The newly-formed Strawbridge United Women in Faith unit welcomed 83 women at their first retreat on August 12. The event was highlighted by Bishop Cynthia Harvey who spoke to the group during their opening program.
photos courtesy of Jessica Pence
Later in the day the women participated in four workshops:
Missions – Christine Riggle talked about the Mission Center and the women put together 100 adult hygiene kits for our United Women in Faith Hands-on Project.
Prayer Stations – Members experienced different methods to pray
Arts & Crafts – The women put together cross pins from remnants and discussed how the remnants in their lives are still gifts to be used
Speed Friending – like speed dating only meeting new friends.
Each year Texas Conference United Women in Faith and their units honor the memory of members of their congregations and families by donating to the Mission Candle. Members and units send Mission Candle funds to their district treasurer through the remittance process, and the candle burns during the Annual Fall Meeting. The amount of money donated determines how long the Mission Candle will burn. In 2022 over $3000 was donated, which resulted in the Mission Candle burning for a little over 2 ½ hours.
How is the burning time calculated? Each year the National office calculates how much money United Women in Faith spends each minute on national, international, and partner missions. This is known as the Mission Minute. In 2023 the Mission Minute is $16.56. So a donation of $16.56 to the Mission Candle fund ensures that the candle will burn for a minute–and a minute of missions is funded. A donation of $33.12 ensures the candle will burn for two minutes and two minutes of missions are funded, and so on.
This year, units and districts should download and complete the form below to send the names of individuals to be recognized and the amount donated to the Conference Treasurer no later than September 23, 2023. District Donation checks should be sent to the Conference Treasurer by October 14, 2023, with the district’s third quarter’s remittance report. Since the 2023 Annual Meeting will be in person at Lakeview on October 7, it will great to be able to see the candle burning during the morning session.
Women from around the conference joined together virtually on July 7-8 for the 2023 Mission u study, Living the Kin-dom: Exploring the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice for Social Transformation. Leader Linda Elms challenged us to rethink each line of the prayer that most of us have recited since childhood. The study was enhanced each day with a worship service highlighted by music provided by the national office.
Thanks to Jane Frantz for serving as the 2023 Mission u Dean. Mission u curriculum is still available for purchase. It can be adapted to a variety of settings outside of the Mission u format, including Sunday school and other church school settings.
In cooperation with The Mission Center, Texas Conference United Women in Faith will once again be collecting materials and money for Care Bags for children and adults. These backpacks are a Texas Annual Conference project that are intended to assist people during disasters, homelessness, being released from incarceration, etc.
The backpacks are broken down into different types of bags. Each district has one bag type assigned and is not expected to provide for a completed Care Bag. To avoid any confusion, Districts have been assigned the same bags as they had in 2022.
The Mission Center will provide the backpacks. Districts only need to provide the type of bag assigned. Our goal is to provide for 350 total Care Bags in 2023. They will be collected at our Fall Meeting on October 6-7. Please contact Kathy Kraiza, Conference Education and Interpretation Chair, at 360 320 1471 if you have any questions.
Texas Conference officers met twice during the 2023 Texas Annual Conference in Houston to plan programming for the next year and to report on the previous year.
President Theresa Graham leads Officer Meeting
During the program meeting on May 29, officers worked on the theme and activities for the upcoming Fall Festival, which will take place Oct 6-7 at Lakeview, our first in person fall meeting in several years.
Officers also decided to hold two Ubuntu Days of Service. The first one will be in August at the Wesley Community Center in Houston, one of the United Women in Faith National Mission Institutes. UWF members from across the Texas Conference will be invited to spend the day volunteering at Wesley. Stay tuned for more details. The second Ubuntu day will be held in the Spring.
District presidents and Conference officers listen to reports
On Tuesday, May 31, District presidents joined Conference officers for a meal and to hear reports from each of the officers.
Vice President Stacie Hawkins welcomes attendees to the annual luncheon
Hugs and handshakes filled the ballroom at the 2023 Annual Luncheon in Houston on May 29. After several years of not being able to meet in person, nearly 80 UWF members from across the Texas Conference greeted each other warmly as they met to share a meal during the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.
UWF members and their guests were treated to an address by Rev Hannah Terry, Community Pastor of Westbury UMC and Founding Executive Director of FAM Houston – a 501c3 nonprofit organization with the mission to work for justice by building empowered community with resettled refugees, immigrants, and local Houstonians.
Rev Terry encouraged us to explore the goodness of mutuality–being with someone and listening to them without trying to “fix them.” True mutuality with another person, she said, is something that can “spring you from the prison of myself.”
During her talk Rev Terry showed videos from FAM Houston, including one that highlighted the Pamoja initiative, a program that pairs refugee and immigrant families to Houstonian families to learn from each other and create mutual aid groups. Interested volunteers are encouraged to check out Pamoja.
Rev Hannah Terry addresses the crowdLue Wenzel, Spiritual Growth Officer, leads the group from the Prayer GuidePresident Theresa Graham surprises Wilodyne Hooper with the Hazel Decker Award.
A highlight of the luncheon was when President Theresa Graham presented the 2023 Hazel Decker Award to Wilodyne Hooper. Hooper, a long-time member who has served in several levels of UWF, expressed surprise at honor. “I never believed I did anything special enough to deserve this. Thank you so much,” she told the group.
