By Kris Bruun
Angi Schneider and Mary Lowry just returned from the 2012 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) Texas District meeting. The theme was “Adorn Yourself With God’s Word: His Wisdom, Our Witness.” It was great being together with 685 people from numerous Texas congregations, all members or supporters of LWML. Four women came from one family, a mom and three daughters who now are members of more than one congregation, but meet at every district convention. It’s a family tradition. There were 38 teens at the convention, representing “Friends Into Serving Him,” FISH, the teen arm of the LWML
The convention approved a $175,000 budget for the next biennium (read more about Texas mission grants). This represents the amount the Texas District women reasonably expect to raise for mission efforts in the next two years. The single largest grant goes to scholarships for seminarians.
Here at Peace, the local LWML, headed by Angi, is best known for its quilts. The group spends one Saturday every month quilting together.
But the LWML at Peace does much more than quilt. They also make Easter corsages for 65 women in a nursing home, and support the youth involved in Christian Discipleship Training with a couple of concrete gifts. They also have participated in a variety of other projects which are not on the annual calendar but happen as members suggest and agree to them. At various times, LWML members have brought in canned meat for N.E.E.D. for Christmas, provided Christmas baskets for needy families, and supported the Nelson Children’s Center. Projects vary from year to year.
The Lutheran Women’s Missionary League was founded in 1942 after over a decade of struggle. Their main goal was, and remains, to offer women a concrete way to support mission and ministry within the United States and overseas. (Read more about national mission grants.)
Here at Peace, the LWML was organized, dissolved, and re-founded 16 years ago in 1996.
Every woman in the congregation is automatically considered a member of the LWML. There are various options for participation.
- You might pick up a mite box from the stand in the Foyer. The LWML was the first group to distribute mite boxes, thinking that everyone could spare some change. The “mighty mites” have proven their worth many times. (Read about the history of mites here.)
- Or, at Peace LWML can always use flat sheets, double or queen sized, to back their quilts. Can you spare a sheet? (Or pick up a couple the next time you are in a thrift store.)
- Women are welcome to come on Saturdays as they can. It is not necessary to attend every Saturday to share in the work of the LWML. Watch the bulletin for meeting times and topics, in addition to mission quilting.
Before Angi Schneider became active in the LWML, she had to be asked eight times. “I’m really glad I finally said yes,” says Angi. “I feel fulfilled doing this work. You really have to have a love for mission work.” Clearly, Angi does.
The 2014 LWML Texas District Convention will take place in Frisco. Between now and then, the goal is to make the slogan a reality: Every Woman A Member. C’mon, Peace women, choose a way to share in the mission!
For more information on LWML at Peace, contact Angi Schneider at (817) 498-9997 or angiangi@att.net.
For more information on the LWML Texas District, click here.
For more information about LWML, click here.
For more information about “Friends Into Serving Him,” FISH, the teen arm of the LWML, click here.
