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Church Women United (CWU) is a national ecumenical Christian women's movement representing Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian women. Founded in 1941, as the United Council of Church Women,[1] this organization has more than 1,200 local and state units in the United States and Puerto Rico. CWU's members represent 26 supporting denominations and organizations.[2] Offices are located in New York City, Washington DC and at the United Nations.
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Church Women United's mission is to be a racially, culturally, and theologically inclusive Christian women's movement celebrating unity in diversity and working for a world of peace and justice, specifically for women and children. CWU strives to provide for its members resources and information on a range of social justice issues, opportunities for worship and action, and a network of women and women's organizations working to ensure a better world for all.[3]
Church Women United holds four annual worship celebrations: World Day of Prayer, Human Rights Day, May Friendship Day, and World Community Day. These ecumenical worship celebrations are the centerpiece of CWU's ecumenical life and spiritual thrust. Each is celebrated around an annual theme, written by CWU members.
World Day of Prayer takes place on the first Friday in March, and brings together in prayer women from 170 countries.
The Human Rights Celebration began as a national event, in support of the UN Human Rights Day, and is now celebrated as a local unit event to honor individuals and groups who have done outstanding work in the field of human rights. As a local celebration it can be held at any time during the year.
First observed in 1933, May Friendship Day focuses on "creative and healing relationships" that exist in local communities, often including intergenerational activities, ecumenical Bible study and worship, and opportunities for action in one's local community. It is typically celebrated on the first Friday in May each year.
On World Community Day, first observed in 1939, Christian women pray and do projects that work towards global peace. It is an inclusive worship service, now adapted to include opportunities for interfaith participation and worship, to further CWU's commitment to peace and justice among all peoples and nations. It is typically celebrated during the first weekend in November. [4]
The International Fellowship of the Least Coin (FLC) is a worldwide ecumenical movement of prayer for peace and reconciliation. Persons in this movement make a commitment to spend time in prayer, and to uphold in prayer others who are victims of jealousy, hatred, violence, and injustice. Every time one prays, she sets aside a "least coin" of her currency as a tangible token of her prayer. CWU is the custodian for FLC offerings in the United States.
Every four years CWU adopts a quadrennial priority to focus its social justice advocacy and action on a specific area or areas of need. The priority is used to guide CWU's work at the local, state and national levels. The priority for 2008–2012 is "Building a World Fit for All God's Children". This theme further breaks down into four "building blocks": health, economic justice, environmental care and peace.[5] The priority for 2017–2020 is "Learning and Leading …Using the Principles of God’s Word," with the four "building blocks" being human rights, hunger and poverty, health and wellness, and diversity and inclusiveness.
In 1941, three organizations – the Council of Women for Home Missions, the Committee on Women's Work of the Foreign Missions Conference, and the National Council of Federated Church Women – combined to form one national organization representing women from seventy Christian denominations. The new organization was originally called the United Council of Church Women (UCCW). The founders of Church Women United met in Atlantic City, NJ in December, 1941, while bombs were dropping on Pearl Harbor and the world was at war. Their first action, upon convening, was to circulate a petition signed by 84,000 church women "urging the United States at the signing of the United Nations Charter, to join and take its full responsibility in a world organization."
The action received wide publicity in the media, encouraging Eleanor Roosevelt to later involve the leaders of CWU in a conference at the White House on "How Women May Share in Post War Policy Making".[citation needed] Such action remains typical for CWU today, as its quest for informed prayer and prayerful action continues. Women in the movement affirm that prayer and action are inseparable and that both have immeasurable influence in the world.
As of 2017, there are CWU units in:
Arizona (State Office)
California (South Bay) (Southern California) (Northern California)
Connecticut
Florida (State Office)
Massachusetts (Cape Cod, MA)
Michigan
New Mexico (State Office)
New York (State Office) (Rochester)
North Carolina (State Office)
North Dakota (State Office)
Oregon (State Office)
South Carolina (Columbia, SC)
Texas (Austin, TX)
Virginia (State Office)
Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
Michigan
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