Meet Your New I-K Women of the ELCA Leaders! Officers and board members for the new two-year term of the IK Synodical Women’s Organization were elected and commissioned at the Biennial Convention held in Hebron, KY, August 7-8, 2015. Congratulations and God’s blessings on the following BOLD women: 2015-2017 IK SWO Board Office of President Linda Doerge Gethsemane, Lexington, KY Past vice-president, Linda will be serving her third term on the board. She was chair and coordinator of the recent convention, and has served as her unit ’s president and vice-president; EK cluster coordinator; and as her congregation’s church council secretary, assisting minister, and delegate to synod assembly. (Linda ’s message is on page 3) Office of Secretary Kathy Coleman First English, Mishawaka, IN Kathy enters her second term as IK SWO secretary. She previously served as cluster facilitator on the board. She is currently coordinator in her unit, and is on her church’s council, previously as council secretary. Office of Vice-President Pr. Doris Sparks Trinity, Linton, IN Pastor Doris is pastor of Trinity Lutheran and has served on the board for one term as a member and as social media coordinator. She is an active participant at the unit level at Trinity as well as previously at Zion Lu- theran, Chelsea, MI, where she served as pastor for eight years. Office of Treasurer Pat Hamby Resurrection, Indianapolis Pat will be serving her second term as treasurer of the IK SWO. She is active in her church as a Gather Bible study group member, LWR quilters group leader, part-time leader and member of a cro- chet group for Global Health Ministries, and serves on various congregation committees. Kenda Dues Faith, Goshen , IN Before election in August to her first full term, Kenda filled a vacated seat on the board. She is active in Faith’s Social Ministries Committee and has served as a cluster committee member or volunteer for ten years. She initiated and organized the Outreach Pro- jects for the 2015 convention, held August 6 and 7. Sandy Koehler Resurrection, Madison, IN Sandy will be serving her second term as a board member. She has served as a unit president for several years, as well as a church council member, and rep- resented her congregation as synod assembly voting member. (Board members and other election results continue on page 4) Synodical Board Members
Transcript
Meet Your New I-K Women of the ELCA Leaders! Officers and board members for the new two-year term of the IK Synodical Women’s Organization were elected and commissioned at the Biennial Convention held in Hebron, KY, August 7-8, 2015. Congratulations and God’s blessings on the following BOLD women:
2015-2017 IK SWO Board
Office of President
Linda Doerge
Gethsemane, Lexington, KY Past vice-president, Linda will be serving her third term on the board. She was chair and coordinator of the recent convention, and has served as her unit’s president and
vice-president; EK cluster coordinator; and as her congregation’s church council secretary, assisting minister, and delegate to synod assembly. (Linda’s message is on page 3)
Office of Secretary
Kathy Coleman
First English, Mishawaka, IN
Kathy enters her second term as IK SWO secretary. She previously served as cluster facilitator on the board. She is currently coordinator in her unit, and is on her church’s
council, previously as council secretary.
Office of Vice-President
Pr. Doris Sparks
Trinity, Linton, IN
Pastor Doris is pastor of Trinity Lutheran and has served on the board for one term as a member and as social media coordinator. She is an active participant at the
unit level at Trinity as well as previously at Zion Lu-theran, Chelsea, MI, where she served as pastor for eight years.
Office of Treasurer
Pat Hamby
Resurrection, Indianapolis
Pat will be serving her second term as treasurer of the IK SWO. She is active in her church as a Gather Bible study group member, LWR quilters
group leader, part-time leader and member of a cro-chet group for Global Health Ministries, and serves on various congregation committees.
Kenda Dues
Faith, Goshen , IN
Before election in August to her first full term, Kenda filled a vacated seat on the board. She is active in Faith’s
Social Ministries Committee and has served as a cluster committee member or volunteer for ten years. She initiated and organized the Outreach Pro-jects for the 2015 convention, held August 6 and 7.
