In Women United for Change: 150 Years in Mission, distinguished scholar of United Methodist Studies Ellen Blue invites us to explore and celebrate the history of United Methodist Women and its predecessor organizations. As Blue says, "Women have done some of the most important ministry the church has ever accomplished." Here she shares the voices and stories of our foremothers, including the former denominations that now compose The United Methodist Church. Despite serious resistance from churchmen, these women formed foreign missionary societies to provide education and health care for women and girls internationally, and home missionary societies that tackled racial justice and other pressing social issues at home. They also helped establish the deaconess program, the first opportunity in our tradition for large numbers of women to perform full-time ministries of service and justice, and opened the doors for women to take on leadership roles in many arenas. As our 150th anniversary approaches, United Methodist Women's ability to address the needs of women, children, and youth has grown tremendously. We can step out with creative ministries because the women who came before us laid a strong foundation for us to build upon. As we work together on critical issues, we also grow in our own faith. We are a 150-year-old women's movement still saying yes to God's call to mission.
Ellen Blue is the Mouzon Biggs, Jr. Professor of the History of Christianity and United Methodist Studies at Phillips Theological Seminary and an ordained elder in the Louisiana Annual Conference. Her books include St. Mark's and the Social Gospel· Methodist Women and Civil Rights in New Orleans.
This United Methodist Women's Mission U book focuses on the roles of women in mission for Christ and for their churches, both nationally and internationally. Some of the women were involved in Methodist churches and others were involved in other Evangelical churches. They were constrained by social norms (could not vote) and church norms (men controlled the committees). Even so, the women persisted and made and continue to make differences in the lives of women, children, and youth around the world.
This book reminded me of why I love being in UMW, "To continue to discover how much more there is for us to learn about the Creator, about one another and about ourselves." (Page 128). That says it all! We began learning about other countries long ago in order to know how best to support them. We have made many mistakes. But we are learning from them and pressing on into the future!
This anniversary book for UMW is a treasure. It is hard to keep up with all the names, but the impact of the brave women that are our legacy from all the previous denominations leaves a lasting impression.
This was a textbook for United Methodist Women at Mission U (may have been known in the past as a different name).
This has a chart of the mergers of the different denominations that eventually made up the United Methodist Church, and how each denomination had their own women's groups, and how they all merged, eventually. This covers the good (women sending women doctors and educators to help supply a need that other women are calling for); the bad (racism, segregation, misogyny), and the hope that each generation has as women of all ages come together to keep helping as other women call for help.
The book has information about the Methodist settlement houses (not just the secular settlement houses) and education campuses, including Red Bird in KY, and HBCU's as women of all colors believed in education and supported the HBCUs - what UMW has done in the past and how we can continue to support racial justice, access to food, education and healthcare, as ends in themselves, changing the world a bit at a time to the vision of God's Kin-dom here on earth as it is in heaven.