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06341 July 7, 2006
3,000 gather for Presbyterian Women triennial
Churchwide Gathering celebrates women's ordination anniversaries
by Jerry L. Van Marter
LOUISVILLE - The triennial Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women kicks off its five day run today (June 7) with more than 3,000 participants in attendance.
Participants - including more than 100 international visitors - will gather for worship, Bible study, 60 workshops and mission trips to local ministries, and plenary addresses on various aspects of the Gathering theme - Creation! Celebration! God's Word - Light for the Journey. During business meetings, the group will establish budgets, priorities and programmatic emphases for the next three years.
Bible study will be led by the Rev. Dale Linsday Morgan, pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara, CA, and author of the 2004-2205 Bible study published by HORIZONS, the magazine of Presbyterian Women. Bible reflections will be led by renowned Presbyterian poet Ann Weems.
The Gathering will include a leadership training event for young women, sponsored by the National Network of Presbyterian College Women.
The every-three-years event comes at a momentous time for women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women as ministers, the 75th anniversary of women as elders and the 100th anniversary of women as deacons will be part of the festivities.
That celebration will be led by the Rev. Roula Alkhouri, associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bend, OR, and the first Syrian American woman ordained to the PC(USA) ministry; and Laura Cheifetz, a recent graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary who serves on the Racial Justice Task Force of Churches Uniting in Christ (formerly COCU).
The group will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Fellowship of the Least Coin, a global special offering that raises funds for economic, social and community development of women around the world. Esther Byu, a native of Myanmar (Burma) who is executive secretary for the International Committee for the Fellowship of the Least Coin, will be present to lead the celebration.
Participants will also participate in a local mission project: collecting shoes and socks to distribute to Louisville's needy through the Salvation Army.
Complete information about the 2006 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women is available on the Web site http://www.pcusa.org/pwgathering/ .
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