Fellowship is a key part of the Christian life. The Womens Fellowship of St. Andrews Church is committed to bringing women together to encourage one another, and celebrate the Lord's amazing work in our lives. The Fellowship provides opportunities for women to grow in their spiritual relationship and knowledge of God, to be strengthened as members of His church, and to achieve a better understanding of the particular role they have in the family, church, and community.

The purpose of the Womens Fellowship is to provide activities which are specifically directed to the nurturing of women in their faith journey and provide opportunities for service. The church community seeks to nurture, support and inspire women in their personal faith through group activities and opportunities for service.

The Women’s Fellowship of St. Andrews church meets every Saturday at 5 p.m. at a place predetermined by them. They meet to have Bible study and for prayers. They also visit sick and physically challenged members to pray and render help. The Fellowship members take part in church activities every week in helping arrangement of Holy Communion and on special occasions like Harvest Festival, Women's Sunday, St. Andrews Day, Christmas and New Year. The Fellowship organizes a unique ‘Girl Child Project’ where church members make financial contributions towards the education of the Girl Child and provide for needy students at the start of every academic year.

GIRL CHILD PROJECT

The Girl Child Project was started by the Womens Fellowship of

St. Andrew s Church, Hubli in the year 2007, under the aegis the Diocesan President of the Womens Fellowship; Mrs. Soujanya Prabhakar. The project empowers the Girl Child to be independent, earn their livelihood and support their parents.

The first committee under the Presidentship of Mrs. Salome Shindhe had Late Mrs. Annapushpam Gandhi as Secretary and Mrs. Lucy Lewis as Treasurer. They raised funds for this noble cause with the Women's Fellowship of our Church through donations, organizing breakfast sale and holding a grand raffle.

Shilpa Malin
Shilpa Malin was the first student sponsored by the Womens Fellowship. She was a member of the Maier Memorial Church. She lost her father and mother worked as an ayah in St. Andrew’s School, which made it difficult to make ends meet. Shilpa was eager to pursue her studies in the teaching profession and secured admission for the Diploma in Education, Basel Mission Teachers Training Institute, Dharwad. Besides meeting all financial needs during her training, the Women’s Fellowship monitored her progress acting both as sponsors and parents. Despite many hurdles, Shilpa successfully completed her two year training in 2009 and is currently taking tuitions before securing a good job. Having tasted success at the first attempt, the Womens Fellowship was confident of taking on much bigger challenges. Funds started flowing from generous women and donations from well wishers of St. Andrew's Church and it was decided to sponsor three girls with the confidence that God would provide. The applicants opted to pursue nursing careers and obtained admissions in Martin Luther School of Nursing; but unfortunately one girl dropped out due to personal reasons.

Besides meeting all financial needs during her training, the Women’s Fellowship monitored her progress acting both as sponsors and parents. Despite many hurdles, Shilpa successfully completed her two year training in 2009 and is currently taking tuitions before securing a good job.

Having tasted success at the first attempt, the Women's Fellowship was confident of taking on much bigger challenges. Funds started flowing from generous women and donations from well wishers of St. Andrew's Church and it was decided to sponsor three girls with the confidence that God would provide. The applicants opted to pursue nursing careers and obtained admissions in Martin Luther School of Nursing; but unfortunately one girl dropped out due to personal reasons.

The succeeding bearers worked with zeal while congregation members supported the project wholeheartedly. Deena and Savitha have completed their three year course and are employed in local hospitals at Hubli. Praise God for successfully empowering these girls. Mrs. Selma Bhasme, Principal of Martin Luther School of Nursing reduced the Nursing Course fees for which we are deeply indebted to her.

Deena Badami

Savita Sangolli

Deena Badami was supported with scholarship. Savitha Sangoli, a Hindu convert, also chose to pursue her studies in this Christian Institution, providing spiritual nourishment.

The other beneficiaries whose financial needs were met for their respective courses are:

Jayakirti Munavalli B.Com II and III year (2 years).

Jovita Velukumar and Aroma Joyce Mahendra Kumar Campus Crusade Missionaries.

B. Soni BBA PUC I and II, BBA 1st Semester and Lydia Samuel 1st PUC (Sexton’s children of St. Andrews Church). Benefits for both were discontinued after they left the church.

Agnes P. Bangalore was given funds for books and stationery items after she made a request asking for financial help to help with her education in Fatima College; she however discontinued.

Manjula Lamani

Bharati Ganachari

Manjula Lamani was sponsored for PUC two years.
Bharati Ganachari, with a young daughter, Anusha wished to study further and provide a better future for her daughter. She completed BSW a three-year course (2014-2017) at the K.S.S. College, Vidyanagar, Hubli. She is now gainfully employed. Both mother and daughter are active in the church and believe that their lives have become more meaningful, and that God would continue to bless them and enrich them.

There were a couple of dropouts from the programme due to personal reasons. The present beneficiary is Estherrani Kenchagoudar, sponsored for General Nursing and Midwifery course at the Institute of Nursing Sciences, Hubli.

The Women s Fellowship and the congregation of St. Andrews are proud of their success in this unique, one of a kind project and under the stewardship of Mrs. Hanna Niranjan, the present Diocesan President of the Womens Fellowship and the new committee under the Presidentship of Mrs. Beena Soans, Secretary Mrs. Jemimah Swaminathan and Treasurer Mrs. Shaila Birnur plans are in the offing to take on even more bigger challenges by empowering needy and deserving girls towards a brighter future and more importantly, opening new vistas towards Christian values and selfless love towards the poor and deserving.

We take the opportunity to thank the members of the Women's Fellowship, the congregation and well wishers and pray for their continued support of this project in the years to come.