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Growing Strong Roots in Faith and Sisterhood

Rev. Gail Whalen-Dunn

Question by Rev. Gail Whalen-Dunn

Answered by: Patty Lane, President of Baptist Women of North America


Patty, what principles guide you as a president of a movement of Baptist women? 

I think I will try to answer this with a story.  


I love redwood trees! I remember first seeing a picture of a redwood in my elementary geography textbook. I believe there were 25 people around the tree with their arms outstretched to reach all the way around the trunk. I have learned since that redwoods grow to be 350 to 400 feet tall. They can live for 1,000 years or more. 


Now you may assume with trees this large they would have to have an enormously deep root system.  But they do not. The depth of their roots is 6 to 12 feet deep. Picture that—they would be so top heavy, how would that work? Well, there is the beauty of God’s design. You never see a lone redwood.  The reason is that their roots are totally enmeshed with the roots of all the other redwoods around them. The roots weave together tightly and, through that process, each tree can grow to its potential.


This example from nature is a picture of how I think we should see ourselves in Baptist Women of North America. God has created each of us with tremendous potential. By weaving our lives together, we are strong, we can grow, and we can face obstacles and challenges that alone we never could. As our BWNA mission statement states, “engaging women to live out Kingdom life especially in assisting the vulnerable.” Through networking, prayer, resourcing, and leadership development, we grow our roots stronger in our faith and in our sisterhood. 


Our BWNA officers chose the verse Ephesians 2:10 as our theme verse for our tenure: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”(NLT). In those two sentences we find a great deal of what we are striving for in BWNA. Reminding women of their identity as God’s masterpiece, made new in Jesus, created to do good work that God has planned for them long ago, is what we do.


Learn more about Baptist Women of North America at https://bwna.today/

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