ABS meeting in Raleigh features first panel appearance of all-woman leadership of the UCC, as well as ABS 2025 award-winners

“Rooted, restored, and rising” was the theme of the 2026 meeting of the Antoinette Brown Society (ABS) in Raleigh, North Carolina the week of September 29. And the United Church of Christ clergywomxn gathered there lived up to that theme, with activities, worship, and workshops focused on each of those carefully chosen words.

The opening worship the night of Tuesday, Sept. 29 followed a reception, and featured a welcome from the Rev. Tara Barber, Minister for Ministerial Support and Accountability on the Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA) team, as well as ABS planning leader.

UCC General Minister and President/CEO, the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson invited all gathered to enjoy the sacred time of sisterhood together, and noted that, “None of you does ministry alone.” Thompson recalled the first event she attended as the first woman elected as General Minister and President/CEO was the ABS luncheon back in 2023, and how warmly she was greeted.

Thompson noted that this ABS meeting was the first gathering that featured all three elected women officers of the UCC, “a life moment in the history of the church,” and said they are thinking about how to contribute to women’s leadership development in the church. “I am talking about intentional generational leadership,” Thompson said, “how we can harness this for the future. We don’t have to diminish who we are to fit in and find our way.”

A gospel choir from the Fairmount United Methodist Church in Raleigh, led by musical director Randy Shepard, offered several moving musical selections. The gathering was then joined by Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson and Rev. Mother Yvonne Delk of the UCC’s African American Women in Ministry (AAWIM). They invited the group to attend their gathering on sacred ground at Franklinton Center at Bricks on Thursday, Oct. 1 for a day of worship, remembrance and embracing the M.O.R.E. God has for them. M.O.R.E. stands for identifying Ministry Opportunities, prioritizing the Relationships, Rest, and Resources necessary for the journey, and cultivating a standard of Excellence that honors the calling of every season. 

Delk, the first Black woman ordained in the UCC, said “We are still on a journey, we are living in a time when the current administration says we have no right to be here. They are trying to wipe us out of existence. We sisters must find a way to rise and move with courage and inspiration that will not be defeated.”

The second day of the conference featured the 2025 ABS award winners–the Rev. Anne Holmes, honored as a trailblazing elder; the Rev. Melody Seaton, trailblazer; and the Rev. Caela Simmons Wood, a trailblazing innovator. The video of the Kansas City General Synod ceremony announcing them as the 2025 ABS awardees was played for those gathered, and then Rev. Elizabeth Dilley, Minister and Team Leader of Ministerial Excellence, Support and Authorization (MESA), presented each with special pendants. Later in the week, each awardee presented a keynote address to those in attendance.

Each was asked what the award meant to them, personally. Holmes, now retired after more than 50 years of ministry, and the first openly gay woman ordained in the UCC, said, “It’s unexpected and deeply profound. For me, it’s the culmination of a ministry that was hard. To be finally affirmed at the age of 75 was so moving.”

Rev. Anissa Glaser-Bacon, Minister for Ministers in Specialized Settings for the UCC MESA team, who is also openly gay, noted, “It’s because of Anne that people like me are possible.”

Seaton, whose career spans over four decades, is the author of the children’s book What Does God Look Like?, as well as the program director for the Thriving Pastors in Revitalizing Congregations (TPIRC) initiative within the Illinois Conference, who has pastoral duties at Grace United Church of Christ in Sauk Village. She’s also a grandmother to six. She said she was often on auto pilot with all of these duties and was “shocked” to receive the award. “I think that as an African American woman doing so many things, you are so used to not being noticed–it felt like WOW! I have done a lot. I’m so humbled, and it’s so nice to have someone recognize the work.”

Simmons Wood, ordained in the UCC since 2010, is passionate about understanding and confronting systemic injustices, especially relating to race, gender, and sexuality. She said of the award, “It feels like a huge honor to be in the company of other womxn who have received it. It feels surreal.” She noted this was her first time attending the ABS meeting.

