{"id":11817,"date":"2025-11-12T10:45:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T15:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/?p=11817"},"modified":"2025-11-20T11:13:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:13:43","slug":"an-encouragement-for-november-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/2025\/11\/an-encouragement-for-november-4\/","title":{"rendered":"An Encouragement for November"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 2019, the Center for Leadership Excellence, in partnership with COSROW, has been lifting up the voices of lay and clergywomen in ministry through Encouragements\u2014monthly emails designed to inspire, encourage, and offer practical ways for women in ministry to support one another. This month, we\u2019re honored to share words from<\/em><\/em><\/em> Becca Detterman, associate pastor of Wesley Memorial in Wilmington.<\/em>

Anyone can sign up to receive Encouragements\u2014and the full archive of past emails is available for you to explore. Please\u00a0<\/em>share this link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0with lay and clergywomen in ministry who might be interested.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Ruth replied, \u201cDon\u2019t urge me to abandon you, to turn back from following after you. Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.\u201d<\/em>
Ruth 1:16 (CEB)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s something about people who show up. Maybe they\u2019re family\u2014the ones with whom we share genes, traditions, and stories. Maybe they\u2019re friends\u2014the family we choose, the people we look at and say, \u201cYou know what, I like this one. I think I\u2019ll keep them around.\u201d Maybe you\u2019re still waiting for those people. But I hope, I pray, that you have some of them in your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in a world that often treats friendships as disposable. We\u2019ve been conditioned to think relationships are only worth keeping if they\u2019re easy. When they require too much, we move on. But the kind of friendship God calls us to is different. Holy friendships aren\u2019t about convenience. They are distinct because they are rooted in God\u2019s love and woven into God\u2019s ongoing story. They shape us, sustain us, and transform us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Vivek Murthy, former U.S. Surgeon General, spent years listening to stories of loneliness and longing for connection. His first suggestion? \u201cDevote at least fifteen minutes a day connecting with those you care most about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can already hear the objections: \u201cFifteen minutes? I barely have five!\u201d But think about it. Could your lunch break be spent reaching out to someone? Could you use your drive time to call a friend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deeper your friendship, the more your lives intertwine and influence each other\u2019s stories. But this doesn\u2019t happen overnight. Good friendships cook in a crockpot, not a microwave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is the friendship we are invited into\u2014and the friendship we are called to offer the world. May we be people who show up, who walk alongside one another, who challenge and encourage each other, and who reflect the unshakable love of God in the way we love our friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In partnership,
Center for Leadership Excellence and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something about people who show up. Maybe they\u2019re family\u2014the ones with whom we share genes, traditions, and stories. Maybe they\u2019re friends\u2014the family we choose, the people we look at and say, \u201cYou know what, I like this one. I think I\u2019ll keep them around.\u201d Maybe you\u2019re still waiting for those people. But I hope, I pray, that you have some of them in your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":7594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6,12,13,194,14],"class_list":["post-11817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-center-for-leadership-excellence","tag-commission-on-the-status-and-role-of-women","tag-encouragements","tag-leadership","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Encouragement for November | Center for Leadership Excellence | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/2025\/11\/an-encouragement-for-november-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Encouragement for November | Center for Leadership Excellence | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s something about people who show up. 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