Over 16 churches partnered together to launch SCBaptist’s first Women’s ONE Night event on April 12 at Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors. According to SCBaptist, ONE Night is a “grassroots mass evangelism event designed to engage a specific audience with the hope of the gospel.”
ONE Night is often associated with high school and middle school students, but this year the event was tailored to women.
The purpose of Women’s ONE Night was simple.
“There are so many women in South Carolina who don’t know Jesus, and there are also so many women within the church who are building relationships with women who don’t know Jesus,” said Melanie Ratcliffe, director of relational evangelism for SCBaptists. “So, I just wanted to give them an opportunity to hear the gospel.”
One attender, Jordan Manley, a member of Five Forks Baptist Church, said it was cool to see younger and older women worshiping together.
There were 652 women in attendance representing at least 75 different churches. The event was held in the Upstate, but Ratcliffe said she hopes to bring the event to other parts of South Carolina.
Catherine Renfrew, national director of women’s evangelism at the North American Mission Board, was the speaker at the event but told the ladies in attendance that they didn’t need to hear anything from her, but from God.
She encouraged the ladies to follow Jesus, whether it was to begin a relationship with Him or continue to follow Him. “If we trust Him, we will follow,” she said. “If we don’t trust in Him, we won’t follow.”
“We don’t live on man’s explanations, but on God’s promises,” she added.
One woman’s response to the message was, “To be intentional with sharing Jesus with friends and strangers. To have and show joy in the hard seasons of life.”
But the greatest response was several women who were saved by Jesus through the message of the gospel!