Sandy Koehler Resurrection, Madison, IN
Sandy will be serving her second term as a board member. She has served as a unit president for several
years, as well as a church council member, and rep-resented her congregation as synod assembly voting member.
(Board members and other election results continue on page 4)
Synodical Board Members
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President Linda Doerge 4545 Prince Albert Way Lexington, KY 40515 859-619-3341 [email protected] Vice President Rev. Doris Sparks 1810 Oak Street Linton, IN 47441 C-812-699-9372 [email protected] Social Media Developer Evansville (8) Board Partner
Secretary Kathy Coleman 68755 US Hwy 31 Lakeville, IN 46536 574-784-3538 [email protected] North Central (2) Board Partner
Treasurer (2/1/14—1/31/15)) Pat Hamby 410 Crosby Dr. Indianapolis, IN 46227 317-889-9218; c-317-508-9015 [email protected] Lafayette (4) Partner
The KINswoman newslet-ter is a publication of the Indi-ana-Kentucky Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). This publication facilitates com-munications of the I-K Women of the ELCA by sharing ideas and programs of indi-viduals, as well as our Clusters, Congregational Units and (SWO) Board.
The KINswoman is published quarterly by the IK Synodical Women’s Organization of Women of the ELCA, Lois Noel, President, and online at www.iksynod.org/ministry/IK-SWO/IKSWO.asp. Send all articles, photos, questions, subscription requests to the editor (below) at 575 Johnson St.. Gary, IN 46402.
Permission to photocopy this publication for distribution is given for all ELCA members and Women of the ELCA. All others must cite attribution of publication.
Board Briefs: Report from the 2015 IK SWO Convention,
“Faith in Action”:
The convention was called to order by President Lois Noel at 9:00 AM on Friday, August 7, 2015, and adjourned at 3:00 PM on Satur-day, August 8, 2015.
The business at hand included election of officers for the 2015-2017 term, election of voting members to the 2017 Triennial, presenta-tion of the proposed budget for the next two years, and the submis-
sion of two resolutions. Information on the elections can be found in this issue of The KINs-woman, beginning on page 1.
Three workshops were presented: CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), presented by Melynda Jamison; From Stonischken to Gedhus, presented by Gerda Braunheim; and Intergenerational Relationships, by Pastor Vicki Garber.
The assembly enjoyed the music of Rev. Stephen Flynn and his band from Hope Lutheran in Frankfurt, KY. Rev. Laura Altman and Rev. Vicki Garber provided the Bible studies.
Rev. Gwen King, CWO Representative, enthralled and entertained us with her enthusi-asm and wit, as well as her invaluable counsel during the business portions of the conven-tion. (Thanks, Gwen.)
The addition of the Lutheran World Relief project room was a huge success with nearly 300 school kits assembled onsite, as well as other projects.
A total of 55 women attended, with 24 voting members present.
Complete minutes of each plenary session can be found at www.ikwelca.org.
Board Members Sandy Koehler 122 W 2nd Street Hanover, IN 47243 H- 812-866-8923; c-812-701-4873 [email protected] Discipleship Chair Southeast (7) Board Partner Deaconess Nancy Walter 1057 Poppyfield Place Schererville, IN 46375 219-322-8999; c-219-718-4804 [email protected] Justice Chair Northwest (1) Board Partner
Taryn Smith 86 EGS Blvd. Batesville, IN 47006 812-932-2766 [email protected] Co-Justice Chair South East Co-Bd Partner
Kenda Dues 711 Lincolnway East Goshen, IN 46526 574-596-7806 [email protected]
Stewardship NC (2) Co-Board Partner
Non-Board Dorothy Nevils KINswoman, Facebook 575 Johnson St. Gary, IN 46402 219-201-0080
Darlene Bockelman Anti-Racism 1502 S 800 E; Columbia City, IN 46725; 260-248-8274 [email protected]
From your president: It seems impossible that the 2015 I-K Women of the ELCA Biennial Convention has come and gone. What a wonderfully energizing two days! The theme of this convention was Faith in Action, based on 2 Corinthians: 10:5b: “Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand.” This verse greatly reflects what we experienced, and the di-rection in which this board and the women of Indiana-Kentucky want to go.
