It was years before Ksenija Magda realized how God had specifically created her to serve and encourage women in their faith journey.
Magda, the newly elected president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Women’s Department, didn’t choose a path to work with women, she said. Having served alongside her husband, Toma, for years in ministry in Serbia and later Croatia, Magda thought God’s plan for her life was to continue serving as a pastor’s wife, something she felt called to do since childhood, she told The Alabama Baptist.
But while working as a professor at the Evangelical Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, her vision broadened and she “discovered that not many people train to be involved with women and … working with women was kind of a lowly job” — something she was determined to change.
In need of change
At 35, Magda was asked to help with Baptist women’s work in Osijek. The existing group of women were on the other side of their 60s. They knew something needed to change in order to continue to be fruitful but they didn’t know what.
Magda agreed to take on the role but felt like she was there to “make a decision on whether to resuscitate the group or let it die,” she admitted.
While serving in that role Magda realized how marginalized women are and yet what an “immense influence women are for the Church and for society.” She also recognized how many women were unprepared and untrained spiritually, especially while at home raising children. No proper child care during church services and no programs for younger women were available at the time.
Called and equipped
She knew God had called and equipped her to help bring change and growth to the group, and that’s just what she did.
Fast forward 30 years and Magda is still putting her calling to good use, this time in a global role she will hold through 2020.
BWA’s Women’s Department is composed of seven continental unions representing 193 national Baptist women’s organizations from 156 countries. The organization focuses its core values on community, unity in diversity, integrity, justice and service, according to its website.
“This (leadership) role is an amazing opportunity to encourage women all around the world to use their God-given gifts for the benefit of all,” Magda said.
“Women have a big role to play when they realize their gifts and the amazing power of God in them. It is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.”
As president, Magda spends most of her time in the new role facilitating a structural change in the organization to involve today’s generation of women, merging their fresh views on faith and life into a new structure that rests on a strong foundation.
“We believe that in a world in which real relationships are falling apart we still need to call Baptist women to come together in Christ. We become His agents of peace and it also makes us aware of the others in the world, sisters and brothers, and of God’s love for each of them.
“We need the new generation on board. … Women are fundamental to the global Church and … they need to realize that we belong together and we need to learn from each other and equip each other in order to change our circumstances to better reflect the glorious vision God has for His children and His creation.”
The need to include younger women in Baptist ministry is not just a foreign issue, nor one that only exists in a war-torn country like Croatia, Magda said.
Christians in Croatia are still building their foundation for ministry now that the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995) has ended, which claimed more than 20,000 lives and estimated $37 billion in damaged infrastructure.
As the country continues to heal and move forward, Magda continues to build relationships with other believers across the world. She recently visited with Alabama Baptist women’s groups to build relationships and to learn how women in the United States work to keep women’s ministries alive.
Connecting with Alabama
She participated in a Birmingham Baptist Association Woman’s Missionary Union luncheon held at First Baptist Church, Center Point, and prayed with the Women on Mission group of Shades Crest Baptist Church, Hoover, both held on March 12.
She said she hopes to establish new ways of direct contact with Alabama Baptist churches and noted the women’s department is “there to encourage the coming together of Baptist women … because good things happen when we come together and we can accomplish more than the sum of our potential.”
One way Alabama Baptist women can become involved with the global body of Baptist women is through the 2016 Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer on Nov. 7 titled “Arise, Shine” based on Isaiah 60:1. Magda also encouraged women to follow the women’s department on Facebook and Twitter.
Leading locally
Back home in Croatia, Magda serves her local church by leading a children’s Sunday School class and counseling members when needed.
Magda and her husband also provide retreats for Syrian refugees, offer counseling to those in need and set up relationships with other churches and with the global Baptist body, all while maintaining their daily responsibilities as pastor, pastor’s wife and mom and dad to four children.
Even with so many ministry outlets, Magda said she still loves talking with young women about their faith the most.
“When you talk to older women you realize that they had taken on missions when they were young women.
“If you (as young women) are called by God to be a mom, that’s OK and just as important as being in a leadership role as long as you accept it and live it out.
“Whatever God brings to your door, whatever He has equipped you with, make it work for Him.”
For more information on BWA Women’s Department or on the Day of Prayer, visit bwawd.org.
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