Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the women’s organization of the 4.8 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This network of nearly 500,000 participants in 64 geographical areas (called synods) in the United States and the Caribbean exists for mutual support and bold action on participants’ faith in Jesus Christ.  

The organization builds on the strong history of women’s missionary movements, Bible study, and service in which our foremothers engaged. Some of us recall stories from our grandmothers of how they saved “egg money” (from the sale of eggs) so they would have money to donate for support of missionaries in other countries. You may have heard how our foremothers trudged through snow for hours to get to Bible study at another woman’s house, hung their stockings on the line to dry while they studied, and then trudged home again the same day. Or you may have heard about schools and orphanages built in various parts of the world with women’s Thankofferings. Of course, that’s only part of the history.

Today, women’s lives have changed. Women enjoy access to a wide variety of careers and have greater freedom and ability to contribute to the ministries they value. Women also now have the opportunity to respond to the call to ordained ministry as well as the call to teach Sunday school. Still, embracing the world as God’s gift and God’s people as sisters and brothers, being committed to growth in faith and action, standing for justice with the poor and oppressed — these remain.  We strive to support all the ministries of women and to offer guidance for daily life. Women have always been a powerful force in the church and continue to be so today.   

The Delaware-Maryland Synodical Women's Organization is one of those 64 synods and is comprised of women throughout Delaware and most of Maryland.  It does not include the DC metro area, and some congregations in extreme Western Maryland.

All women who are members of a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and subscribe to our purpose statement are participants. 

The Delaware-Maryland Synodical Women's Organization has one representative to the churchwide Women of the ELCA, Geneva Wallace.

The Board of Women of the ELCA in the Delaware-Maryland Synod is comprised of 13 representatives.  These representatives are elected at the business meeting held during our annual convention.  

Of the thirteen members, four are executive board members (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer).  The remaining 9 members are members-at-large.  The board meets periodically to conduct the business of the organization and to plan synodical events.

The Delaware-Maryland Synodical Women's Organization is broken into clusters which are similar to conferences.  Each cluster has a cluster coordinator who is responsible for disseminating information from the board.  Cluster coordinators are volunteers and receive special training from the Board to assist them in these important positions.  The vice-president of the SWO Board is designated as Cluster Administrator and is responsible for keeping our cluster coordinators in the loop.

Duties of Cluster Coordinators include, assisting local units wherever possible and in bringing the units within the cluster together twice a year for a retreat or special program.

A unit can be congregational or special in the case of university students or other Evangelical Lutherans who do not have a local congregational unit.

Each unit is responsible for electing or appointing their own executive leadership in accordance with the local unit's constitution.  Each unit also sends a representative to vote at the annual business meeting.

 

 

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