The ECW (Episcopal Church Women) is the women’s service organization of the Episcopal Church. Every woman in the church is automatically a member and can participate in parish and diocesan activities.

The Episcopal Church Women of Good Shepherd welcomes and encourages all women of the parish to become involved in the life of our parish through participation in our many activities. We host a monthly book club. We sponsor fundraisers and other events throughout the year to support mission and ministry outreach efforts locally, nationally and abroad. We also award a scholarship each year to one of Good Shepherd’s graduating high school seniors.

Parish ministries

Good Shepherd Scholarship Fund

The Good Shepherd Scholarship Fund was established in 2010 to assist members of our parish who pursue higher education. The annual award goes to students who demonstrate academic excellence and are active members of the Good Shepherd community.

Good Shepherd ECW Book Club

Book clubs are a great way to connect with other women in our congregation and to be more deliberate in our reading. The ECW Book Club meets on the first Sunday of every month in the education building from 9 am to 10:30 am.

Fiction and nonfiction books are chosen from suggestions by members and discussed from a Christian perspective. We are currently reading Last Light by Terri Blackstock. New readers are always welcome to join the group, and you don’t have to read the book in order to participate.

Diocesan ministries

Upper South Carolina ECW mission projects

Each year, the Upper South Carolina ECW designates three mission projects, which it promotes and raises money for across the diocese.

The three projects for 2016 were Partners in Literacy Haiti (world project), National project - A Moveable Feast (national project), and The Dickerson Children’s Advocacy Center (Diocesan project).

United Thank Offering

The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through United Thank Offering, men, women, and children nurture the habit of giving daily thanks to God. Although everyone can participate in the United Thank Offering, it is administered through the Episcopal Church Women. The UTO collects funds at the parish level twice yearly and distributes them through grants to support mission and ministry in the Episcopal Church and in invited Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world.

Diocesan Seminarian Book Fund

The Episcopal Church Women of this diocese administer a Book Fund for our seminarians. Grants are distributed twice a year to help offset the high cost of books that is often a strain to our seminarians who live on so little.

Church Periodical Club

The Church Periodical Club supplies theological and educational materials in support of mission efforts around the world. The CPC was founded in 1888 at the Church of the Holy Communion in New York, when Mary Ann Drake Fargo and a small group of women began sending bundles of church periodicals, prayer books and Bibles via the Wells Fargo Stage Coach Line to missionaries in the Dakotas and farther west.

Bena Dial Scholarship

The Bena Dial Student Fund, established in 1926 in honor of Mrs. George Dial, is open to active Episcopalians in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina who will be full-time students at an accredited vocational school, college or graduate school.