WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Founded in 1941, Church Women United (CWU) is a historic grassroots movement of women that shares a vision of Christian unity and prayerful action that is organized into more than 1,000 local and state units in the United States working for peace and justice.

The biblically based group convened at St. Philip’s Moravian Church for its 2017 Friendship Day.  CWU sets aside several days a year to celebrate friendship, global solidarity and human rights.  These worship gatherings mark the spiritual core of the work they do.

The May Friendship Day was the first of these yearly gatherings, on Friday, May 5.

The Winston-Salem chapter has about 120 registered members. The meeting brought out nearly 70 women to St. Philip’s but the group is always wanting to grow larger. Group treasurer and communications chair, Dinah Pettigrew, says she enjoys being a part of the organization because of the community service component.

“Even though we are a small organization, the benefits we provide are widespread,” she said.  “It brings me joy and something that I am passionate about because it is a service organization that helps people in life situations.”

During the service, the message was delivered by Crystal Rook, who received a Master’s of Divinity from Wake Forest University.  Her message was titled “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” and implored everyone to show more love.

“I just wanted to convey that God is love and that if we are professing to be Christians and Jesus believers that we are required by God to love everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, or whether they are poor or rich,” said Rook.  “We shouldn’t have to think about it so much, it should come easy to us to love.

“It brings us women together for a common purpose,” she continued.  “It strengthens us as women, it strengthens us as community and it recharges us to go back out into the community to do service.”

Following the sermon by Rook, the organization then presented awards to select women for their work.  They also performed a skit written by Jack Nuzum that expressed the need for adults to be more childlike in certain areas of their lives.

Chapter President Mallie Graham says she really enjoys participating with the organization and the women in it because it brings her around such a diverse group of women.

“It’s important to me for all women to be represented and I think this organization does that,” she said. “In our history around the area we have supported a number of causes. such as battered women, Sunnyside ministries and Crisis Control.  Our money goes to help children and to make the lives of women better.”

For more information about the CWU please call 1-800-CWU-5551 or visit their website at www.churchwomen.org.