Witnessing to the Promise

Active PW in Presbytery of Northern New York celebrates 25 years of PW

Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of Northern New York celebrated PW's 25th anniversary in a grand way. We gathered at First Presbyterian Church of Plattsburgh on October 5, 2013. After a short worship service led by our moderator, Emily F. Castine, a presentation was made by James Carlin, a frequent participant in the Mission of Hope experience in Nicaragua. He enlightened all of us on the continuing effort to help the impoverished people of that community. The women of the host church served us a delicious lunch topped off with a cake in honor of PW's 25th anniversary! The cake was decorated in blue and gold and displayed our PW logo. What a wonderful gathering it was! The attendees purchased PW 25th anniversary pins and bookmarks to mark this auspicious occasion.

Emily F. Castine, PW moderator in the Presbytery of New York, ready to cut the PW 25th anniversary cake.

Just one year before, in September 2012, we invited several  longtime friends from Quebec, Canada, just 20 or so miles from Chazy, to our fall gathering at Chazy Presbyterian Church. The moderator asked the women of Quebec to spread the word through their women's groups, and all hoped for a good response.That day we welcomed 32 women, seven of whom represented either the United Church of Canada or the Presbyterian Church of Canada, both in Hemmingford, Quebec. These ladies were delighted to be our guests. During our meeting, we shared joys and concerns about our respective churches and our women's groups within those churches. We learned that we had experienced many of the same highs and lows. We agreed to make plans to get together again, perhaps at a Canadian church the next time. We left knowing that we are indeed part of an international group of dedicated, strong, creative and dynamic women who are working to better conditions in our own locales and around the world, one step at a time, one PW meeting at a time. What a joy!  

Salem PW celebrates 25 years of Presbyterian Women

By Margaret Marks

Presbyterian Women of Salem Presbytery enjoyed a 25th anniversary celebration on Sunday, July 14, 2013 at First Presbyterian Church, Statesville, North Carolina. This affair was hosted by the ladies in clusters 3, 4 and 5. All of the ladies in our presbytery were invited. We enjoyed singing some of our favorite hymns, making a bookmark and decorating a star to be used as part of the decoration for our individual tables. 

Our speakers were past moderators. They shared some of the memorable and exciting events that occurred during their time in office. 

Everyone enjoyed a variety of fancy foods and a beautiful cake made by one of our ladies that had our logo in the top layer.

Instead of collecting a monetary offering, we collected nonperishable food and personal items for women; these items were taken to My Sister's House, our local women's shelter. 

Our ladies were treated with a variety of favors and information that they took with them. We thank our three clusters for their thoughtfulness. 

Editor's note: Stay tuned for photos!

Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of St. Augustine share the story of their fall 2013 Bible study workshop

September 3, 2013

Carissa,

We wanted to let you know how our Bible study workshop went. We never could stop the flow of people registering! Seven unregistered women showed up at the door of an in-the-woods camp where we had our event. The final total was 102! We had ordered lunch for 95 knowing we would balance the number out but never thinking women would come that we did not know about, even on the day of the event itself! We were glad they came. 

As a coordinating team, we were quite pleased with how this impromptu event went, especially since it was our first attempt at just a workshop. We were under the impression that interest in Bible study is declining overall. We are grateful that we were wrong. 

Most ladies enjoyed the day. Some felt it was a little long but there is a tradition in our Presbytery meetings of leaving after people eat. It has carried over to our PWP group! The ones who stayed seemed interested in the online resources that we demonstrated in real time. And the Horizons bus-stop skit was charming. I wove in elements of the Workshop for Leaders all through the day and that worked well.  

 

We sold all of the Legacy Christmas CDs. Women are interested in selling them at their own churches. We are going to send out a PWP news alert very soon and will include how to find it on the web so they can order. Thanks for letting us be a test site. I think we could have sold even more if we had them. We love the music. A lot of women commented on how nice the resource table was. Thanks to you for sending the great resources.

We took up a collection for Oikocredit and got $750. This is the new mission item that we added to our TIS program this year. We are continuing with Little Dresses for Africa and adding the britches. Last year the ladies made 803 of them in the fall. I hope for that many again this year.

You will see a man leading the overview of the Bible study. Tom Weaver is an Honorary Life Member of PW and goes to Columbia to hear the author each year, as he did again this August. He is a retired college professor with a witty sense of humor. We are very fortunate to have him.  

Ruthanne Reiss, moderator
St. Augustine PWP

How and why the PWCCT began having a presence at the events surrounding the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women

By Lillian Oats

Shortly before I became the vice moderator for justice and peace for Presbyterian Women's Churchwide Coordinating Team for the period 2003–2006, I was in New York City and decided on the spur of the moment to visit the PC(USA)’s UN office to say hello to Bob Smiley and Jennifer Butler, the executive staff members. I had met both of them when they had participated in programs at a PW gathering in Arizona.

During this visit Jennifer Butler said to me that PW really should start attending the UNCSW events. The reason she gave was that some evangelical groups were beginning to attend in increasing numbers and were presenting themselves as representative of Christian women in the United States. They had different views, particularly regarding the roles that women could have in the church and about reproductive health, than the PC(USA) and other mainline Protestant denominations. Episcopal women, as part of the Anglican Communion, were beginning to attend in large numbers and Jennifer urged that PW members follow their lead.

At the time, I knew little about the CSW, and nothing about the nature of the NGO events surrounding the CSW’s annual meeting. Jennifer’s concise and graphic comments inspired me to work to have the PWCCT promote attendance at CSW events.

CSW50 (2006) was our first group visit. There were four of us: Magdalene Lewis, member of PW in the Presbytery of New York City; Dee Matthews, moderator of PWP NYC; Judy Wason, co-moderator of PWP Hudson River; and I, vice moderator for justice and peace, PWCCT. The next year, 2007, there were five of us: two members of the recently installed CCT moderatorial team, Catrelia Hunter, moderator, and Louise Davidson, vice moderator for justice and peace; Betty Jones, moderator of PWP NYC; and again, Judy Wason and I.

Each year the PW contingent of the PC(USA) delegation to the UNCSW has grown. This is largely due to Louise Davidson, my successor as CCT vice moderator for justice and peace. Louise had a personal interest in this project, and she worked hard and spent many hours creating a template and format for inviting and getting folks registered to attend the CSW. She was the ideal person to lead the next phase of PW’s participation in the CSW.

Editor's Note: Last year, the delegation numbered over 70. This year, for logistical reasons, the delegation numbers 40. Women go home inspired and determined to act on learnings from UNCSW. Coalitions and task groups to fight human trafficking grew out of attendance to last year's CSW. What will be the result this year? God knows!