United Women in Faith: Faith Talks

Faith Talks commemorates Mother’s Day with a panel on the importance of supporting mothers. Guests include:

Brittany K. Barnett, attorney, author, and founder of Girls Embracing Mothers, a nonprofit helping women in prison and their daughters to break the cycle of incarceration and lead successful lives with vision and purpose.

Devin Long, community outreach specialist for New Beginnings, Navajo United Methodist Center, a United Women in Faith supported National Mission Institution in Farmington, New Mexico.

Mollie James-Vickery, interim CEO of United Women in Faith.

The 2023 theme of Earth Day is Invest in Our Planet. Join us for a lively discussion of this important topic.

Our guest panelists will include:
*Sabrina Chapa, a proud Xicana and co-founder of Ties to La Tierra, an ecological justice organization caretaking Earth by promoting Indigenous, anti-colonial, and transformative methodological practices, research, and community building. She has a M.S. in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management with a focus on Ecological Justice, and a B.S. in Geography and Environmental Resources.
*Ilka Vega, United Women in Faith Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice. She holds a B.A. in Sustainability, Culture, and Social Justice and a B.A. in Business from Southwestern University and a M.Sc. in Innovation, Human Development, and Sustainability from the University of Geneva.
*Nora Asedillo Cunningham, Spiritual Growth and Formation Specialist for United Women in Faith national office. She has a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she studied Christian social ethics and postcolonial and liberation theologies

Faith Talks continues our Women’s History Month celebration of everyday sheroes in a segment dedicated to Women and Our Finances. Historically, women have earned less than men but have often found a way to do more with their money. How can women today take control of our finances to build the lives we want for ourselves, family, and world?

Our guests are financial experts:
*Cecilia Malm, Director of Development for United Women in Faith and
*Karen Manczko, Director of Institutional Relations, and Krystal Holmes, Plan Sponsor Relations Manager, of Wespath Benefits and Investments, a company serving The United Methodist Church for over 100 years and maintaining one of the largest faith-based pension funds in the world.

March is Women’s History Month! Faith Talks kicks off the celebration honoring the invaluable impact of “Sandwiched Caregivers” and the history they make every day in their workplace and in their communities while juggling responsibilities for children, youth, and aging parents.
United Women in Faith-related National Mission Institutions around the nation provide needed help support to many of these women. Our guests will include:

• Cathy Capo Stone, Executive Director, Cornerstone Family Ministries in Tampa, Florida.
• Yvette Richards, our former national president, a certified life coach and Director of Community Connections and Missions for St. James United Methodist Church, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Each year United Women in Faith members prepare for faithful living and action by engaging in transformative educational experiences at Mission u events. We are pleased to interview authors of the 2023 Mission u studies on this episode of Faith Talks.

Guests will include:

• Riva Tabelisma, author of Living the Kin-dom: Exploring the Lord’s Prayer as a Spiritual Practice for Social Transformation, the adult study; and
• Rachel Mosher, author of Seek and You Shall Find: Living in the Kin-dom, the youth study.

Host: Jennifer R. Farmer

On this episode of Faith Talks we discuss COP27, the monumental climate summit which occurred Nov. 6-18, 2022, in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. United Women in Faith’s Executive for Economic and Environmental Justice Ilka Vega attended the COP27 climate negotiations and will share her insights and recommendations during the live recording of this podcast episode. Since empowering women and girls is ranked second among 76 solutions for curbing global warming (Project Drawdown), this is a timely conversation especially for an organization committed to women and children.

Vega said, “I’m thankful to have met and learned from incredible women advancing climate action such as Marina Silva, environmentalist and former Ministry of the Environment of Brazil; Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland; and young activist and artist Ayisha Siddiqa from Pakistan. Their intergenerational wisdom and commitment to climate justice provides encouragement that the work we are doing through our Just Energy for All campaign is empowering more women.”

Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation as we make room to receive Jesus the Christ anew our lives and world. How can we prepare to receive Christ today? How can we sharpen our spiritual senses so that we recognize Christ in the physical world today?

Our guests for this episode in observance of Advent include the Rev. KATHLEEN STONE, an educational program developer, former chaplain of the Church Center for the United Nations, and author of United Women in Faith’s 2022 Advent online reflections; and JAREN KEATON, executive director of Alliance Center for Education (formerly Bethlehem Center of Charlotte), a National Mission Institution in North Carolina.

As the year winds to a close, it is an ideal time to celebrate God’s many blessings and the ways we’ve shown up for one another throughout a challenging year. So, think about a blessing you’ve given or receive—big or small— and how it impacted your life.