The presentation of the awards was followed by a panel of the all-women leadership of the UCC: Thompson, Associate General Minister, and Co-Executive of Global Ministries, the Rev. Shari Prestemon, and Associate General Minister Rev. Jennifer Sowell. Thompson addressed the theme of the event.

“When I think about rooted, I think about the importance of our spiritual care. If we’re not grounded, and rested, we’re not capable of rising,” she noted. “The rising is the ability to be prophetic, and I believe it starts with spirit. Our spiritual priorities are the thing that grounds us. Hold onto that.”

Prestemon addressed the feeling of rootedness as well. “I miss sitting with rooted,” she started. “I find it hard to stay rooted these days. It’s everything, everywhere, all at once. The way I reroot is to go back to that sense of call–not to get so caught up in the work of every day, but to love the call. Staying rooted, for me, is about other people, in my relationships. I need other people to remind me, it’s not all about me, to give me wisdom. We need to return to our calling.”

Sowell explained to the attendees that she’s a visual thinker, and being rooted reminds her of a tree. “In my new role, I’ve been paying attention to how women lead,” she shared. “How can we as women raise each other up? We’ve been conditioned to compete. That’s what I want to see more of in the UCC–women empowering each other more. I love that this event is for women to be together, grow together, and learn from each other.”

There was a period of questions and answers, and one question asked was “how can members of the ABS support you?” Thompson answered, “Pray for us, a collective prayer for leadership of the church.”

Sowell said, “Be the women you were called to be–lift each other up.”

Prestemon offered in reflection of the ABS conference, “We gathered to remember the legacy of Antoinette Brown, a brave and faithful woman who paved the way for women to follow God’s call and serve in ordained ministry.  We left with a renewed commitment to one another: to lift each other up and to celebrate the gifts and wisdom we offer in our life together as church.”

On the third day of the conference, a bus came to collect attendees and take them to join their AAWIM sisters at the Franklinton Center at Bricks, on the grounds of a former slave plantation, an hour north of Raleigh. The day began with an opening welcome by Mother Delk whose work as an educator, preacher, organizer, and a prophetic voice leading the fight for human and civil rights for people of color is honored, as well as her niece, Illinois Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Shernell Edney.

Edney spoke of the sacredness of the grounds where all stood. “This space is filled with life–life that moves through the trees, the ground, the walkways. This is the sacred land that our ancestors walked,” she said. “The trees, rocks and soil here all remember the history here.”

The day was filled with tours, education, worship, breaking bread together and time to experience longing and belonging. Rev. Amber Neuroth, pastor of Hope UCC in Alexandria, Virginia, said the day felt profound. “I think visiting was an incredibly sacred experience,” she said. “I felt the depth of pain that humanity can inflict on one another, as well as the power of resilience. I think the most moving experience was standing beneath the huge magnolia tree that was planted where the whipping post once stood.”

Sheresa Simpson-Rice, an ACM of the Central Atlantic Conference, said she was deeply touched by the visit. “I was especially impressed by the foresight of the founders of Bricks to take a place of dehumanization, and make it into a place of dignity-making. I was moved by how something so dark was made so beautiful. The empowerment of folks here–the education that was offered and the granting of land.”

The event ended on Friday, Oct. 2 with another worship service before the 70 or so who attended left for home. Barber was extremely pleased with how the week left her feeling. “I’m that good kind of tired and full, like after a family dinner. I am grateful for the many hands that shaped and prepared the feast of the ABS and AAWIM clergywomxn gatherings. In a time when the news is filled with horror stories of harm to women, we shared our own stories of belonging and isolation, struggle and setbacks, and found in each other, hope and connection and determination to sustain us for the days ahead. It was more than a success, it laid the foundation for transformation.

She continued, “When sisters stick together, things change. And I am hope-filled, daring to believe that this is our season, asking, what are we going to do next?”

“I’ve never been to summer camp,” said the Rev. Laura Woods, a hospice chaplain from Oklahoma City. “But I reckon this is better.”

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