Resources
Looking for information on women’s theology or worship planning materials? Want insight into how to use exclusive and expansive language? Looking for enriching materials for yourself or your congregation? Use the resources below from Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministry/PW. Are you looking for a resource you don’t see here? Email us.
Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday
Primers on theology from women's perspectives
Share your story
Whether you celebrate the gifts of women in worship, in a Bible Study, with others through your blog or on your own in reflection, we want to know: “What’s your story?” Tell us how you observed Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday in written form, photos, or short video. Email us your story, and we may tell your story on AllWomen.
Hagar, by Indira BaileyCelebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday
Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday honors women who contribute their gifts to the church and community, lifts up issues of women’s rights, and focuses on the role of women in our communities and world. March 4, 2012, is Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday, which is four days before International Women’s Day on March 8. Your congregation or women’s groups may, however, use this resource on any date that you choose to celebrate women.
The Celebrate the Gifts of Women resource, written by Frances Taylor Gench, includes a special feature this year, a commentary “Honoring Stories of Courage, Struggle and Survival,” focusing on the Biblical story that slips through the cracks: that of Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21). The resource also includes:
- A worship service with a call to worship, prayer of confession, suggested hymns, suggested scripture readings and a litany of remembrance and renewal.
- Preaching and program suggestions.
- Recommended resources for further study.
Get Celebrate the Gifts materials
Download the 2012 Celebrate the Gifts of Women liturgy in English or Spanish.
Spread the word
Download the 2012 Celebrate the Gifts of Women flier
Download or order the bulletin cover
Women of Faith
Since 1986, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Women of Faith Awards have honored ministers and laywomen who have transformed the church and society through their witness, service and leadership. Awards are presented at the Women of Faith Breakfast during the General Assembly. “Visionary Women transforming the church and society” was the 2008 theme. The three honorees were:
- The Rev. Magdalena I. García, pastor of Ravenswood Presbyterian Church, a multicultural and bilingual congregation in Chicago
- The Rev. Ann L. Hayman of Santa Monica, Calif., founder of the Mary Magdalene Project, a program that provides alternatives to women involved in street prostitution
- Theodora (Thea) Jackson of Brewster, N.Y., founder of the Jamaica Service Project in Queens, New York, a national model for developing comprehensive and coordinated systems of services for the aging
Download a PDF of Past Winners. 
Order Women of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Award Winners 1997 to 2010
Inclusive and expansive language
When writing a prayer or creating liturgy, do you use father to describe God, or do you use additional or other words such as creator or shepherd to describe God? Or maybe you think all of those suggestions are unfamiliar or impractical. Whether expansive, or extensive, language is something you embrace or something that is new to you, the church has often debated its necessity and appropriateness. Keep reading.
Theology: The study of God ...
Primers
Are you a theologian? Some theologians are scholars and spend most of their time studying, writing and reflecting in this endeavor. Some of us are simply engaged through our lives and faith in reflecting on the question, "Where is God in this?"
As we notice, pay attention and wonder about God we become theologians too. The following items and current information deal with some of the theological questions that lay before us in this era.
Use this series of primers on theology from women's perspectives as an introduction to feminist, mujerista, womanist and Asian American theologies.
2011–2012 Horizons Bible Study
Confessing the Beatitudes by Margaret Aymer
The Beatitudes are some of the most beloved teachings of Jesus, yet they may well be some of the most pointed. We may miss their point, however, if we do not study them within their literary, historical, and cultural contexts. In this study, Margaret Aymer invites us to consider the Beatitudes as they might have been heard when Jesus spoke them — during the time of the Roman Empire. While great in many respects, Rome was a cruel and brutal regime that did not stop short of executing anyone who challenged its authority. As you study the Beatitudes, it will be important to remember this context. Learn more.
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