The Clarion December 2017

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

The Power of Bold: 2018 Assembly 2

Conference 2018 Calendar 4

President's Message 5

Spiritual Growth Report 6

Annual Day In Pictures 7

2018 A Way Forward 10

Update Social Action Day Report 11

“The Power of Bold” will be the theme of the 19th quadrennial Assem-

bly of United Methodist Women in Columbus, Ohio, May 18-20, 2018.

This Assembly is particularly momentous in that it marks both the of-

ficial celebration of the organization’s 150th anniversary and a return

to the location of the first Assembly in 1942. Throughout the action-

filled weekend, participants will revisit the journey of Mary, who

boldly risked safety and security to answer yes to God’s call to service,

and likewise affirm their own commitment to mission with women,

children and youth as United Methodist Women in the 21st century.

The Early Bird Registration Deadline has been extended to

December 31st.

For more information click on this link: https://umwassembly.org/news/

NEED HELP? Contact Joyclyn Wilson at 901-378-6190

HAVE YOU REGISTERED???

P A G E 3 T H E C L A R I O N

More on these BOLD women

Leymah Gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work in leading a women’s peace move-ment that brought an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Ms. Gbowee shared the prize with Libe-ria’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Yemen na-tive Tawakkol Karman. Ms. Gbowee and President Sirleaf became the second and third African women to win the prize, preceded by the late Wangari Maathai of Kenya. Ms. Gbowee is the founder and president of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa based in Liberia. Her foundation provides educational and leadership opportunities to girls, women and youth in West Africa.

Michelle Alexander is author of the critically acclaimed “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,” a stunning account of millions of Afri-can Americans imprisoned and then relegated to a per-manent second-class citizenship and legally denied en-franchisements won in the Civil Rights Movement. A legal scholar and civil rights litigator, Ms. Alexander has taught at a number of universities, including Stanford Law School, where she was an associate professor of law and director of its Civil Rights Clinics. In 2005, she accepted a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. Ms.

Alexander has been featured in numerous national ra-dio and television outlets, including NPR, C-Span, Washington Journal and Bill Moyers Journal. “The New Jim Crow” is a 2011 NAACP Image Award winner. She

was a featured academic in the Academy Award nominated documentary “13th,” exploring systemic racism and the prison pipeline.

For more information on these speakers, please visit https://umwassembly.org/speakers/.

Assembly 2018: Keynote Speakers

Conference UMW Calendar 2018

Month/Date Name Time Church

January 1 All directory information to Sonia Scott

January 20 Leadership Development Day 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Fulton First

February 1 Clarion deadline

March 24 Mission Team meeting 9:30 AM Medina UMC

Committees for Mission u, Nominations,

Finance, Spiritual Growth

Charter for Racial Justice & Scholarships

April 20-21 Spiritual Growth Retreat Lakeshore Eva, TN

May 1 Clarion deadline

May 18-20 Assembly 2018 Columbus, Ohio

June 3-6 Annual Conference Paducah, KY

June 30 Mission study info to Marilyn Ramsey

July 20-21 Mission u Crossroads UMC

August 1 Clarion Deadline

August 11 Mission Team 9:30 AM Milan UMC

Committees: Membership, Finance, Program

Lunch 11:45 AM

August 25 Social Action Day TBA

August 25 Mission Today to Marilyn Ramsey

August 25 Reading Program to Deborah Vaughn

August 25 Candle burning to Marilyn Ramsey

September 30 Annual Day Covenant UMC

November 3 MNO TBA

November Leadership Development Days TBA

November 1 Clarion Deadline

P A G E 5

A Message from our President

Ladies,

This year is quickly drawing to a close and Christmas is just a few weeks away! I know we are busy preparing for the

celebration of our Savior’s birth. What a joyful time of the year for friends and family! I wish each of you a Blessed

Christmas Season!

We still have many things to do as United Methodist Women to complete our work for 2017. Each District should be

holding officer training events and outgoing officers should be passing along knowledge they have gain this year to in-

coming officers. Sometimes what we have learned is very helpful for the next person filling the position we have just

completed. Share with your sisters, we can learn from successes and failures. We have reports to complete and pledges

to be met. We have had a productive and blessed year.

Each local unit president should fill out a membership census on line. Please go to www.unitedmethodistwomen.org/

census2017 or you can go to The United Methodist Women web site and search for census. There is even a video to

help you complete the form. Please, please take the time to complete this form. Last year only two of our district’s in-

formation was recorded for Memphis Conference.

If you need help with this form please contact your district Membership Coordinator or District President (see list be-

low).

You may also contact Phyllis Gay (901-485-8416) or Mary Lou Wurth (270-642-2512) for help in completing the census

report.

