Pastor Travis’ newsletter article from June 2015

Beautiful People,

You may not know, but in our church files we have handwritten Sunday school attendance records, financial records and board minutes going back all the way to the late 1800s when our congregation was still a new church. They’re a little dusty, but they’re fun to read through. On Mother’s Day, Marti preached a sermon entitled “Faithful Women,” and one thing is clear when you review these historical documents: our church would not exist without scores of faithful women.

For many years in our church and our denomination, only men were permitted to serve as pastors or in leadership roles. In fact, it was not until the mid-70s when our church appointed our first female elder, Dorothy Graham (there’s a picture in the display outside the upstairs bathrooms marking the first time she served at the Lord’s table). Yet even when the men were too stubborn to properly honor them, there have always been women serving this church, faithfully pushing the envelope to ensure our church not only survived, but thrived.

The Ladies Aid Society was the first organized group of women serving our church, dating back to the late 1800s. In 1899, these faithful women used funds raised through a Handkerchief Bazaar to purchase our church’s first parsonage, located on Main Street, for $75! From this group, the Christian Women’s Fellowship (CWF) developed, which organized itself in several “Circles.” These Circles met regularly for fellowship, crafts, games, service and study. One of the first was the Ella Circle, named after Ella Simpson, a former church pianist and the wife Pastor A. N. Simpson. This Circle funded church ministry by creating and selling quilts. In the 60s the Faith Circle began, and provided service to people in nursing homes by throwing birthday parties and conducting worship services for residents. During the 90s, Sally Nixon, wife of Pastor Pat Nixon, led a Craft Circle, which has recently been revived as our Craft Ministry. Their craft bazaars raised money to help pay off our church mortgage!

Recently, we were sad to announce the final meeting of the Jennie McAfee Circle. Talk about faithful women! The members of this Circle began meeting on June 14, 1951, and held their last meeting on May 7, 2015. For 64 years, this Circle has provided a place of fellowship, education and ministry to this church and beyond. In 1951, 17 women joined together to begin this fellowship. They were named after Jennie McAfee, the Sunday School teacher of the 30 and 1 class (this class still meets on the first Saturday of the month for a time of fellowship and games!). Charter members were Kathryn Bishop, Marilyn Bishop, Betty Broerman, Harriet Bumgarner, Vivian Essick, Dorothy Graham, Arlene Hakes, Opal Henry, Carolyn Hukle, Darlene Iverson, Opal Jean Olander, Marilyn Patten, Lee Sutton, Donna Thomas, and Clara Wilson.

Since the beginning until a few weeks ago, the Jennie McAfee Circle has honored our High School seniors. For many years they held an annual Mother-Daughter Banquet and a Spring Fling. They’ve organized care packages for deployed military personnel, held teas for shut-ins and supported many church activities over the years such as Come Home for Christmas. At their weekly meetings, they would often have guest speakers from the community. At one of their final meetings, they had an organizer from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement along with a City of Norwalk Public Works representative discuss water pollution in Iowa and what we can do as citizens to make certain our water remains clean. This group of faithful women have always been concerned about the future of our church and community.

Thinking about these faithful women, I am reminded of women like Mary the mother of James, Salome and Mary Magdalene who were among Jesus’ most faithful disciples. They raised money to fund Jesus’ ministry. When the disciples fled after the crucifixion, they remained faithful, showing up on Easter morning to discover the empty tomb. As the church began, these women along with Jesus’ mother Mary were matriarchs in the Jerusalem Church. Later, women like Lydia joined them. She personally provided the meeting place and financial resources for a new church in Philippi. Tabitha was a seamstress in Joppa who made clothing for the poor and was so beloved that after she died suddenly, Peter the Apostle was sent from Jerusalem to grieve with all the widows who had gathered by her bedside. When Peter saw their grief over this great woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” and the dead woman came back to life.

The Jennie McAfee Circle closing is the end of a long legacy in this church that goes all the way back to our beginning. In their early days, these Circles provided a much needed vehicle for ministry. As we woke up and realized God’s calling on all people to leadership, women could then become active in all areas of church life. As schedules and jobs changed, it became harder for women to be active in these Circles. Yet through it all, these faithful women kept faithfully serving our church.

Though the Jennie McAfee Circle has decided to end, their legacy will continue, in every graduate they have honored, in every ministry they have supported. In fact, the stained glass windows that bless us every Sunday along the North wall of our sanctuary were purchased by the Jennie McAfee Circle through memorials made in honor of their namesake after she passed away in 1976. These windows are memorials to all the many women who have gone before who spent their lives blessing the people of Norwalk Christian Church. Praise God for these faithful women who have and continue to serve our church in so many blessed ways. Your dedication is the reason our church is here today, and we are incredibly thankful.