Presbyterian Women

Quarterly Mailing for PW Moderators, Leadership coordinators, CCT and staff

First Quarter, 2007

Share this Quarterly Mailing with your PW Coordinating Teams, post it on your congregations’ bulletin boards and use the information in your newsletters. In this mailing you’ll find news from the Churchwide Coordinating Team, committees of the CCT, Horizons, Women’s Ministries of the PC(USA), PW staff and around the denomination. This mailing is intended to be your leadership tool — let us know what you think about it! Which parts are really great and helpful? What would you like more of? Anything you could do without? With your help, we can design this communication link to be the best that it can be. Email suggestions to Cheri Harper.

Download this newsletter

Contents in this issue.

Leadership Questions and Answers

Information for PW Synod Coordinating Teams

The Churchwide Leadership Training Event has been planned just for this purpose. Each synod has selected up to six of its leaders to participate in this training scheduled to take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 12–15, 2007. The event will consist of various programs that use a variety of educational methodologies, including plenary sessions and panels as well as more interactive sessions such as workshops and open space. At the event, the participants will receive a program book and have an opportunity to purchase the new PW Manual that includes new training materials.

We’re planning a Synod Gathering in 2007. How can our synod use the information from the March training event for our Gathering?
In planning your Gathering agenda, make time for this new information. Think of the mileage and cost savings made possible by training women who are already together. Grants are available for synods to train at a rate of $300 per presbytery. Agenda suggestions include workshops devoted to specific tasks or combined workshops for PW Moderators/Cluster Leaders/Treasurers; Historians/Secretaries-Recorders-Publicity; and Mission Coordinators/Justice & Peace advocates, etc. Here’s your first chance to regionalize your needs. You will be surprised at what this conversation can produce. Focus on the topic, plan. Project steps to carry out. Write your own timeline toward accomplishment. When gathering time allows, plan a half-day session with an open door policy where PWP Moderators can listen in on parts of all workshops in a rotating fashion. A panel discussion conducted by the six leaders from the Synod training in your gathering plenary session would allow all to hear new info also. Most of all, do what works for you!

Has my Synod done what is recommended since the Churchwide Gathering?
The 2006 Business Book has a suggested timeline on pages 80-81 to check if you are unsure. Contact your PWP Moderators to be certain that their contact info has been updated (including email addresses). Review all PW synod and presbytery bylaws for new terms and changes. Alert Search Committees for changes in titles and duties since the Churchwide Business Meeting. Move toward a Synod Leadership Coordinator by July 2009 (combining the Synod PW Enabler Coordinator and the Leadership Development/Resource Coordinator). Discontinue the term enabler in any form. Use the leadership trio (PWS Moderator, CCT Rep and Synod Leadership Coordinator) in making needed plans between PWSCT meetings.

Information for PW Presbytery Coordinating Teams

Why does CCT need to update email addresses for congregational contacts?
There are economic and communication reasons. The CCT is trying to help presbyteries with information flow. CCT surveys tell us that PW functions well at the churchwide, synod and presbytery levels of communication for the most part. However, it is the congregations who seem to need and want more and more info. Emails can assist with some of the workload and costs. At the same time, we are confident that regional contacts will always be needed—in person. By receiving the email addresses to pass on, presbyteries and synods stay updated too.

Will congregations miss out on mission information if they do not have a mission coordinator?
No, a PWC Moderator or contact person can pass along this info. Please make certain to give as much info as possible when reporting PW congregational rosters to CCT, indicating which leadership roles are filled/vacant. This will become a sketch of participation for presbytery use at the same time. Stress the need for congregations to right-size their PW leadership and do what works for them. Small congregations do big projects and the number of leaders is not the issue. Some function well with just one!

Make a connection with your CCT moderator this year!

Each member of the moderatorial team is looking forward to strengthening our PW network by corresponding directly with PWP moderators via email. You will be hearing from them periodically throughout the year, and they will enjoy having you share your activity highlights, your suggestions and questions. If you have not submitted your email address, email it to Patricia Longfellow or directly to your contact below, by February 15.

The Administrative Committee contacts for PWP moderators are divided alphabetically by presbytery.

A-J: Louise Davidson, Vice Moderator for Justice and Peace
K-P: Catrelia Hunter, Moderator
R-Z: Sherry Flyr, Vice Moderator for Mission Relationships

Tell your PW mission stories

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study is being prepared now. Contact your synod or presbytery office, find out who is writing the article, and let them know what mission activities your PW group has been doing. We want to share our mission stories with the whole church, and the 2007 Mission Yearbook is a great way to do it.

