Every year some of our church attends the Northern Women Convention. This year it had moved to Wigan to accommodate more people. The doors opened at 9.15am with a 10am start. This gives the attendees chance to have a tea or coffee, find a seat and chat to familiar and new people. 16 members of St Andrew's attended with over 500 other women. The band started us off with some good songs and after introductions, safety information and the bible reading from Ecclesiastes, Karen Soole taught on the passage. The theme for the day was 'an antidote to anxiety'. Karen explained in detail the origins of the word 'meaningless' from the Hebrew 'hevel or hebel' to help us to put into context the repeated word meaningless. We were also directed quickly to the last two verses of the book with a view to keep these in mind when reading the rest of the book.  After the morning break we separated into groups going along to our chosen seminar. The four seminars were all based around Ecclesiastes: Living well; Choosing well; Dying well; and Wisdom literature.  After lunch we heard a wonderful testimony of someone who was converted whilst researching their Science doctorate. Having come from a Buddhist background and clearly questioning the meaning of life for some time but not finding the answers anywhere else, she found Jesus through her Christian colleagues witness.  We had another reading from Ecclesiastes and Karen expanded further on the book. The day finished with singing and prayers.  

There is another chance to hear Karen teach on the same passages by attending the Leeds convention on 15th November 2025.  Here is the link: https://www.christianconventions.org.uk/northern-womens/ecclesiastes-2025/