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Plenary Highlights

There are so many wonderful workshops, presentations, forums, performances, displays and experiences planned for the 2003 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women, July 9--13 in Louisville. Here's what you have to look forward to during morning and evening plenary sessions!

Day 1, Wednesday, July 9 Joan Martin (evening session) Joan Martin (evening session) Warning: A Dangerous Calling, a Subversive Identity, a Radical Communion (based on Ephesians 2:11--22) Joan is a Presbyterian minister and serves as associate professor of Christian social ethics at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Day 2, Thursday, July 10 Theme: Heirs of the Household Issues: Globalization and HIV/AIDS Gloria and Ross Kinsler (morning session) Heirs of the Household and Economic Globalization Gloria and Ross are former Presbyterian missionaries to Latin America and coauthors of The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1999). Day 2, continued Elizabeth Tapia (evening session) Women's Leadership and Mission in the Context of Globalization Elizabeth is a native of the Philippines and serves on the staff of the World Council of Churches, teaching missiology at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey in Switzerland. Day 3, Friday, July 11 Theme: Bonds of Peace Issue: War and Peace Anna Rhee (morning session) Journeying Toward the Light Anna is a community and organizational consultant serving as the grass-roots advocacy project coordinator for the Churches for Middle East Peace in Washington, D.C. Plus you'll hear stories from three youth, affiliated with the Peace Education Program, all of whom have survived violence in their lives, and stories from global partners who live in conflict-ridden parts of the world.

Day 4, Saturday, July 12 Theme: Called Back to the Center Issue: Racism/Antiracism and Healing and Wholeness Gloria Tate (morning session) The Beauty of Re-Creation (based on Revelation 21:1­5) Gloria is pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Teaneck in Teaneck, New Jersey. The morning program will include details of PW's engagement with antiracism during the last triennium and motivation for the community to live out its commitment to antiracism in everyday life. Day 4, continued  A South African chorus made up of HIV-positive people (mostly women) will be singing and telling their stories of struggle and survival during the evening plenary session. Day 4, continued Joan Chittister (evening session) Ministry to a Wounded World (based on Matthew 17:1­20) Joan is a Roman Catholic nun and author of more than 25 books, including Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2003). Day 5, Sunday, July 13 Theme: Here I Am Martha Sadongei (morning session) I Didn't Hear the Whistle (based on Exodus 3:1­4:5) Martha is a part-time stated-supply pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Closing worship will include communion and a commissioning service. Reyna Mairena will call us to the table, set with cloth from around the world, chalices from the synods and presbyteries, and breads representative of the global community. Reyna Mairena is pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas. Betty Bryan is chair of the Gathering plenary committee and lives in West Columbia, South Carolina.

Daily at the Gathering

Janice Catron is the Bible study leader for the Gathering, helping participants explore the Gathering scripture (Ephesians 4:1­6). Janice is the author of the award-winning 1997­1998 Horizons Bible study, Job: Faith Remains When Understanding Fails. She is the editorial director of Geneva Press, a division of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation.

Twin sisters, Jacqueline Robinson and Jocelyn Thompson, will lead music at the Gathering. Jacqueline teaches music at public schools in North Carolina, and is an accomplished organist, pianist and flautist. Jocelyn is the vocal music director at West Charlotte Senior High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the director of music and organist at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte

Drums of various cultures will call us into worship each day. One of these drumming groups is the Sigimsae Ensemble, a traditional Korean drumming ensemble of lay women from the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. Organized in 1995, the group expresses the joy and liberation of the gospel of Jesus Christ through Korean traditional music and dance.

Plus, Horizons skits, dancers, drummers, music, multimedia presentations, the Gathering theme song, interpretations of the Birthday Offering and Thank Offering (including Health Ministries), youth participation, global songs and liturgy, and much more!

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