Europe

Encouragement and Hope to a New Generation

By Sónia Simões, Portugal National Coordinator

If you're a woman, regardless of where you live in the world, you've probably felt affected by some of these issues: gender fairness in employment, reconciling work and family, gender-based violence, fairness in health and education, cultural prejudices, and gender stereotypes. Portugal is no exception, for these are the main difficulties affecting women here also.

TWR Women of Hope began in Portugal in 2007 and was called Project Hannah at that time. Although it began timidly as a radio program with a team of only two people, it quickly became a reference program for women that was broadcast on 11 secular FM radio stations.

In 2020, even during the pandemic, the ministry grew and had a great impact. We became a five-person team, four of whom are volunteers. The programs have gone from 30 to 15 minutes, and the topics covered are aimed at a younger age group that is making crucial life decisions.

At the moment, our team has eight women, and the Women of Hope program is on six FM radio stations. The number of stations has been reduced due to high broadcasting costs. We are also on audio platforms such as Spotify, Google podcast, TWR360, YouTube and TWR Portugal's web radio.

Every two months we hold online prayer meetings with women from different parts of the country, during which we pray through the global prayer calendar.

We actively reach out over the social networks Instagram, Facebook and TikTok because approximately 80% of women in Portugal regularly use social media. These play an important role in communication, entertainment and information.

We want to be where women can see, hear and meet us, bringing a message of encouragement and hope in Christ. Portugal is a religious country, with a strong Catholic heritage that has shaped many aspects of its culture, society and history. As in the rest of Europe, there is a growing trend toward secularization and religious diversity, especially among younger people.

It's time to use all the tools at our disposal to convey the message of the good news, to show women that they are loved, that they are not alone, and that Christ's love can reach them regardless of who they are, where they are or what they do.