Justice and Peace Committee names liaisons

The members of the Justice and Peace Committee of the CCT have committed themselves to be in touch with the women who coordinate the work for justice and peace on the Synod Coordinating Teams. Information will usually be sent to J&P coordinators by email. The committee members are eager to help and welcome your replies and questions at any time. Your liaison is listed below:

Synod of Alaska/Northwest: Jean Vieten
Synod of Puerto Rico: Hagar Benitez
Synod of the Covenant: Louise Davidson
Synod of Lakes and Prairies: Margaret Welsh
Synod of Lincoln Trails: Louise Howe
Synod of Living Waters: Louise Davidson
Synod of Mid-America: Shirley Nichols
Synod of the Mid-Atlantic: Louise Howe
Synod of the Northeast: Cindy Joe
Synod of the Pacific: Cindy Joe
Synod of the Rocky Mountains: Margaret Welsh
Synod of the South Atlantic: Hagar Benitez
Synod of Southern California & Hawaii: Jean Vieten
Synod of the Southwest: Shirley Nichols
Synod of the Sun: Jennifer Ashbaugh
Synod of the Trinity: Jennifer Ashbaugh

The Search Committee needs you!

The Search Committee of the Churchwide Coordinating Team of Presbyterian Women is beginning the process of finding leaders for the 2009–2012 triennium. To find the best candidates possible, the search committee is turning to the woman in the pew — you! — who knows talented women who could serve as leaders for Presbyterian Women.

The leadership roles to be filled are moderator, vice moderator for justice and peace, vice moderator for mission relationships, secretary, historian, search committee moderator and six racial ethnic members-at-large. Nominees should be energetic, capable, racially diverse women who can serve as visionaries, organizers, doers and leaders, who are committed to the PW Purpose. Candidates should work well as team players and be open to growth, change and travel.

Anyone may nominate a candidate using the Endorsement for Nomination Form . Send the form to the PW Search Committee member from your region no later than October 1, 2007. If you have additional questions, contact Carolyn Jordan, moderator of the search committee, 1508 Verdure Cove, Birmingham, Ala., 35226, or email.

Search Committee members

Northeast Region
Elizabeth Torres Rodriguez
13735 SW 84th St.
Apt. B, Miami, FL 33183-4029

East Central Region
Nicole Johnson
926 S. 6th St.
Clearfield, PA 16830

West Central Region
Shelly Woodcox-Unruh
1089 Winding Creek Dr. W
Grapevine, TX 76051

Western Region
Sheena Brooke
13717 NW 2nd Ave. #172
Vancouver, WA 98685-2998

Southeast Region
Sheila Louder
375 Fairfield Cr.
Fayetteville, GA 30214

Washington Office offers excellent advocacy information

The Presbyterian Washington Office represents the PC(USA) and its General Assembly in contacts with our elected officials. Visit their Web pages for information about current legislation and events.

The Witness in Washington Weekly was inaugurated in June to replace the Stewardship of Public Life Networks. Subscribe to Witness in Washington Weekly. You will receive one succinct email each week while Congress is in session. You will be able to identify quickly the issues that interest you and on which you want to take action.

Save March 9-12, 2007 and attend the Ecumenical Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. Visit the Ecumenical Advocacy Days Web site for more information.

Widening the Circle

Did you know that if you are 70 and 1/2 and have traditional and/or Roth IRAs requiring mandatory distributions, the IRA Charitable Rollover Provision of The Pension Protection Act of 2006 will allow distributions up to $100,000? These may be made in 2006 and 2007 and may be excluded from gross income that would normally be taxable, as long as the gift is made directly to a public charity, such as Widening the Circle Fund. This could have significant tax benefits for the donor while benefiting Presbyterian Women and Women’s Ministries.

In 2000, the leadership of Presbyterian Women established a permanently restricted endowment fund called Widening the Circle Fund for the purpose of ensuring and enhancing financial resources for emerging programs that are vital to women in the church.

Reflections on the PW mission trip to New Orleans

by Sherry Flyr, Vice Moderator for Mission Relationships

It was my privilege to help organize a PW/CCT based “hands on” mission response trip to New Orleans, August 20–26. We were hosted by RHINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans), an outreach ministry of St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the 1,150-member congregation united their human and monetary gifts to help alleviate the suffering of Presbyterian churches and their members, as well as the Greater New Orleans community. They now act as coordinator and host for outside work groups to assist families in the city.

Our group of 26 spent two days at the home of Otheodore Solomon in an East New Orleans neighborhood removing everything she once cherished — personal belongings, furniture, carpeting (absolutely everything was moldy and ruined). We deconstructed her home to the studs and brick exterior. We spent one day working in Musician’s Village, a Habitat for Humanity construction site in the upper Ninth Ward, and two days touring flood-affected areas in New Orleans and Mississippi. Everywhere we went we were thanked for being there. They need and greatly appreciate volunteers! Presence makes a huge difference.

The statistics are staggering. This is a great human tragedy on a huge scale. Many New Orleans and Mississippi residents have lost everything. Everyone is impacted whether they had damage or not — the few who didn’t have damage have survivor’s guilt. Many are committing suicide including physicians and other professionals. We were told that it hasn’t bottomed out yet. It will get worse as others return.

We toured two Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) camps in Mississippi — Pearlington and Orange Grove. We heard the testimony of “Dallas” Jean Trammell, who ended up in a tree when Katrina hit Pearlington. He is now a valued worker for PDA.