Pastors Laura Altman (Gethsemane, Lexington, KY) and Vicki Garber (Gloria Dei, Crestview Hills, KY) presented Bible Studies on the faith of Abraham, who
was prepared to sacrifice his son, and Ruth, who refused to leave her mother-in-law Naomi. From these stories, we were led to ask ourselves, “What does God want each of us to do? How does God challenge us to put our faith in action?”
Throughout the convention we were able to spend time learning how to practice our faith, as well as actually carrying it out. We learned from Melynda Jamison of CASA (Court Appointed Special Ad-vocates) how these advocates in court cases involving children who have been abused and neglected can focus solely on what is best for the child. This is different from lawyers and social workers who must consider the parents’ and the families’ interests. In addition to Melynda, we also heard Gerda Braunheim speak about her childhood in East Prussia, Germany, during World War II. As one attendee pointed out, she had heard holocaust survivors and American servicemen talk about their experiences, but never a German relating her experiences as a child in Germany during the war. From Gerda, we learned that even in the most difficult moments of our lives, God is with us. Finally, from Jane Grabowski, we learned how to use RASA (Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask) to improve communication with others in need.
But, that isn’t all we learned! During Friday night’s banquet, Pr. Nancy Nyland (I-K Synod’s Direc-tor for Evangelical Mission) used balloons to give us a visual of the Holy Spirit within us being the breath of God. As we blew into the balloons, she pointed out that as the Holy Spirit fills us, it helps us to grow in our faith. Then, we let go, and balloons of all colors zoomed and flew all around the room. This was like the Holy Spirit, she explained, moving and surprising us in exciting and wonderful ways.
We also practiced our Faith in Action through our LWR Outreach Station, putting together 290 school kits, 26 baby kits, 24 personal care kits, and 14 quilts. But putting our Faith in Action doesn’t stop here. Throughout the next two years, this board will work toward providing training throughout the synod for cluster committees and coordinators, unit treasurers, unit leaders, and other interest-ed parties. In addition, we will work toward raising awareness of the benefits and resources offered by the Women of the ELCA by encouraging younger women to attend the Tenth Triennial Gathering/convention in Minneapolis in July, 2017, with the goal of doubling the num-ber of attendees from our Indiana-Kentucky synod.
As for me, I hope to encourage members of this board to attend cluster gatherings other than their own. By doing so, our I-K Synodical Women’s Board will not only become more visible to our clusters, spread the word about who we are and what we can accomplish by growing in our faith and in putting our Faith in Action through working together as Wom-en of God.
Love and blessings, Linda
Pastor Nancy Nyland
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Hope
Taryn Smith
St. Mark, Batesville, IN
Taryn filled a vacated seat on the IK SWO board and has been elected to serve her first full term. She served as unit president of Calvary Lutheran in Michigan.
She serves her present congregation as mission evangelism chair, VBS director, SS teacher, and women’s Bible study co-facilitator.
Dorothy Nevils Bethel, Gary IN
Dorothy will represent the IK SWO at Triennial as a woman of color. She is a past president of the IK SWO and is currently the editor of The KINswoman, as well as creator
and manager of the IK SWO Facebook page. She also served on the CWO anti-racism team.
Nancy Walter
Holy Shepherd, St. John IN
Deaconess Nancy will be serving her second term as a member of the board. She served as justice chair during her first term. Her ministry involves justice work at the local and synodical levels. She
also serves as an advocate to victims of sexual as-sault.
Lois Noel Hope, Coesse IN
Lois served three terms on the IK SWO board, most recently as im-mediate past president. She also served as vice-president and chair
of the 2013 Biennial Convention. She is currently vice-president of her congregational unit and a past secretary of the church council.
