A Message from Our Jurisdiction

As you know, 2020 has turned into a year of firsts for all of us, and this has carried over into all aspects of our lives.  This is true at all levels of United Methodist Women as well.  We were faced with many difficult decisions as we tried to make sense of the new shape of the world.  After much prayerful consideration, all Jurisdiction meetings were cancelled, and they will not be rescheduled into 2021.  However, there is still important business to be done.

Where does this leave the election of Western Jurisdiction’s National Directors and new Leadership Team?  As usual, the National Office and Staff have worked extremely hard to create solutions to all our challenges, and we are now trying out a new first.  Both elections took place electronically on July 25, 2020.  Voting delegates elected both the new Directors and Leadership Team.  Sadly, this process did not allow for as many people to view the election, but several guests had been invited by National as observers. 

Delegates had the opportunity to review biographies for all candidates as well as short videos from the Director Nominees and have already received instructions for this new process. Practice sessions were held and we were all confident the election would run smoothly.  If you would like to review this information yourself, it is available at www.wjumw.com. The election results were posted as soon as they were verified.

You can also click below to go directly to the results you would like to see.

Results for our National Directors and Alternates

Results for our Western Jurisdiction Leadership Team

2021-2024 UMW Social Justice Priorities

What are UMW’s Social Justice Priorities for the 2021-2024 Quadrennium?

• Climate Justice, with a particular focus on Just Energy 4 All campaign
• Mass Incarceration/ Criminalization of Communities of Color, with a particular focus on the Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline campaign
•  

 Why are we only doing two priorities? What about Maternal Health and Economic Justice?

As we move forward in this moment, we do so with a great sense of intention and discernment. To be impactful, we are constantly assessing what is needed in this moment and where our strengths lie. Reducing the number of priority issues for this quadrennium enables us to focus the resources and time of members and national staff, go deeper into each of the issues we’re engaging, and develop stronger local and national partnerships in these areas.

In this time of diminishing resources, this kind of focus makes us more effective to have greater impact for good.

As we wind down our work on Maternal and Child Health and Economic Justice/Living Wage by year end, we are confident that the organizations we’ve partnered with over the past quadrennium will continue to advance justice and equity in these areas.  Resources on these issues will continue to be available on the United Methodist Women website through 2022 for use by members.

Priority work on Mass Incarceration/Criminalization of Communities of Color and on Climate Justice will continue to explore the economic justice and women’s health implications in these areas.

What about our work on gender equity and racial justice?

United Methodist Women is a women’s mission organization whose founding and subsequent work evidenced the efficacy of women to lead, achieve, and answer God’s calling in a time when women’s role in church and society were stymied. Gender justice and women’s leadership development are part of United Methodist Women’s core commitments and will always be a key component of our work.

Likewise, United Methodist Women has a long-standing commitment to eradicating racism. We began this work over 100 years ago and regularly re-commit to anti-racist work to dismantle structural racism. We know that all people are beloved in God’s eyes, and until they are loved in the eyes of all, our work persists.

Recent videos of extrajudicial killings of George Floyd and other people of color has forced the church and the nation to confront the inequities in law enforcement and institutional racism. Our work on Mass Incarceration/ Criminalization of Communities of Color and the Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline campaign and Climate Justice are most important at this time. Our work on these issues consistently reveals the intersections with gender inequity, racial and economic injustice, placing us in a unique position to lead as the nation assesses the role of systemic racism.

Light Breaks Forth / Living as Children of Light

We have had programs on living in the light of God and the Holy Spirit to help us work on our social justice priorities, being reminded that GOD IS OUR LIGHT and many others. August's Program wants us to practice Living as Children of that light.

Isaiah thundered at the people of Israel seeking to wake them up and call them back into faithfulness with God.  He argues that they have masked greed and injustice with religious rituals that theologically justify the systems of oppression and excuse their complicity and indifference to the suffering of so many of God's children.  The wealthy elite and Israel's monarchy seem to be at odds with God's economy of manna and mercy, to God's call for Sabbath economics that assure the common good. 

Isaiah's message of challenge and hope could be for the world today.  Isaiah 58:8a says "Then your light shall break forth like the dawn."  We need to remember that we are children of the light, bringing the light to the areas where it is needed.  

Peter Storey, former bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa said "A candle-light is a protest at midnight. It is a non-conformist. It says to the darkness, 'I beg to differ'."

Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund referred to her mentors as lanterns, those who provided light for her path, those who kept her in God's path. They "instilled a vision and hope of what could be, not what was" and "instilled a sense of the here and now and forever faithful presence of God inside" of her. 

Think of your mentors, in and out of the church, those who have acted as your lanterns, while you contemplate these questions.

1) How does your partnership with United Methodist Women shine a light into the darkness, exposing all that stands in opposition the the God of love and life?

2) How does it provide light for others so that they might join in the work for justice and liberation?

3) How can your light grow and become a lantern for others?

When thinking about the enormity of living in God's light, remember how light shatters hopelessness, illuminates darkness, sines upon what is deemed impossible to conquer, and when split, it doesn't disappear, it creates beauty (prisms and rainbows)!

We have lit our lanterns. They may be small on their own, together they are a mighty light.  Our light grows as the spark of imagination fuels our ability to envision what is possible.

As United Methodist Women, we have seen what it is like to be both the source of light and the receiver of that light. At some point in our lives, we embody one or the other in some capacity.

Impact and Share God's Light

The power to imagine what is possible is a gift from God.  Consider our Social Justice Priorities.  How do you imagine a world that is fair and equitable to women, children and youth?  

If you need more information about these priorities, you can go to unitedmethodistwomen.org/action.

You will find information, posters, infographics, and more for each of them.  You can also sign up for action alerts in this area.

Program Books Available

The new program books are available at the United Methodist Women online e-store. 

Program Book 2020-2021 - Knitted Together for God's Good Work               M3353          $10

Knitted Together for God's Good Work explores how we as children of God are joined and linked together into the whole body of Christ. Even at times when social distancing or other obstacles may keep us physically apart, we are knit together in community to transform the world.

New This Year: To ensure that everyone can join together virtually for monthly study and bonding, instructions on how to use videoconferencing platforms are provided, along with suggestions on how to adjust program activities for these forums.

Date Reminders

CALENDAR 2020 - these are tentative and subject to change as circumstances change.

Conference and District in person events have been canceled.

October  PNW UMW Executive Meeting, Virtual Meeting.

October PNW UMW Annual Conference Meeting, Virtual Meeting.

If you have any other information that you want me to put here, please let me know by calling (360) 609-0503 or emailing me at lmilner2016@gmail.com .

Living as children of the light, we will need to refill our light through prayer and the inspiration of others. We will also be shining our light to illuminate what needs to be changed and as a guide to lead others out of darkness.  

This might take a bit of self care.  Like other things, we can't be a help to others if we don't have enough even for ourselves. (You can't pour from an empty cup.)