For everyone born,
a place at the table
United Methodist Women is currently the largest faith-based women's organization in the world and Assembly is the largest quadrennial gathering of that organization. At Assembly you viscerally feel “The Power of Bold” with the combined energy of 8,000 women through communal, face-to-face growth, action, celebration and inspiration- 8,000 women in ONE time, ONE place, ONE space… this is ASSEMBLY.
Event
Schedule
Pre-Event
Thursday, May 17, 2018
9 a.m.—Ubuntu Day of Service (additional fee)
Late afternoon—Public Action (no additional fee)
Event
Friday and Saturday, May 18-19, 2018
9 a.m.—Community Gathering
Morning and afternoon –Workshops, Experience Hall, Networking
7 p.m.—Community Gathering
Saturday, May 19, 2018
After Evening Community Gathering - 150th Anniversary Celebration Dance Party
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Assembly ends at noon—Community Gathering and Sending Forth
At the Community Gatherings we will share in inspiring Worships, learn from insightful speakers, lift our voices in singing with our Assembly Band, be enriched by rich, live performing arts, grow spiritually through the Journey of Mary, mother of Jesus and claim our identity as United Methodist Women – past, present and future. We will experience “The Power of Bold” through the power of Community.
A key component of every United Methodist Women Assembly is participatory workshops that engage members and provide skills and tools to take individual and collective action. The skills and tools that you receive at this Assembly should help propel you into the next 150 years of turning faith, hope and love into action on behalf of women, children and youth around the world.
This space offers a United Methodist Women 150th Anniversary Journey Exhibit Experience highlighting the Past, Present and Future, a MyUMW Membership Area, a Fairtrade Marketplace, an Ubuntu Networking Space, Partners and Sponsors areas and much more.
Assembly will be offering ways for you to share your own “Power of Bold” in Columbus this May. Look for updates to our webpage in the winter of 2018.
Pre-Event
“Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu: A person is a person through other persons.” —A South African saying
Ubuntu is a unique word, a concept, a worldview, which captures the very essence of what it is to be human. A Zulu phrase, Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, says, “I am only because we are, and since we are, therefore I am.” It recognizes each human being as part of a community. Above all, it is a gathering of God’s people to celebrate God-with-us, Immanuel, who moves us to action on behalf of our neighbor. Ubuntu is a celebration of being in community with people as mission.
Ubuntu Day of Service, a pre-conference experience on Thursday, May 17, is designed to celebrate mission as relational. Field trips offer opportunities to experience how communities are impacted by persons and systems and how people are making a difference.
United Methodist Women believe advocacy to change systems must be paired with service in the community in order to transform at the roots. Please bring your “Power of Bold” and join with local Columbus organizations to amplify your voice at a rally on one of UMW’s four social justice issues in downtown Columbus. The public action will take place on Thursday, May 17 at 4 p.m. There is no fee to take part in the public action. Shuttles will be provided from the Ubuntu Day of Service sites and the Convention Center. We hope you will plan to participate in this important action for justice.
