Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a Saturday morning keynote address April 26 at United Methodist Women’s Assembly at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Ky., April 25-27.
“Make It Happen” is the theme for 19th quadrennial gathering of more than 7,000 women of every ethnicity, background and region across the country and international guests. The morning plenary, like the event, will focus on ordinary women organizing to make needed changes in their communities, states, nation and world to improve life for women, children and youth.
“Secretary Clinton is a lifelong United Methodist and a longtime advocate for women, children and youth,” said Harriett Jane Olson, chief executive of United Methodist Women. “It was almost 20 years ago when she electrified the participants at the 4th United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing by her declaration that women’s rights are human rights. She carried that theme with her in her address to the United Methodist General Conference in 1996 and in her focus on women’s leadership development throughout her service as Secretary of State. Her work reflects commitments United Methodist Women and our predecessor organizations have worked toward for 145 years. We look forward to hearing what she has learned in her work with women around the world.”
The biblical text for the 2014 Assembly is the story of the feeding of the multitude in Mark 6:30-44, in which Jesus instructs his disciples to organize the people into groups of 50 to feed them with five loaves of bread and two fish. Throughout the event, participants will grapple with Jesus’ instructions for his disciples to “give them something to eat.”
Assembly will also include more than 75 workshops on spiritual growth, leadership development and justice action; a Saturday march in solidarity with Louisville organizations working on economic justice; a pre-event “Ubuntu Day of Service” with local groups serving the Louisville area on April 24.
The nearly 800,000-member United Methodist Women is the denomination’s official women’s mission organization. Members raise
more than $16 million annually for mission with women, children and youth.
