Deb’s Dispatch
Dream it, Believe it, Do it!
I recently attended the Pacific Northwest Conference Cooperative Mission u in Yakima. I felt a sense of HOPE and COMMUNITY throughout the event. I appreciate all who attended, taught, led worship, planned, and helped to build Kin-dom with each other in that place. I look forward to seeing many of you at our 2024 Annual Gathering at Spokane Valley UMC, October 18-19! We have a great program planned.
Recently, I received a valuable resource from our National Leadership of United Women in Faith that provided a wealth of information we are encouraged to share at our upcoming Annual Gatherings. I am sharing it through our “Sharing Line” to reach our larger community. Here’s a link to the Annual Meeting Talking Points if you choose to read and share with local and district gatherings.
Here are some highlights….
Through 2028, we aim to increase our membership to more than 50,000, reach and exceed our $60 million Legacy Endowment Fund, increase giving to meet or exceed $10 million, and boldly adapt to change to answer God’s call to Inspire, influence, and impact local and global communities.
United Women in Faith connects and nurtures women through Christian spiritual formation, leadership development, creative fellowship, and education so that we can make a difference in the lives of women, children, and youth.
A new, exciting membership campaign is set to launch in the spring of 2025! It seeks to foster a culture where every member is an advocate, leader, and change-maker and, through active engagement, aims to build a supportive, dynamic, and forward-thinking community.
INSPIRE:
Mission u 2025 Theme: “Hope as Resurrection People”. It begins with the resurrection accounts and explores how Jesus’ followers were changed and the HOPE that grew in these resurrection people even in the midst of persecution. We will look deeper into what it means to be “resurrection people” in the 21st century.
Soul Care Offerings will continue to be developed and launched in early 2025. These include Soul Care digital communities and exploring the options for live workshops to learn about offerings through UWFaith Digital.
INFLUENCE:
Leadership Development Days will support leaders to take their skills to the next level. Save the days: November 21-23, 2024. This is a wonderful resource for all conference leadership serving in 2025, and there will also be limited availability for two district leadership persons to attend. Registration opens in September. I wanted to include this information to all readers of this Sharing Line as we are influenced by the amazing opportunities provided to leaders at all levels. These excellent growth opportunities would not exist without the generous commitment of our pledge dollars!
IMPACT:
Our Social Justice Priorities for 2024-2028 are now announced. Both Social Justice Priorities of “Climate Justice” and “Mass Incarceration and Criminalization of Communities of Color” will continue. There is still much work to be done, and these significantly impact the lives of women, children, and youth, and our voices as United Women in Faith need to be heard! Let us also remember to celebrate the work you have done in these areas during the last quadrennium and the additional priorities we have supported in Maternal Health and Food Insecurity
VOTE—Put your FAITH into ACTION; this is one of our main opportunities to let our voices be heard boldly as United Women in Faith.
The 2025 United Women in Faith Reading Program will be released in late August/ early September. Did you know over 400 people volunteered to be Reading Program evaluators in 2024? (I volunteered to evaluate children’s and youth books for the reading program for several years. It was amazing.)
Here are a few numbers that you will find exciting…As of July 2024, the total raised to support the continued work of United Women in Faith through the Legacy Endowment Fund is $38,773,749! The total raised on the Day of Giving 2024 was $424,415.00! We can celebrate this as we share with a grateful heart with our sisters nationally! Together, we are stronger.
In closing, I am blessed to share the following greeting from our General Secretary, Sally Vonner:
“Thank you for your support and encouragement in this first year. It is my joy to be on this journey with you. I invite all of us to keep our faith, hope, love, prayers, and giving alive, no matter how challenging the future may seem. Proverbs 4:25 says, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you,” supporting and being in mission with women, children, and youth for generations to come. We are influencers and inspirers! We can make an impact! Believe it! I believe we can because together, United Women in Faith is a community of bold women on a journey, believing that love in action can change the world and, with God, make this impossible possible! May it be so.
Amen
Deb Avery,
Conference President
Pacific Northwest Conference
United Women in Faith