Women's History Month #2 - Ingrid Naumann

In many regions of the Inter-European Division (EUD), the Women’s Ministries Department (WM) owes much to the enthusiastic and energetic initiatives of Ingrid Naumann, who helped launch the work in these countries.
Growing up in post-war Germany, as a girl with three brothers in a conservative, religious family in rural Bavaria near Munich, Ingrid had to contend with hierarchical and patriarchal structures. Her life experiences taught her to set priorities and trust her vision and creativity. Above all, she experienced God’s unconditional love that helped her surmount personal difficulties. With this background, God used her to make a difference in the lives of women through her leadership and initiatives in the Women’s Ministries Department across the German-speaking regions and beyond.
Already in 1984, before the department was officially established at the General Conference, Ingrid Naumann was part of the first Women’s working group in Germany. Two years later, the South Bavarian Conference called her to serve as the first Women’s Ministries leader, the first woman to hold the position in the EUD. In 1992, Ingrid was elected as Women’s Ministries director for the South German Union. Her first goal was to establish leadership and women’s working groups in every Conference in the Union and to build a network.
In 1996, the executive committee of the EUD invited Ingrid Naumann to the Mid-Year Meeting to present the philosophy, work, and ideals of Women’s Ministries to inspire all EUD Unions to implement the General Conference vote of 1995 to establish Women’s Ministries Departments in all Unions. About this time, Ingrid was also invited to visit countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Uzbekistan, and Italy, to help organize Women’s Ministries.
Ingrid Naumann was full of ideas and initiatives, and she worked passionately to advance women’s involvement in church and society. Starting with women’s breakfast meetings, women’s encounters, and weekend retreats, she developed new initiatives, always involving working groups and mentoring women, helping them to reach their potential. Her broad vision included the translation and production of materials, organization of congresses, publication of devotional books, online outreach, and continuing education courses for women. The enditnow project that started in 2010 became an important facet of WM. Reaching out to teenage girls became the Girls4Christ initiative. Working with and for single women over 30, Ingrid organized and established a working group SinglePlus for retreats, particularly at times when Singles feel lonely. Mission has always been an important part of WM, and in 2005, Ingrid encouraged women to participate in evangelistic meetings in Romania and in various cities in Germany.
During her leadership, cooperation began among the WM Directors of the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). This period will remain a special time of comradeship in our memories. In 2011, at the WM congress in Bad Kissingen, Germany, Ingrid was surprised by the General Conference WM department for her life's work for women with a plaque and admission to the gallery of Adventist Women of Distinguished Service at the General Conference offices in Silver Spring, USA.
The list of Ingrid’s achievements is long, but most of all, we would like to thank her for her passion for service and devotion to the women of her church. May God bless her as she continues to serve in whatever way God still uses her.