Dear friends, 

In early November the GWP Steering Committee met in McPherson, Kansas. Karlene Tyler was an extraordinary host, providing lodging and fabulous food, as well as showing us around the McPherson  College campus. Each Fall during our in-person meeting, we have to Transition and say goodbye to the one who has completed their 5-year term with the committee. Sadly, this was Karlene’s last meeting with us.  And wow, did she give it her all! Look for an introduction to our newest member early in the coming year when the GWP newsletter arrives in your mailbox.  We give thanks that each new member brings different gifts and perspectives to our mission!   

At our Fall meeting, we worked through a full agenda, making enormous progress in planning for the year ahead while still enjoying our time together!  Each time we gather, it’s so inspiring to work with such strong and creative women.  We are fortunate to be able to support projects, founded and led by women, that are helping to address the unique harms found in each community. While it is rather small what we are doing, distributing GWP grants matters to those who receive them and brings greater justice to our neighbors and our world.     

For this reason, we ask that you keep an eye out for an End of Year Request for support sent to your inbox this week.  We trust you won’t mind hearing from us at the close of another year, a year with greater needs since USAID was shut down.  

Advent is here and the month of December begins.  As a way to count each day of waiting in the Advent season, GWP invites you to download and print the 2025 Advent Calendar (Copy of Advent Calendar – Web Print.pdf). We hope this will be a gift for you each day of Advent.  We hope you might find it meaningful to take a few moments to reflect upon and interact with this calendar, to learn about the work of justice so needed for our Partner Projects.  

You can use the calendar in personal prayer time, with your family around the dinner table, in a Sunday school class or small group, or as a congregation. Send us your colored-in calendar if you can once you’ve finished! We would love to post them on our social media. 

In the hope of Light yet to come, 

Cynthia Mason, for GWP