Volunteers are greatly needed in these camps and the two PDA camps in Louisiana. Please encourage everyone you know to form work groups and go to New Orleans. Individuals or small groups can join other groups. To set up a work group, write to St. Charles Ave. Presbyterian Church, 1545 State St., New Orleans, LA 70118 or visit their Web site (click on RHINO), or contact Sarah Tuttle Edgecomb at  (504) 897-0101. Or contact Penny Noel with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance at (866) 732-6121. The PDA camps will be there for seven years!

Read more about the trip from Presbyterian News Service or in the November/December 2006 issue of Horizons magazine (click on “Rebuilding Hope: One House at a Time”).

Be Together in Service with NetWorkers

Malaria kills thousands of people every day in Africa. Pregnant women are dangerously vulnerable to malaria: four times as likely to contract malaria during pregnancy and twice as likely to die from it. But thanks to Presbyterian Women in the U.S., thousands of women in Africa are having malaria-free pregnancies and giving birth to healthy babies, protected by a mosquito net provided through PC(USA)’s annual NetWorkers Mother’s Day Project.

This annual mission activity makes specially designed Mother’s Day cards available to PW groups to send to our mothers, daughters, daughters-in-law and other special women whom we wish to honor on Mother’s Day. Donations collected in exchange for the cards go to the NetWorkers Malaria Prevention Program, which provides mosquito nets and malaria prevention education to women and their families in Africa. Presbyterian Women have supported the NetWorkers Mother’s Day Project since its inception, sending over 100,000 cards in the past six years.

New year, new resources

Celebrating women: welcoming young women

Celebrate the Gifts of Women appears in the Presbyterian Planning Calendar each year on the Sunday closest to International Women’s Day (March 8). Please join in this celebration either on March 4, 2007 or on a Sunday that best meets the needs of your congregation.

Download the Celebrate the Gifts of Women worship service.

Save the date

Update! Fellowship of the Least Coin Resources

For more than 50 years, the Fellowship of the Least Coin (FLC) has flourished as a global ecumenical women’s prayer movement. Today, women in more than 80 countries support the movement with their prayers and “least coins,” which in turn, helps support various worthwhile projects and causes throughout the world. Support for the FLC continues to grow, year after year.

The International Committee of the Fellowship of the Least Coin provides materials to supporters — some free, some modestly priced — and these materials are made available in the United States from Church Women United and/or Presbyterian Women.

See a list of all available FLC resources.

Need more Bible study resources?

Try The Thoughtful Christian

The Thoughtful Christian is an online resource center filled with studies ranging from one to four sessions each. Each session is designed for a one-hour study group and includes everything needed for informed and thoughtful study and reflection.

Now Presbyterian women can save money and support PW by purchasing the Presbyterian Women (PW) Study Pack. It’s easy! Choose a pack of three studies from a list of selected topics of interest to Presbyterian Women, for just $25 — a savings of $2.00–$20.00 off the price of multiple sessions! If you decide to purchase an annual subscription within 30 days of your study pack purchase, $25 will be deducted from the cost of your subscription.

Scholarships from Racial Ethnic Young Women Together (REYWT)

Scholarships are available to young women of color, between the ages of 18–40, who want to attend conferences and events that relate to the interests of young adults, women and racial ethnic people. These opportunities provide young women with the tools they need to be successful leaders in the church. Recipients of the scholarships are expected to attend events as REYWT representatives by completing a brief report to help other racial ethnic young women learn from their experience.

Birthday Offering

Birthday Offering materials for 2007 are now available. Learn more about the 2007 recipients and see what resources are available for download or ordering.

Recommend a project

Do you know of an agency in your area that would benefit from receiving a Birthday or Thank Offering grant? Recommend them to PW!
Read the criteria for applying for a Thank Offering grant.
Read the criteria for applying for a Birthday Offering grant.
Email suggestions for projects to be funded (including their contact information) to Cindy Goodman.

2007–2008 Horizons Bible study

Don’t let your subscription lapse and miss out on a vital resource — the annual Horizons Bible study. Here’s what you have to look forward to!

2007–2008 Horizons Bible Study

Above and Beyond: Hearing God’s Call in Jonah and Ruth

by Carol Bechtel

What exactly does it mean to hear God’s call? In the 2007–2008 Horizons Bible study, Above and Beyond: Hearing God’s Call in Jonah and Ruth, Old Testament scholar and pastor Carol Bechtel looks at what God’s call meant for Jonah and Ruth. Not just a “fish tale” or a “Cinderella story,” these biblical books, says Bechtel, offer us insight into what it means for each of us to hear and heed God’s call. No matter where you are on your life’s journey, this study will challenge you to ask, “What am I called to say? What am I called to do? Who am I called to be?”

Subscriptions postmarked after January 1 receive the following year’s Bible study.

Additional copies of this Bible study (available March 15) may be ordered from Presbyterian Distribution Service (PDS). Order item HZN-07-100 ($6 plus shipping).
 
Upcoming Horizons Bible Studies
2008–2009: Insiders/Outsiders—A Study of the Gospel of Luke by Kikanza Nuri Robins
2009–2010: Joshua, by Mary Mikhael

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