Each Synodical Organization is assigned voting members according to the number of active units. IK is eligible for 4 voting members, including the president. The assembly elected the following women as its voting members at the 2017 Triennial Convention:
The following women, whose pictures and bios appear on page one, were also elected:
Kathy Coleman was elected as a first time voting member.
Kenda Dues was elected to serve as an alternate in the event that either Lois or Kathy is unable to attend. As president of the Indiana Kentucky Synodical Women’s Organization, Linda Doerge will also attend the 2017 Triennial Convention as a voting member.
Is your group an ACTIVE UNIT? IK’s list of active units keeps shrinking, and this year we are only eligi-ble to send 4 women as representatives because our numbers are dropping! What will it take to grow our active units? Just four things:
(1) Come together for study, support, and action;
(2) Participate in the ministry of Wom-en of the ELCA beyond your local setting;
(3) Financially support the total pro-gram of Women of the ELCA; and
(4) Designate leadership that shall be in communication with the Synodical and Churchwide Women's Organi-zation.
It’s that simple! And… it’s something almost every woman can do! PLUS, there’s no “biggie” on the list!
So, look around and see who can help make it happen. Then call Linda and say, “WE DID IT! WE GOT OUR
ACTIVE TOGETHER!”
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ARE YOU “POWER HUNGRY” by Nancy Walter, Justice
Christians shy away from the idea of having power; it seems like we’re infringing on God’s territory. But simply put, power is the ability to act. And we all have that.
I just spent the past week in a 5-day Community Organizing Training at Churchwide in Chicago. We spent intense hours together, looking at power... and what it is that keeps us from claim-ing and using it. I was socialized to believe that nice girls were quiet and well-behaved. I inter-nalized that message and it gets in my way. So that belief has to go: It’s holding me back.
All of the knowledge in the world isn’t worth a thing if I...if we allow the baggage we carry be-tween our ears to weigh us down.
And think of the messages that women, that people of color, that LGBTQ individuals, have internalized which have robbed whole peoples of their power.
This is not only in body, mind and spirit. That must change. So, yes, I am hungry for the power to make that happen!
How about you?
Micah 6:8
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HUMAN TRAFFICKING UPDATE
Do you know that each of us wears something near to our hearts which can prevent women from becoming trafficking victims? It’s your bra. Yup, that’s what I said!
“Free the Girls” is an organization which collects
bras, both new and used, for shipment to Africa and South America. They are sold by women who have become entrepre-neurs with an income and a plan for a bet-ter life.
Duneland Community Church in Chester-ton, Indiana is one of the central shipping points in this country. Thousands of bras arrive there daily and every six weeks or so a packing party is held to get the bras on their way.
Fall Gatherings are coming up. Why not hold a bra drive in conjunction with yours, and be part of the effort to prevent traffick-ing by offering a simple but effective solu-tion?
If you would like more information, contact me (see page 2), or visit freethegirls.org to get the whole story.
Lifting up women and girls, Nancy
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Editor’s note: If you don’t think sex trafficking is serious, read one Indy teen’s harrowing experience: http://www.wthr.com/story/29853410/indianapolis-16-year-old-rescued-after-being-kidnapped-for-sex-trafficking
Lutheran World Relief: School Kits Are Urgently Needed!
This “tower of power” is mostly, if not completely, school kits, assembled under the direc-tion of one of the newest board members, Kenda Dues. A whole room was set aside, tables teeming with notebooks stacked in fours with wire sides alternating, and containers of pen-cils and pens “rubber-banded” together in fives, and the other 5 items in assembly-lined effi-ciency ready to be dropped into cloth back packs after passing quality control.
You may consider these efforts as “no big deal,” but this is life-changing work. A recent LWR bulletin had this to say about such routine work, dismissed as woman’s work: “Your donations reach places like Syria, where LWR recently distributed 6,350 School Kits to families affected by the ongoing conflict. Why school supplies? To the children who receive school kits, these supplies mean the difference between getting an education or not. Public school is usually free, but in the places where LWR works, even a few required supplies, like pens and paper, may be more than many families can afford. And when parents can only afford to send one of their children to school, girls rarely get priority…yet the education lev-
el of mothers has the biggest impact on development.” This “tower of power” is God’s work!
