United Women in Faith: response

Listen to four response stories in one podcast. From the May/June 2026 issue of response magazine.

response Magazine is a Continuation of Methodist, Evangelical, and United Brethren Women Telling Their Own Story for More Than 100 Years This year marks the 47th anniversary of response magazine. It’s been published now for almost 50 years. But really, this magazine’s history goes back even farther: All the way to the beginning. The first issue of Heathen Woman’s Friend was published in June 1869,...

Seventy years ago this May 4, the General Conference of the Methodist Church granted full clergy rights to women when it met in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But even before that historic date, women had been shaping the life of Methodism with courage, devotion, and prophetic voice.

These months are filled with so many celebrations—Assembly, Mother’s and Father’s Day, graduations, preparation for Annual Conference, and Mission u gatherings across our United Methodist Church connection. I’m looking expectantly to connect with many of you in Indianapolis for Assembly 2026, “Dream it! Believe it! Do it!” We are going to have a glorious time of worship, fellowship, and learning t...

The publication of mission study books has turned 125 this year. Exploring this history is a recently published book, Keyhole Missiology: Glimpses Into the History of Mission Study Texts: 1901-2026: The Role of Methodist Women and Their Successors Organized for Mission. This anniversary text was written by Glory E. Dharmaraj, Ph. D. and gifted to United Women in Faith. 

Mission is such a big, beautiful word! But sometimes it can be a little confusing. These “Love in Action” maps have been renamed from “Mission Maps” because they offer just a glimpse of how members’ dollars are at work around the world, supporting programs that improve life and help empower women, children, and youth. 

Day of Giving is our opportunity to gather together as one sisterhood in faith to thank God for the continued grace shown to United Women in Faith, by giving to ensure the future of our vital mission work to improve the lives of women, children, and youth at home and abroad.

For 25 years, Chantal (who is using a substitute name) has lived at Mary Elizabeth Inn, a United Women in Faith National Mission Institution in San Francisco, California.

March is Women’s History Month and time to celebrate the contributions of women from around the world. For me, because it is the birthday month of United Women in Faith, I celebrate all the women, now among the great cloud of witnesses—from our founders to all the leaders and members who cheerfully gave their time, talents, gifts, and service. Their love carries forth our mission and commitment to...

Listen to four response stories in one podcast. From the Jan./Feb. 2026 issue of response magazine.

Happy New Year and greetings in Faith, Hope, and Love! I thank God that each of us is gifted to see 2026, a new year to continue serving and loving God and our neighbor. If 2025 taught me anything with so many disruptions, shifts, and unfathomable changes it is that God is with me and you. Amid my most difficult days, I could trust that God was with me. I hope that is your testimony as well. From...

Assembly Event Welcomes Elizbeth Eckford You may not know her by name, but you will more than likely recognize her high school photo. Elizabeth Eckford’s family did not have a phone, so she was the only one of a group of brave Black students who didn’t get the phone call that would have told her that, for her safety, she should not come to school on that first day of attempted desegregation at Cen...

National Mission Institutions continue United Women in Faith's Legacy. These community-based ministries have offered education, housing, health care, and other essential services for well over a century. While their names, models, and leadership structures have evolved, their mission has remained steady: to be a faithful, responsive presence in the lives of those they serve. From the Jan./Feb. 202...

Remembering Home Missioner Helen Ryde (Sept. 11, 1965-Sept. 2, 2025) United Women in Faith member Home Missioner Helen Ryde (they/them) left an indelible mark on United Women in Faith, the Order and Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner, the entire United Methodist Church, and beyond. From the Jan./Feb. 2026 issue of response magazine.

Listen to four response stories in one podcast. From the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of response magazine.

The Sand Creek Massacre is not just Cheyenne and Arapaho history, it is Methodist history. From the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of response magazine.

The cultural tendencies of this time invite us to flit quickly from one story to another, sampling information and taking in various soundbites—both social and spiritual. It is as though we have been tacitly instructed never to dive too deep and to click quickly past anything that doesn’t automatically arrest our attention. Amid the mental clutter of so many neon-bright attention grabbers, the cho...

Sally Vonner's Responsively Yours column from the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of response magazine.

Sixteen deaconesses and home missioners from the United States gathered with diaconal ministers from around the world in Tanzania in July for a week of inspiration and the consecration of 15 new deaconesses and home missioners. From the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of response magazine.