GCSRW

WisdomTalks-Dec-2025

A newsletter from the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women

November 2024

GCSRW Board meets to elect new directors, sets quadrennial goals

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.

Meet GCSRW's new board president

“I am both excited and humbled to serve as GCSRW’s board president and to engage in the vitally important work of the agency," says Bishop Delores J. Williamson. "When I consider my journey to taking on this new role, I recognize God’s divine timing....Look at what God can do! ’”

Bishop Delores J. Williamston is the newly-elected president of the GCSRW Board of Directors.

GCSRW's Paragraph 4, Article 4 Ratification Task Force will work to educate the church about this important amendment to The UMC's Constitution.

Paragraph 4, Article 4 Ratification Task Force sets strategies

At the Postponed 2020 General Conference, the legislative gathering voted to add the words "gender" and "ability" to Paragraph 4, Article 4 of The UMC's Constitution. This historic vote now needs to be ratified by all the annual conferences across the worldwide connection.

NOVEMBER COFFEE CHAT DISCUSSES LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Register now for the November Coffee Chat! Join us Nov. 7 at 11:30 a.m. ET/10:30 a.m. CT/8:30 a.m. PT as we discuss essential leadership skills for effective ministry for both lay and clergy female leaders. Check out our awesome panel of speakers: Ashley Simmons, a pioneering leader from the Women's National Basketball Association; Celeste Eubanks, Candler Center for Christian Leadership director at Emory University; and Julia Pritchett-Gonzales, elder serving Main Street UMC in Indiana Conference. GCSRW's Denise Smartt Sears will moderate the conversation.