Lisa H. Towle, Immediate Past NECW President

For the past six years I had the honor of serving Episcopal Church Women as a member of the National Board of Episcopal Church Women, first as secretary, then as president.

Now that the hand off to the 2018-2021 board is complete and it begins its first full year of operation, it’s time to say thank-you. Thank-you to the people of The Episcopal Church, most especially its women and girls, for walking what the Right Reverend Steven Charleston calls the “sacred path … sharing the same commitment to be true to our word, to practice what we preach.”

Years ago, a priest I know shared this story: At a construction site a worker on the ground was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder. He was asked what he was doing. He said he was just handing bricks to his boss. A second worker who was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder was asked what he was doing. He said he was just building a wall. A third worker was handing bricks to the other worker on the ladder and was asked what he was doing. He said he was building a grand cathedral.

Thank-you to the women in parishes, dioceses, and provinces who invited me to visit them in the triennium just ended to talk about the faith journey of ECW and how they’re using their bricks.

Thank-you to the Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, for framing our thinking about engagement in this time by stressing that as members of the Jesus Movement we are part “the ongoing community of people committed to Jesus’s way of love, a way that changes lives and changes the world.”

Thank-you to the 2015-2018 national board. With the theme, “GO! Share the Word: Every Day, Comunicamos, Every Where,” we refocused on the all-encompassing Five Marks of Mission to help build on the theme. Among other things:

  • We shared best practices how parish-based ECW branches were using the Five Marks to spread the love of Jesus.
  • Created a Universal Grant program to fund projects involving at least one Mark of Mission.
  • Awarded each of the nine dioceses that hosted a national board meeting $1,000 for outreach.

Planning for the culmination of the triennium, Triennial Meeting, was done with John 13:35 and the Five Marks in mind. There was everything from the use of tote bags made of canvas (Mark 5) to the recipients of the two gifts for work related to social justice (Mark 3).

Both of the social justice gifts involved caring for the homeless in Austin: the Unified Gift went to Community First! Village and came to $16,848.66, and the Community Connection Gift for the Trinity Center Shower Ministry totaled $14,770.00.

All these things spoke to the vision statement of Episcopal Church Women: As the eyes, ears, hands, and heart of Christ in the world, we will persist in the work of healing, justice, and peace.

This grew out of the work of the national board’s Ad Hoc Committee for Restructure, whose report was presented at Triennial Meeting in 2015, where delegates passed a resolution charging the national board with implementing the recommendations in the report.

Because the report is vast in scope, one triennium wasn’t nearly enough time to address everything. However, a foundation was laid, brick by brick, to address key items in the three areas of focus – superstructure, infrastructure, structure. Some examples:

UNITY: The ECW vision and mission statements, adopted in 2015, were used on a consistent basis, often in concert with the Way of Love and the Five Marks of Mission, to help unify focus in a large and varied organization and better live into our stated purpose – “to empower the women of The Episcopal Church to carry on Christ’s work throughout the world.”

INCLUSIVENES: To ensure multiple points of view were heard, a diverse group of women were invited at various times to advise the national board and/or use their skills for particular projects and outreach.

COMMUNICATIONS: To be better stewards of money, time, and our environment, channels of digital communications were opened or enhanced so that ECW is more transparent and better aligned with what’s happening within the Church as a whole. Thus, detailed information, including what was intended specifically for Triennial Meeting delegates, was put online. In addition, the mechanisms exist to make grant requests online and donate using credit cards. (Even so, the option to use paper and stamps still exist.)

The report is posted in the “Resources” section of the National ECW website. Since our creation by The Episcopal Church’s Board of Missions 148 years ago, we remain a work in progress, unique in scope. Julia Chester Emery, who led the precursor of ECW, the Women’s Auxiliary, for 40 years: “The Auxiliary stands ready to welcome change, hoping earnestly that change shall mean growth to greater and better things, more ways in which to serve, more weight of responsibility, the giving of leadership in different paths of service to those most competent to lead.”

Thank-you to Episcopal women past and present for their steadfast faith and willingness to share the word, to love, and to change as needed.

Godspeed, ECW.