United Methodist Women

Most people think of the Annual Cookie sale or bake sales when they think of the United Methodist Women; however, our activities in our Lindenwald Church are far reaching.

Our purpose is to know God and to that end our members are involved in Bible Studies both as participants and as teachers. We serve as Worship Leaders, as Prayer Team members, as members of the choir and the praise band. We are Stephen Ministers, we serve on the Membership Care Team and are members of the Altar Guild.

We develop a creative and supportive fellowship. UMW was one of the first "Small Groups" here at Lindenwald. In our circles we provide a supportive Christian fellowship for any woman of the church.
 
We participate in the Global Ministries of the church. As individuals and in groups we participate in outreach activities such as Treat Street, Living Waters, Pathways, Summer Shine, the Community Meal and the Prayer Drive Thru. We are members of the Evangelism/Mission Committee and volunteer for various other church teams and offices including church treasurer.

Every year we prepare and deliver Christmas gifts for the shut in members of our church.

Locally our group supports charities such as The Salvation Army and the Emergency Money Fund. We also make significant contributions to Red Bird Mission and Henderson Settlement in Kentucky and support the Otterbein Home in Lebanon. In 2009, our contributions to our local church increased as we contributed to Brothers Keepers, the Nursery Fund, and purchased flowers for the building exterior.

The UMW with the help of our congregation continues to support the Red Bird Mission, through collection of Campbell labels. We also collect "Box Tops for Education" from Kimberly Clark, SC Johnson and General Mills products. The Tyson Foods project "A+ Labels Program" is also supported by our group. Please see the flyer in the newsletter this month for additional information. Box tops, labels etc. may be placed in the container on the mantel in the parlor.

The General Conference of the United Methodist Church has declared that "In every local church there shall be an organized unit of United Methodist Women" (The Book of Discipline on the United Methodist Church, 2008). The first woman's group was organized here at Lindenwald in 1940 as the Women's Society of Christian Service (WSCS) and later became known as the United Methodist Women. Our membership now stands at 38 with three small groups known as Circles. Circles meet monthly and as a group we meet two times annually.

As part of the 800,000 member body known as United Methodist Women, we strive to fulfill the purpose of our group which states: "We are a community of women whose purpose is to know God and to experience freedom as whole persons through Jesus Christ, to develop a creative and supportive fellowship, and to expand concepts of mission through participation in the global ministries of the church."