Skip to Main Content
Women of the ELCA
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
  • Ministry & Action
    • Discipleship
    • Justice
      • Human Trafficking
      • Racial Justice Advocacy
      • Racial Justice Advocacy Network resources
      • Domestic Violence
    • Membership
    • Stewardship
      • Thankofferings
      • Faithful Friends
      • Katie’s Fund
      • Gift Planning
    • Special Initiatives
      • Raising Up Healthy Women & Girls
      • Dear Friend in Christ
    • Scholarships
      • Lutheran laywomen
      • Lutheran Ordained Ministry
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Events
  • About
    • History
    • Executive Board
    • Staff
    • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
« Back to WELCA Blog

Church ladies
by Guest blogger

3.10.2014
|
Post

rsz_img_0423I can honestly say that God has changed my life through church ladies.

I really don’t remember having many positive role models when I was a young girl. My mother was a cook with a second grade education. I remember being embarrassed if she came to school, dressed in her white cook’s uniform. It wasn’t until years later that I came to appreciate her work ethic and her dedication to raising me and my sisters on the wages of a cook, without our father.

I grew up in a non-Christian home but one of the best memories of my childhood was walking with my little sister to Vacation Bible School at the church down the road. Those nice church ladies gave us lunch and told us stories about Jesus. Many a Christmas would not have been the same without the wonderful baskets of food delivered to our house by other church ladies. In some way, I suppose these women were the first of my role models.

Years later, I became one of those church ladies. I taught children’s Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and led a few youth groups. God had placed a passion in my heart that every child should know Jesus. Over the next forty years, I continued to be involved with children’s Christian education in one way or another and at one point helped start a bus ministry to pick up neighborhood children for Sunday School.

As I grow older God has help me understand the struggles my mother faced as a single parent and the abuse she had faced most of her life. She raised three daughters, encouraging each of us to get an education, work hard and always do the right thing. After much prayer and talking with my pastor, I drove to Nashville, Tenn., talked with my mother about Jesus and she was baptized at the age of 95.

This July, my fourteen-year-old granddaughter will be joining me at our triennial gathering. She is excited about coming; but nowhere near as excited as I am to be able to share with her this gathering of women who have so enriched my life. I pray that she will continue to carry the long tradition of the church ladies and that someday that she will have a daughter who will do the same.

Patti Austin, of Decatur, Georgia, serves on the churchwide executive board.

+++++

Delegates to the Eighth Triennial Convention (2011) of Women of the ELCA–definite “church ladies”– are pictured above. The Ninth Triennial Convention takes place this coming July, immediately prior to of many generations, the Ninth Triennial Gathering.

Share
No Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Categories

  • Post (1,256)
  • News (295)
    • Gathering 2021 (9)
    • Triennial Convention 2021 (7)
  • Devotions (76)
  • 2122 (3)
  • Uncategorized (2)
Women of the ELCA
18h
Women of the ELCA
@WomenoftheELCA

Happy birthday, Katharina von Bora Luther! 🎉⭐️🎂 From "A Bold Life of Faith: Katharina von Bora Luther" by Linda Post Bushkofsky, A resource from Women of the ELCA, 2009. womenoftheelca.org/filebin/pd… #KatiesBirthday #2122KatiesFund #KatharinavonBoraLutherwasborntoday #Jan29 pic.twitter.com/fC9yD265al

Expand reply reply retweet retweet favorite favorite
Back to home

8765 W. Higgins Rd.

Chicago IL 60631

800-638-3522

[email protected]

Stay In Touch

Sign up for the WELCA Newsletter

Explore WELCA
  • Ministry & Action
  • Daily Grace
  • Resource Library
  • Events
  • Blog
  • News
  • About WELCA
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Photos
Explore Publications

Bold Cafe

A Lutheran perspective for women of Christian faith or any woman who is interested in how faith relates to the issues facing women today.

Gather Magazine

A mix of articles, theological reflections, devotions and stories of comfort and challenge that help readers grow in faith.

Cafe Podcast

Subscribe to our podcast:

Click to subscribe

© Copyright 2023 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
© Copyright 2023 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.