What is an active unit?

 
How to define an "active" unit

What does it mean to be an active unit of Women of the ELCA? Your unit must commit to four things in order to be recognized as active:
    1. Come together for study, support, and action.
    2. Participate in the ministry of Women of the ELCA beyond the congregation.
    3. Support financially the total program of Women of the ELCA.
    4. Designate leadership that shall be in communication with the synodical and churchwide women’s organization.

(See the Model Constitution and Bylaws for Congregational or Intercongregational Units, Article II, section 2.)

Come together for study, support, and action
There is no prescribed way to come together for study, support, and action. And how your particular group of women comes together can change as the makeup of the group changes or your needs change.

Not everyone in a unit needs to participate in every activity. Units can have as many smaller groups of women as you'd like, each carrying out a different activity.

Study could mean coming together monthly for the Bible study found in Lutheran Woman Today magazine, or a group could gather regularly to discuss the featured topic in Café. You could also come together using one of our many program resources.

Supporting each other can come in many forms. It could be expressed by praying together or organizing a prayer chain. It could involve a "secret sister" or "secret angel" exchange.

Action could involve working in a food pantry, writing letters to elected officials, or making relief quilts.

Participate beyond the congregation
Programming and activities occur in several different expressions of Women of the ELCA. The women in your unit could attend an event sponsored by the synodical women’s organization, such as a retreat or convention. Some local area conferences or clusters are very active and offer regular programming in which to participate. Subscribing to Lutheran Woman Today, Interchange, or Café are all ways to participate in our ministry beyond the congregation, as is attending a triennial gathering or an event sponsored by the churchwide women’s organization.

Support financially the total program
Most questions about whether a unit is "active" involve this question: What does it mean to support financially the total program of Women of the ELCA?

In the fullest sense, the women in a unit would regularly be doing all of the following:
  • Collecting regular offerings and sharing a portion with their synodical women's organization
  • Having regular Thankoffering services and sending 100 percent of the Thankofferings to the churchwide women’s organization
  • Supporting designated giving programs of Women of the ELCA
  • Participating in occasional giving opportunities, like the anniversary of the organization, a memorial, or even disaster relief
  • Subscribing to Lutheran Woman Today and Interchange
  • Purchasing other resources produced by Women of the ELCA

Some of our units do indeed support the organization in all these ways. Other may do one or two of these things. There are likely growth opportunities for most units in this area, and so we encourage all units to grow in their financial support of Women of the ELCA.

Designate leadership to be in communication
This is a simple requirement. One person in the unit needs to be a contact person, so that information from the synodical and churchwide women’s organizations can be provided to the unit through this person.