UWF members catch up with friends
When the luncheon was over, the room was filled with hugs again as everyone expressed the hope that they would see each other again at the next Annual Conference Luncheon.
A newborn baby in Maua, Kenya. A woman undergoing breast cancer treatment in Houston. A schoolboy in Belize.
Worlds apart, yet, connected by a common thread – all recipients of handcrafted gifts sewn, crocheted and knitted by members of Memorial Drive UMC’s Common Thread Circle.
One of the oldest and most active circles within MDUMC’s United Women of Faith organization, Common Thread has been meeting since 1997. Their hats, scarves, blankets, “critters” and heart-shaped pillows have found their way around the world, bringing a bit of comfort to more than 125,000 people, large and small.
In 2022 alone, the ladies made 5,216 donations to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, mission trips to foreign countries, charitable organizations providing aid to hurricane victims, and others.
Common Thread founding members first gathered at the church 25 years ago. Because of limited space, they moved to a nearby Starbucks where regular customers got to know the ladies and started donating fabric and spreading the word about the ladies’ mission.
And even though they loved meeting at the coffee shop (they even purchased a vacuum cleaner so they could tidy up the rugs before leaving), the Circle soon outgrew its space and went back to meeting at the church.
For two hours each Monday afternoon, 25 to 30 Circle members meet to stuff and sew closed heart-shaped pillows and animals that have been cut out, washed and ironed, and sewn by other volunteers working from home. Others crochet and knit lap blankets, hats and scarves. The ladies turn out approximately 75 pieces a week.
“One of the things I love about the Circle is that it includes ladies from so many denominations and that we assist other churches like Spring Branch Presbyterian and St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in their mission efforts,” says Circle Co-chair Mary Brannies.
No project is ever too daunting for Common Thread to tackle. Last year, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the group answered the call to make 125 pink scarves and hats and was honored for its work at Methodist Medical Center’s “Blessing of the Gifts” event.
“One of the most moving things to me is seeing a breast cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy treatment with her arms wrapped around one of our pink heart-shaped pillows,” says Rima Blanc.
More often than not, Common Thread members don’t see the true outcome of their work as it goes in so many directions.
They missed seeing the smiles on the faces of children who received Child Care Bags that included one of their stuffed animals after the Texas Annual Conference Mission Center helped families affected by a hurricane in Louisiana.
They never watched pediatric surgeons make simple drawings on the white “therapy dolls” showing their smallest patients where they were going to give a shot or put a bandage.
Leslie Antley, who singlehandedly knitted and crocheted more than 500 hats for Houston’s Interfaith Ministries Refugee Services and a 2022 mission trip to Kenya, didn’t see the outcome of her work.
Yet, Common Thread members keep on sewing, knowing that their handiwork makes a difference to someone, somewhere.
A note from HCA West Houston Medical Center recently shared these sentiments: “Today was a good day to pass out pillows: A crying mother of an infant in the ICU, the daughter of a patient who just lost her 12-year-old son, and to a lady who had a stroke and was delighted to have the heart pillow. I left a pillow for the unit secretary in the ER. Her back pain was flaring up and the pillow provided comfort while she finished her long work day. Everyone wants me to convey how much they love and find comfort with the heart pillows.”
Common Thread welcomes all women of all denominations. It meets from 2 to 4 p.m. on Mondays in Memorial Drive United Methodist Church’s Wesley Hall.
When the church split occurred last year, it left a lot of people searching for a new church home, and many of them landed at Strawbridge UMC in Kingwood. Strawbridge did not hold a vote on disaffiliation, instead their vote was all about what the church’s positioning statement would be regarding the LGTBQ+ community. When the vote came back, defining Strawbridge as a reconciling church, the floodgates opened. The church doubled in size. The biggest issue right now is enough parking on Sundays! What a lovely problem to have.
Although it could have felt overwhelming for the Strawbridge members, long-time members threw the doors open and welcomed new members with open arms and helped them on a healing path.
One new member, Carol Boldin, was most interested in the Women’s Ministry. She had always enjoyed that in the past and wanted to contribute at her new church. The existing Women’s Ministry group at Strawbridge functioned but needed some organization. That’s when Boldin met Kathy Kraiza in her new Sunday School class. Kraiza, Texas Conference Education and Interpretation Officer, told Boldin all about United Women in Faith. This seemed like the ideal time to begin a new unit.
Boldin poured out the Strawbridge story to Katie Pryor and Khia Shaw at UWF in New York, who were encouraging and helpful. They emailed Strawbridge a membership kit.
On January 10, 2023, Strawbridge UWF had their first meeting to see if there was enough interest to proceed. They had a salad bar because it’s always time for a pot luck! Kraiza gave an excellent overview of UWF, and the women voted to move forward. Officers were nominated and voted in for 2023. There were many circle suggestions that night, as well as people stepping forward to volunteer their talents. They held their official New United Women in Faith Celebration on Sunday, April 17, 2023, and signed up a number of ladies that day.
In early May Strawbridge hosted their first event, a tea party. They had 77 in attendance. They opened with a performance by Sola Gratia, a women’s ecumenical choir, enjoyed their tea fare, and closed with women from a local charity, Oaks of Righteousness, sharing their testimonies. The event was free, but they asked everyone to bring household items for the Oaks of Righteousness. It was an amazing spirit-filled afternoon.
“That’s us,” Boldin says. “Moving forward. Figuring things out. Seeing God in everything as we build relationships with our new church family.”
Texas Conference 