Introducing a New Look for the
Daily Prayer Guide and Program Resource!
This year, both the Daily Prayer Guide and Program Resource are available in a new, lightweight, book-style format. The updated design makes these resources easier to carry to meetings, keep close at hand, and store on your bookshelf.
A New Look. The Same Meaningful Resources.
The updated design also helps us be good stewards of our resources. Lower production costs mean more mission dollars can be invested in programs and ministries that make a difference around the world.
Whether you turn to the Daily Prayer Guide for daily inspiration and prayer or the Program Resource for meaningful study and engagement, you’ll find the same trusted content in a format that’s easier to carry and enjoy.
The same resources you value—now in a format that’s even easier to enjoy, more convenient, and helps extend the reach of our mission.
With appreciation,
UNITED WOMEN IN FAITH
Wrapping Up Another Reading Program
For many, this is the time of year when books read are tallied and identified by category. Program Resource Coordinators summarize the activity to report at district annual meetings. Goals are celebrated, certificates awarded, and favorite books highlighted. But remember, the United Women in Faith reading program was designed with three objectives in mind: understand the world, change the world, grow our faith. While preparing your reading program report, I encourage you to reflect on what you have learned from various reading selections and how this reading has impacted, or will impact, your love in action, service, and faith community.
Book selections such as Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways by Dorcas Cheng-Torzun or Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, The African Way by Mungi Ngomane offer practical exercises and specific, actionable steps. Other reading selections share insight and perspective for the reader to consider how to apply.
For instance, after reading The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams, did you consider what effort and action would cultivate hope in your personal life? Goodall stresses using the gift of our lives to make this a better world. Does that mean being more active in community efforts to be good stewards of the earth and respect all creatures? Does your love in action include volunteering at a local shelter or helping community members with their pets while recovering from illness or medical procedures? Could it be that this book stirs you to work with a team to design a worship series emphasizing pillars for hope such as the amazing human intellect, the resilience of nature, the power of young people, and the indomitable human spirit?
After considering Goodall’s perspective of interconnection and the importance of nature, a beneficial action might be to incorporate a “soft wellness” space or terrain therapy (mindful barefoot grounding) into your next unit meeting or United Women in Faith gathering. Appreciate nature as more than a beautiful backdrop; intentionally utilize it as nervous system medicine. Yes, even in a small amount of time, such as 10-12 minutes. Frequently, individuals are carrying heavy everyday stress; their bodies are running on high cortisol. Stepping barefoot onto natural surfaces like grass, moss, sand, or soil acts as an immediate physical grounding mechanism. It interrupts the brain’s stress loops and brings a racing, overstimulated mind back into the present moment. Instruct attendees to remove their shoes and come in direct contact with the earth, in silence, focusing on the physical sensations beneath their feet. Encouraging someone, by offering time and space, to slow down, drop their shoes, and touch the earth is a simple but incredibly profound act of caring.
Without a doubt, the United Women in Faith reading program enriches an individual life and helps one understand more about the world. But don’t stop there. Commit to grow your faith and change the world one book at a time, for neither hope nor love are passive.
Author Talk–Check Your Email for an Invitation to Register
As announced, in the United Women in Faith Digital Reading Enthusiasts Group, September 3rd will be the date for the first author talk from the 2027 reading program. Rabbi Julia Watts Belser, author of Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole, will be the guest. Julia Watts Belser is a rabbi, scholar, and spiritual teacher, as well as a longtime activist for disability, LGBTQ, and gender justice. She is also an avid wheelchair hiker and lover of wild places.
Belser invites us to re-imagine disability not as something to be overcome, but as a source of sacred wisdom. She suggests that when we talk about disability, we need to think about social and political barriers. Disability is intimately intertwined with ableism — systems, practices and policies that stigmatize disability and deny disabled people access, agency, resources and self-determination. The author emphasizes this is a justice issue.
In the PNW Conference, we are fortunate to have Deaconess Lynn Swedberg, a dedicated and knowledgeable advocate who is passionate about improving accessibility so that people with disabilities can participate fully in faith communities, conferences, camps, and retreats. Swedberg has written resources to aid in understanding ableism and conducting audits of facilities regarding accessibility.
National Online Store Closes
The online store was closed at the end of June. Here is where you will find materials to purchase:
The Program Resource, Daily Prayer Guide, and Mission u curricula can be found through uwfaith.org/digital. Free downloads previously on the e-store are now available on UWFaith Digital. Log in or set up a free account, then look for “Free Resources” on the left sidebar.
Unstoppable and United Women in Faith merchandise, such as t-shirts or hoodies, is available for purchase and fundraising through bonfire.com/store/uwfaith. Treasurers can continue to order Gift to Mission and Gift in Memory cards, Presidents and membership pins, and Special Mission Recognition pins. Response magazine remains available in both print and digital formats at uwfaith.org/resources/response.
Sharon Stovall,
Secretary
Find the resources you need to grow your faith and community.