January 2004 - Tower - Page 14
| Page 13 | T.O.C. | Index | Page 15 |
United Methodist Women
Gerry Beale Turner, President
| Page 13 | T.O.C. | Index | Page 15 |
Many of you know that I came to the United Methodist Church by way of Southern Baptist. I became a Baptist in my early twenties and was active in many aspects of the church. I knew there was an organization of the church called Woman's Missionary Union (the Methodist counterpart to United Methodist Women) but since I was not raised in the church, I was not sure what it was all about. I had been a church member for more than eight years and had never been invited to join them.
One day, I read in the newsletter about a program they were having that I was very interested in. I called the church office and asked if I could attend. The answer was, "Of course." I attended that meeting and a group (circle) meeting and my life changed for ever. I had no idea about all the ways they were "doing unto the least of these." They were learning about missions, praying for missionaries, and doing missions! I went back to my friends (who also did not belong to WMU) and told them about this fantastic organization and the women's organization in that church began to grow. It was the best kept secret in the church!
I wonder if there are women in our church who do not know about United Methodist Women and what they are all about. Are there women sitting beside us in the pews on Sunday morning or in our Sunday school classes who have never been personally asked to attend a circle meeting? Today, we have 135 women in our local unit. Since I have access to the church data base, I ran some quarries. 458 members of our church are women. If we subtract those who are living out of town or the ones we no longer have addresses for, we have 363 women in the church. That means there are 228 members of our church who are not members of United Methodist Women! I wonder why? Why would women who love the Lord, who love their church and want to serve God, not want to be part of an organization that has been in mission for 135 years? I hope it's not because our United Methodist Women Unit is the best kept secret in the church.
Ladies, I want to challenge each of you to commit to inviting just one women who is not a member to a UMW meeting this year. If not a circle meeting, there is a general meeting this month. There is also a district event and in March there is the district prayer breakfast. Maybe you could invite someone to breakfast. Let's not keep United Methodist Women a secret.
| February Circle Meetings | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circle 1 | Monday | February 9 | 11:15 a.m. | |
| Circle 2 | Tuesday | February 10 | 10:00 a.m. | Annemarie Parker |
| Circle 3 | Tuesday | February 10 | 10:00 a.m. | Church Parlor |
| Circle 4 | Tuesday | February 10 | 1:00 p.m. | Church Parlor |
| Circle 5 | Tuesday | February 10 | 7:30 p.m. | Billie Way |
| Circle 6 | Wednesday | February 11 | 10:00 a.m. | Church Parlor |
| Circle 7 | Tuesday | February 10 | 7:30 p.m. | Pat Bausman |
| Circle 8 | Tuesday | February 10 | 10:00 a.m. | Margaret Allen Thomas |
| Girls' Circle | Sunday | February 15 | 5:00 p.m. | Youth Room |
| Page 13 | T.O.C. | Index | Page 15 |
If you have any comments on any of these pages, please email me: Robert W.(Bob) McKitrick, thanks.
Last update: January 1, 2004