Presbyterian Women

The Thank Offering originated with Mrs. Elizabeth Clokey of Springfield, Ohio. Her plan was to have each woman give $1.00 over and above her usual contribution to the Women’s General Missionary Society of the United Presbyterian Church of North America as a “thank offering to her Lord.” In 1888, a day was set aside as a day of prayer and thanksgiving. The meetings were to be a “concert of prayer and praise and the gathering of the Thank Offering.” The gifts were presented at the annual convention and it was decided that this should be an annual feature of the convention. It is certain that these gifts represented much soul-searching and self-sacrificing on the part of many women. It has been said that women’s giving saved the worldwide missionary movement at that time. The thrust of how and where the money should be used has changed over the years, but a “thank offering to her Lord” has continued to be an important part of women’s giving by Presbyterian Women. One third of this offering is used to support medical mission throughout the world. The balance is used for new creative areas of mission, undesignated in advance. Specific projects are selected by the Creative Ministries Offering Committee from project proposals submitted. This offering is received in the fall. ***** We appreciate your generosity. Please be aware that this contribution will not be applied to your pledge commitment to Village if you have made one. *****

In 1922, ten years after the Women’s Auxiliary of the Presbyterian Church in the United States was formed, the women sought an appropriate way to celebrate what the Auxiliary had meant to them. Mrs. Hallie Paxson Winsborough, Superintendent of Women’s Work, visited Miss Dowd’s School for Girls in Kochi, Japan, as part of a tour of mission stations in the Orient. She saw inadequate facilities and crowded rooms and recognized a need which could be met by Presbyterian Women in the United States. Returning home, she challenged all women of the church to give only one penny for each year of their lives (or a dollar) as a “Birthday Gift” to those school girls in Japan. Thus began a tradition of annual Women of the Church Birthday Celebrations. The offerings have enabled a long succession of new and often innovative mission projects to be accomplished both overseas and in the United States. Each year, projects are selected by the Creative Ministries Offering Committee from submitted proposals. Interpretive materials are prepared for distribution in the fall, and the offering is received in the spring. ***** We appreciate your generosity. Please be aware that this contribution will not be applied to your pledge commitment to Village if you have made one. *****

This income is received from PW members as either a pledge or a one-time gift and is over and above a member’s pledge to the church. This may be given at stage group events or any whole group PW event. ***** We appreciate your generosity. Please be aware that this contribution will not be applied to your pledge commitment to Village if you have made one. *****