Metro District: President, Meredith Bingham 901-485-8416 Membership, Barbara Whittington. 901-388-2383

Mississippi River: President, Melba Mitchel. 731-780-0873 Membership, Glenda Rice. 731-445-1162

Purchase: President, Jan Nutter. 270-226-3993 Membership, Dianne Dickey. 270-816-0288

Tennessee River: President, Beverly Mueller. 731-669-3898

Each member of the United Methodist Women May go to www.unitedmethodistwomen/myumw to print a membership

card.

United Methodist Women have some big events coming in 2018!

Assembly 2018******* May 18-20, 2018 Columbus, Ohio********

“A Way Forward” informational session/sessions dates and places to be announced

Leadership Development Day. January 20, 2018 at Fulton First UMC Conference and District officers should attend,

others are welcome.

I pray that each one of you have a joyous Christmas and a blessed. 2018!

Thank each one of you for your dedication to United Methodist Women and our work for Women, Children, and Youth.

Mary Lou

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P A G E 6

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but it

shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah

55:11

“Go and make disciples of all nations.” Matt 28:10

Hello Again! I hope this finds everyone doing well. I’m still excited after the Spiritual Growth Retreat – we did so much to praise God, and glorify God! We’re gearing up already for next year’s retreat. We’ve got our speaker; working on music and a song leader. We’ve got some great news as well. The kids are welcome for next year! We will be welcom-ing ages 3 and up. We hope to see many, many young hearts and souls excited about learn-ing to share God’s love and live to His glory. We tried it out this year, so, with a little bit of ‘tweaking’, we’re going to do it again in 2018. The important thing is, every day, to reach out to those who need us; the young women who just need a break to fellowship with other Christian women. We’re reaching out to those who just need a break and a chance to get out of their everyday routine; even if it’s just for overnight. Get the word out, Ladies! Let’s be the Hands and Feet of Christ. Let us welcome the children with the same spirit as our Loving Jesus! I’ll be keeping our conference in prayer and all of you. Grace and peace, Pat Dunker

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Spiritual Growth Report from Pat Dunker

Annual Day 2017

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P A G E 8 T H E C L A R I O N

P A G E 9 T H E C L A R I O N

2018 “A Way Forward”

Memphis Conference United Methodist Women were represented at “A Way Forward” Training Session in St. Louis, Mo. this November by Conference President, Mary Lou Wurth, Program Advisory Team, Virginia Mohundro and Deaconess Carolyn Law-horn. These participants were trained as facilitators to return to our conference and to lead discussions on the impact of the Commission on a Way Forward.

Local units and districts are encouraged to host a “Way Forward Conversation” and to invite one of the facilitators listed above. The objectives of this dialogue are to engage UMW members in listening to and understanding the diverse issues related to human sexuality and clarifying our thinking on what holds the United Methodist Church together despite our differences. Our 2016 General Conference delegates, will represent us at the Special Session of General Conference in February 2019. The delegates will collaborate on critical revisions to the Book of Discipline presented at that time. UMW encourages us to fast and pray that we will have crafted and adopt a workable plan that moves us forward as a unified denomination with the common mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Conversations will be held January- next December 2018.

Please contact the facilitators to schedule this 2-hour session with approximately 4 weeks advance notice:

President Mary Lou Wurth phone:270-642-2512 Mrs. Mrs. Virginia Mohundro phone: 731-501-2687

Deaconess Carolyn Lawhorn phone: 731-394-9795

Many Thanks In Advance,

Memphis Conference “Way Forward” Facilitation Team

The Social Action Day this year at Aldersgate UMC was a very special day for the Mem-phis Conference. We had a time of fellowship, good food and learning. There was a work-shop on “Human Trafficking” led by Marissa Castellanos from Louisville, KY. Marissa cur-rently works with the Catholic Charities of Louisville as the Human Trafficking Program Di-rector, where she has worked for the last nine years. A workshop on “Maternal and Child Health” was led by Dr. Debra Selby. Dr. Selby is a Pe-diatrician in Paris, TN. She has been a practicing physician for many years and is well loved by the children and their families. She was a fountain of information on good health practices and prevention. Our third workshop was on “Bullying/Teen Suicide” led by Corporal David Scott of the Brownsville police force. Corporal Scott along with his duties at the police station goes out in the community and at the schools informing and educating the people about the danger of cyber bulling and the effects and results it has on the lives of so many people today. We had good attendance and good participation. It was a pleasure to have Susie John-son, United Methodist Women, Washington Office of Public Policy in Washington D.C. as our special guest. She asked me to extend her gratitude and appreciation to the entire conference for, in her words, “a wonderful experience and the opportunity to fellowship and learn from the members and the guest leaders. Everyone who was unable to attend sure missed a very great day. This is my last year as the Memphis Conference Social Action Coordinator. Many thanks to all who attended and to all those who helped in any way to make these four years an informative and educational experi-ence for our conference . God Bless, Barbara Boden boden1926@gmail.com

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Social Action Report from Barbara Bolden

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Highlights from Social Action Day