United Women in Faith
UWF History
In 1869, Clementina Butler and Lois Parker, wives of missionaries to India, made a plea to a group of eight women in Boston about the spiritual and physical needs of poor women in India. They could not be treated by male doctors. Schooling for girls was almost non-existent. Help was desperately needed.
In what would become a lasting legacy of “showing up and getting things done,” the attendees were moved to action. They quickly called another meeting of more women. They wrote a constitution. And in short order, they organized the Methodist Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS).
By November 1869, the newly formed organization raised funds and sent educator Isabella Thoburn and Dr. Clara Swain to India.
Ms. Thoburn began a school with just six young girls that went on to become Isabella Thoburn College, Asia’s first women’s college. Dr. Swain’s medical work resulted in the first women’s hospital in Asia. Both institutions continue to serve the people of India today. Learn more at uwfaith.org.
UWF At Christ Church Amherst
By the time Christ Church was founded, the women’s organization was known as the Women’s Society of Christian Service (WSCS). On January 9, 1950, Christ Methodist Church formed a local unit of the WSCS. After the United Methodist Church was formed in 1968, the organization was renamed United Methodist Women. In 2022, seeking to be inclusive of all, we became United Women in Faith.
UWF at Christ Church has several women’s circles, offers book and Bible studies, hosts programs and picnics and supports local and global missions.
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