2:25-27:
“I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
My great army, which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the LORD your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.”
As I read over these verses, I thought about our Dayton community. In the last year especially, we have experienced loss, destruction, pain, and grief. We’ve walked together through trials, lonely seasons, struggles, and questions. We’ve felt some of the same emptiness that these Israelites likely felt after the locust plague destroyed everything they had. So the promise of restoration Joel shares felt like it could be a real balm to our aching hearts. I felt the sense that this message of hope and restoration would be relevant to women in a variety of circumstances and seasons.
And so I put forth Joel as an option for our conference book. Along with it, we considered Amos and 2 Timothy (and ultimately chose 2 Timothy as our Summer Study book!) The team agreed that the themes found in Joel were timely and relevant. We acknowledged together Joel would not only provide us some hope, but also challenge us to press into some difficult themes like God’s judgment and the Day of the Lord.
God’s call to His people in Joel is not revolutionary or new. It’s the same call He has given throughout the generations:
“Return to the LORD your God,
For he is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love;
And he relents over disaster.” Joel 2:13
We hope you’ll consider joining us as we answer that call together this March.
For registration information, click over to our conference page.
Natalie Herr is the founder of Dayton Women in the Word. She is a servant of God, a wife, a mom of four and a God-sized dreamer. She loves teaching and equipping women with God's Word.