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Approved 2016-2017 Budget
INCOME
Regular Offering 9500.00
Cluster Offering 3000.00
Designated gifts 200.00
Mission Projects 1000.00
*Spiritual Gathering from MIF 300.00
Training events 100.00
Miscellaneous (includes bd reimburse) 400.00
Total Income for each year $14,500.0 0
DISBURSEMENTS
Mission: Stewardship $6,550.00
Regular Offerings to CWO 4750.00
Cluster Offerings to CWO 1500.00
Spiritual Gathering from MIF 300.00
Mission: Discipleship $2,975.00
KINswoman 2,000.00
I-K Synod Assembly* 575.00
Leadership Development 400.00
Mission: Justice 2750.00
*Anti-racism Team, etc. 250.00
*Designated Cluster Offerings 1500.00
Mission Projects 1000.00
Governance 2275.00
Insurance 100.00
Mileage 1380.00
Lodging/Meals 265.00
Admin. Exp. (postage, supplies, etc.) 130.00
Miscellaneous 400.00
TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS 14500.00
The latest financial report will be included in the win-ter issue.
Quality control—Who gets the teddy?
SAVE THE DATE
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
JUNE 17—18, 2016
Region 6 Spiritual Gathering
Holiday Inn, Perrysburg, Ohio
“Dancing with God”
Jeremiah 31 will build you up
again and you will be rebuilt,
O virgin Israel. And again
you will take up your
tamborines and go out
and dance with
the joyful.
Watch for information in your
newsletters and Check out our “Date for Region 6 Spiritual
Did your unit take a “Loan for a Woman” challenge? Share what you did, who suggested it, and the results. We’ll share, just for fun!
More pics at www.facebook.com/IKWomen! Thanks Charley! Post while you’re there!
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We Women of the ELCA —yes, all of us in the Indianapolis and East Central
Clusters— are going to meet to get to know each other again or for the very first time—it's been a few years since we’ve “gathered together.”
Jo Flynn has volunteered to provide the clusters with another of her inspiring Bible Studies. We’ll have a guest speaker (TBA), time for food and fellowship, and sharing what our unit groups are do-ing that we might all promote. Watch for emails to your churches and groups; listen for a phone call inviting your church's women to this event.
Northwest Cluster Fall Retreat will be held at Emmanuel, 5375 Harrison Street in Merrillville (corner of 54th & Harrison, October 24! Emmanuel has histori-cally been extremely active and we are excited about this reconnection. Plans are being worked out and we are pleased to have one new (Jeanine Rop-er), and one returnee (Maryann Lovas) committing (that’s what committee means, right?) to leading this ministry! Rev. Carolyn Heider is pastor.
Northwest women, watch for details in the 4th quarter Northwex!
Psst! You also missed great food! (Lunch was awesome!)
Learn more at Thriventcu.com, or call 800.688.6031. Then donate your
Choice Dollars to Women of the ELCA.
September is planning time… time for planning your group’s programs for 2016. How will your women live out God’s calling for discipleship, stewardship. and justice? How will you, individually and together, help the organization live out our purpose?
Thankoffering Service
For most of us, it’s right around the corner, and what better way and time to inform, especially women in the congregation, what it means to be Womem of the ELCA! Many don’t know.
Bring your gifts and share them. ALL Thankoffering gifts are sent to Churchwide Women’s Organiza-tion in Chicago.
Download the Thankoffering service at our websire: womenoftheelca.org/thankoffering-pages-93.php.
You can also download the new transmittal form B at womenoftheelca.org/stewardship-resources-pages-94.php. Treasurers should make a copy be-fore mailing as a record for your group.
Packages of 100 envelopes are free for shipping only. Order from ELCA Re-
