GCSRW Board meets to elect new directors, sets quadrennial goals

For Immediate Release
October 29, 2024

Chicago – The Board of Directors of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women (GCSRW) met for its Organizing Meeting Oct. 9-11. Highlights of the hybrid meeting included the election of Bishop Delores J. Williamston as board president, approval of quadrennial goals, creation of a Paragraph 4, Article 4 Ratification task force and onboarding newly-elected board members.

"I am both excited and humbled to serve as GCSRW's board president and to engage in the vitally important work of the agency. When I consider my journey to taking on this role, I recognize God's divine timing," Bishop Williamston says as she shared the story of years ago seeking to become actively involved in GCSRW's leadership with none of her efforts succeeding. "I am reminded that, when we leave things to God, life works things out, life will find a way. I can now stand back and say, 'Look at what God can do!'" 

During the three-day meeting, the agenda included electing officers and assigning committees, discussing the impact of the Postponed 2020 General Conference on the agency’s work, preparing and presenting committee reports and engaging in a time of learning about the agency and one another.

In her final scheduled boad meeting as GCSRW general secretary, Dawn Wiggins Hare shared the strategic, generative and fiduciary duties of board members. Other staff members presented an overview of the agency’s work through its four committees and strategic initiatives: Finance, presented by LeeAnn Goldman, director of Office Administration; Human Resources, report by Wiggins Hare; Mission and Evaluation, reported by Meg Lassiat, GCSRW consultant who oversees Resource Development and Training; Board Governance, report by Becky Posey Williams, senior director of Sexual Ethics and Advocacy; and Paragraph 4, Article 4 Ratification, report by Denise Smartt Sears, director of Leadership Development and Accountability.   GCSRW’s communications team, Crystal Caviness, interim director of communications, and Royya James, incoming director of communications, gave an overview of the agency’s online resources, including GCSRW.org, the e-newsletter “Wisdom Talks” and its social media presence. For ease of access and to support GCSRW’s Net-Zero initiatives, presentations were made available through the Articulate training tool platform, which Lassiat designed and customized for the meeting.

The following persons were elected to serve on the GCSRW board of directors for the 2025-2028 quadrennium:
April Casperson, Emily Nelms Chastain, Dianne Tobey Covault, David Dodge, Emma Escobar, Jennifer Ferariza-Meneses, Lupe Fifita, Juyeon Jeon, Katrena Porter King, Helen Byholt Lovelace, Paige Lowery, Sam McGlothlin, Angel tshindj A. Musaw, Jalisa Ross, Galen Schad, Gray Southern, Teresa Welborn, Bishop Delores Williamston.
Kalamba Kulumba, clergy from the West Ohio Annual Conference, and Julia Pritchett-Gonzales, clergy from the Indiana Annual Conference, serve as advisory members to the GCSRW board.

In a longstanding partnership, two representatives from United Women in Faith (UWF) attend GCSRW board meetings with voice, but no vote. Current representatives are Patsy Thomas from the South Georgia Annual Conference and Sung-Ok Lee, UWF staff member.

During the meeting, Lee brought greetings on behalf of Sally Vonner, UWF’s general secretary and affirmed the continued partnership with GCSRW working on Paragraph 4, Article 4, continued involvement in Native American boarding schools research, and working on UWF membership campaign for members and non-members of The UMC.

The board approved the following goals in alignment with the agency’s four pillars of focus for the 2025-2028 quadrennium:
 Monitoring: The Commission shall gather facts about women in leadership in The UMC and shall identify systems that enable or deter women in leadership roles and raise awareness by publishing findings throughout the connection.
 Sexual Ethics: The Commission shall equip judicatory and congregational leaders with training and resources for the prevention of, response to, and healing from sexual misconduct and sexual harassment within the Church. The Commission shall also advocate for individual victims of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.
 Leadership: The Commission shall equip the connectional structure with biblical, theological, and practical resources to ensure women are equitably participating in leading at all levels of the church. 
 Education: The Commission shall work towards the ratification of the amendment of The UMC Constitution, known as Paragraph 4, Article 4. Following the votes in 2025 we commit to educating the Church on inclusiveness, expansive language and women’s issues.

The board passed next year’s agency budget of $1,199,011 and approved the spending plan submitted to the Connectional Table and General Council on Finance and Administration.

The board met on its first day at a Chicago-area hotel. On the second and third days of the meeting, the board gathered at Wespath’s headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Glenview, Ill.

In an opening devotion on day two, Denise Smartt Sears and Becky Posey Williams, GSCRW staff members, shared a Land Acknowledgment for Glenview in recognition of the meeting site.

“Today we pause to reflect on the importance of understanding the longstanding history that has brought us to call this land ours,” Sears said.

“We acknowledge the Ho-Chunk, Peoria, Myamia, Sac and Meskwaki People. The area that is now Glenview operated as a trading center that included migration routes along what is now Glenview Road,” Posey Williams shared.

The Land Acknowledgment ended with a prayer asking for forgiveness for “misusing our power” and for help in using authority to honor God and all of God’s children.

Prior to Bishop Williamston’s election, Retired Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader served as convener of the meeting.

The GSCRW board meeting adjourned with remarks by Wiggins Hare.

“I am proud of the good work our board did during our time together in Chicago,” Wiggins Hare shared following the meeting. “Because it was an Organizing Meeting for our new quadrennium, the days were spent learning and then thoughtfully preparing for the next four years. Although I am retiring soon, I remain enthusiastic about the work that GCSRW is doing and plans to do in the coming months and years as the agency helps the church recognize every person as full and equal parts of God’s human family who have place in The United Methodist Church. 
 
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