United Women in Faith North Central Jurisdiction
Quadrennial Event - 2024
Pre-Event option (extra cost) - Soul Care Retreat (May 30)
Soul Care Retreat
Katie Pryor, Patricia Bostic and Sherrae Davis
United Women in Faith polled women members and non-members. The results highlighted the growing need for women to reclaim a life balance.
United Women in Faith offers Soul Care Retreats tailored uniquely to women of different ages, interests and cultures. This new event is a pathway to connect with new women focused on giving care to your whole person – mind, body and spirit.
Are you ready to focus on nurturing your mind, body and spirit while deepening your faith through spiritual practices and creating bonds of sisterhood? Retreat participants will experience interactive, hands-on activities that may include: creativity, like poetry, painting/coloring, creative writing; sensory practices, like healthy eating, movement, yoga; spiritual reflection, like journaling, and meditation; all while connecting with your sisters in this community.
You will learn why self-care is not selfish.
Workshop options
Saturday - (Workshop A) 10:00 am - 11:30 am; (Workshop B) 1:45 pm - 3:15 pm)
Doing My Work: Ending Racism Starts with Me!
Deaconess Garlinda Burton
This workshop will invite participants to consider how racism shows up in their own social circles, families, faith communities, and how they can be agents for change. Further, participants will learn the differences between avoiding or excusing racist words and actions and the work of interrupting racism.
Clean Energy for All: Faith-Rooted Climate Action in the Midwest
Deaconess Irene DeMaris, Iowa Interfaith Power & Light
Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed and unsure how to live into your commitment to Creation Justice? Or do you want to take your commitment to a new level? This workshop is for you. Join Deaconess Irene DeMaris, the executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power & Light to learn about clean energy as faith-rooted climate action in the North Central Jurisdiction.
This workshop will cover current climate change statistics, trending environmental justice issues, and how we can be a spark for change. We will cover faith-rooted clean energy efforts in each state of the NCJ that you can plug into and get inspired to take climate action in your state once you get home.
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Dr. Gloria Brown
This workshop is concerned with much of the material presented in PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (Morris, 2016). Participants will examine underlying factors, including intersectionality, which cause Black girls to be misunderstood, marginalized, chronically suspended, poorly educated, criminalized, and more during their educational experiences. Participants will learn how repeated negative experiences and punitive disciplinary practices often result in juvenile detention stays which begin the School-to-Prison Pipeline. Participants will learn what is included in current Pushout legislation and discuss ways to perpetually participate in advocacy regarding making schools a safe space in which Black girls may be appropriately educated and protected from eventual prison confinement.
Body & Soul
Katie Pryor, Executive for Membership Nurture & Development United Women in Faith National Office
Soul Care is an important part of the culture of United Women in Faith. We believe God values our body as it is deeply connected to our spiritual well-being. This workshop will explore how the divine helps nurture our body and soul and how our sisterhood nurtures each other.
Women, Leadership and Change
Grace Musaka, Regional Missionary to Central Africa, United Women in Faith
United Women in Faith is making a difference for countless women, children, and youth around the world. This workshop will explore the organization’s international work. We will discuss the impact of this work on poverty through the lens of our economic development initiatives, enhancing capacities of local women leaders, and building successful partnerships with Central Conferences women and their local United Methodist Women organizations.
Participants will hear inspirational stories of women leaders who are making a difference in their communities. They will identify points of commonality across the cultural and regional boundaries, as ordinary women and as changemakers. They will experience aspects of United Women in Faith’s Initiative, Training for Transformation, that develops leaders and empowers local women. They will recognize the importance of United Women in Faith member support in making this work happen and transforming lives.
Breakout options (during voting for non-voting attendees)
Friday - (Breakout A) 2:00 - 2:45 pm; (Breakout B) 3:00 - 3:45 pm)
2:00 pm only - Observe the Election
BINGO / Scavenger Hunt
Get Together to play familiar games with a new twist, including mystery, fun and teamwork.
Book Exchange / Book Review
Get Together for book fans to exchange and/or review Program Resources and response Magazines.
ACTION Campaigns - Phone Banks, Cards
Get Together to learn and advocate for our United Women in Faith priorities.
* Just Energy 4 All * Interrupt the School to Prison Pipeline
NCJ 101 for New Members
Get Together to explore the basics of United Women in Faith - North Central Jurisdiction. Bring your questions.
Connecting Spaces with Someone You Don't Know
Get Together to appreciate the values of healthy boundaries and authenticity. Using verbal and nonverbal communication in building friendships.
How to Write an Op-Ed
Get Together to learn or brush-up your writing skills to effectively communicate. Connecting your thoughts on current events or popular culture to be influence for change.