Author Archives: ECRD DistrictUWF

Mission u – Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom

by Bonnie Home, Almaden Hills UMW

It isn’t often that the author of our Mission u’s “Leaders Guide” comes to lead that very study for us!  So when we gathered on Zoom for our July 23-24 class, we were thrilled that Amanda Meisenheimer, author of the guide for “Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom: Living Into the Church’s Moral Witness Through Radical Discipleship,” would be leading us from New York City!  

Gathering Mission u leaders and participants from all over the country on Zoom has been one of the happier unintended consequences of our pandemic lockdown.  Class members joined us from all over California and Nevada, and even from Washington state and Missouri. Continue reading →

Swimming and Sisterhood

At Climax UMC in Climax, Georgia, exercise group is a lifeline

By Kara Witherow, Editor, South Georgia Advocate

To a handful of women in Climax, Georgia, “yada yada” means anything but boring, predictable talk.

These are the Yada Yadas, a close-knit group of women who have been meeting, praying, and exercising together since 2005. Continue reading →

Committee on Nominations

NOMINATIONS ASPIRATIONS

Betty Spencer Dickey, Chair, Committee on Nominations

Summer and Fall are busy times for the Nomination committee. We are looking to engage others into sharing our excitement about United Methodist Women. There is so much change going on during this time. School is about to start, church we hope, is about to start in person again and there is new hope for good things in the new year.

We want to encourage you to share your ideas and hopes for UMW too as we have our Presidents zoom meetings in August to get a sense of what you have been doing during the Pandemic. We also want to encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and consider working with us on the District team. We learn new things everyday working with each other and from the Conference and National UMW. The opportunities are great for expanding your knowledge, experience, connections and spirituality. Is God sending you our way?

Many of us cannot physically go on mission trips because of our circumstances, but UMW is a mission. We can still participate in helping our local and District UMW to carry out the goal of being in mission to women, children and youth. We can do that from our own homes. We may be inviting you soon and hope you realize that serving on El Camino Real District UMW team may be the change and the chance you are looking for.

Prayers and Blessings,
Betty Spencer Dickey, Nominations Chair

Prayer Shawl Ministry at Campbell UMC

by Katherine Kim

I joined this knitting group from Campbell United Methodist Church just before the COVID pandemic started. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet in person for over a year. Now we meet at the church once a month, on the 4th Monday of the month. It is a blessing to be able to be part of this group!

One of the members, Laura Smith, told me about this wonderful ministry:

The Prayer Shawl Ministry at Campbell UMC was started by Cheryl Olsen as something fun to do during the summer, back at least 12-13 years ago.  She offered to teach non-knitters how to knit so I was on board.

We had a specific pattern so all Prayer Shawls were about the same shape and size. The yarn was washable Lions Brand because that made the shawls easy to care for and the yarn was readily available.

We had a small but enthusiastic group of knitters and beginners.  We met twice a month and were supposed to wrap things up the end of August that year.  That did not happen.  We overwhelmingly wanted to continue.

Our Prayer Shawls still today are blessed by the group, and are given to those in our congregation and beyond who need to feel God’s warmth surrounding them as they grieve, recover or just struggle with some of life’s hard times.  The recipients enjoyed getting them and we loved making them.

As a group, we have shared a lot and welcomed new members.  And like all close groups, we have mourned our losses as well.  We are back to monthly gatherings now that Covid restrictions have eased and I’m hopeful we’ll continue making Prayer Shawls for a long time.