In 1938, a young woman in California who had lost her mother sought spiritual support from Elwood and Helen Duff Baugh. The Baughs invited the young woman to dinner, where they and a group of their coworkers shared their understanding of heaven and the promise of eternal life.
Several people at the dinner wanted to meet again, with the result that the original group grew to 24 prayer groups in San Jose. Ten years later, Helen Duff Baugh and Mary E. Clark, a former missionary, established Christian Women’s clubs, and in 1952, moved the headquarters to a tract of land called Stonecroft in South Kansas City, where the outreach effort became know by the name Stonecroft Ministries.
The goal: to equip women for leadership and encourage them to impact their communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Stonecroft’s four pillars are study, service, support and social. The logo is a cross made of ribbons, forming an infinite loop, symbolizing the message the Baughs shared with the woman who had lost her mother: that God and life through Jesus is eternal.
By 1973, Stonecroft had clubs and councils in 50 states. In the early 1980s, a Stonecroft Christian Women’s Club was started in Clinton, according to Trish Meyers, who joined a year later. Doris Hunter also wasn’t in the group from the start, she said, as she was still teaching school. Doris couldn’t recall the name of the woman who started the group, but said she was probably a Stonecroft member in another town who had moved to Clinton. Laura Sisney may have been the founder. Mary Jo Cable, Susie Wetzel and Martha Welch were also active in the club.
Some of the volunteer officers have served for decades, and are looking for other women to take over. Others have seen the committee shrink to a few active officers, who have had to take on multiple duties. Debra Dolly started as the treasurer eight years ago, she said, then took on making the invitations for the next luncheon, fielding the names for lunch reservations and bringing the iced tea.
Organizing the monthly luncheons also involves women to book speakers and to publicize meetings by sending an article to the newspaper and posting announcements on Facebook about the date of the luncheon and the speaker.
Without some new women willing to take some of these responsibilities, Clinton’s Stonecroft luncheons may be history.
“I hope it will keep going,” Debra said. “We need new people to come onboard.”
By the time she joined in twenty years ago, there were 60 to 70 women at the meetings, Debra said. The Clinton Stonecroft club also had Bible study groups, Doris Hunter recalled, and she was in charge of the books that the group ordered through the ministry.
Doris said she learned about Stonecroft after seeing an article in the newspaper. Her children were grown and gone by the time she joined, she said, but she remembers that the Clinton club had a large membership that included young mothers, so had a nursery for the children while their mothers attended the luncheon and program.
Doris said she still has a Bible study group, but there are only three women in it, and it’s been hard to keep it going. Two other Stonecroft Bible study groups are still going, Debra said.
To keep the luncheons going, women are needed to attend the Christmas lunch on Dec. 19, and stay afterward for a planning meeting.
The December program will be by Sharon Hicks, speaking on “Angels or Shepherds.” The short feature, “Left Right at the Corner,” will be by Trish Meyers, owner of Gallery 3. Reservations for the December luncheon are due by Dec. 15 to Debra Dolly, debdolly30@gmail.com. Cost is $12 and includes an entree, side dish, salad, drink and dessert, catered by Melinda Dehn.
The feature at the November meeting was presented by Clinton Flower Shop owner Scott Brooks, who demonstrated how to make three floral arrangements, one for a Thanksgiving table, an autumn-themed arrangement and a Christmas arrangement. Scott also showed how to revive an old wreath by combining different color ribbons to create a bow. The arrangements and wreath were raffled off to four lucky winners.
“We used to hate Martha Stewart,” Scott said. “Now we hate Pinterest. People show us pictures of the arrangement they want us to make, one that resembles something they went out and picked fresh in their garden that morning.”
The main speaker in November was Michelle Woods, co-owner of a construction business, who talked about the importance of sharing Jesus in your daily life. In September, Clinton Christian Academy lead administrator Robin Ritchie gave a program of how working at CCA has capped her career in education by allowing her to live out her faith fully in her daily work.
Stonecroft used to provide many of the speakers for the lunches, Debra said, but lately, the club has had to recruit speakers from the local community. The members have also taken over decorating the tables and serving lunch to keep the cost of the meal down.
The Clinton Stonecroft Christian Women’s Club meets at the First Assembly of God, on the southeast corner of Hwy. 13 and Ohio. The group was originally encouraged not to meet in churches, Doris said, to avoid association with one denomination. In the past, they met at the Holiday Inn, at Meadowlake and at the Rotary Building, but they had to pay a fee to meet at those places. So the group started meeting at the First Presbyterian Church fellowship hall on the recommendation of the caterer, who attended church there. They also met for a time at the Baptist church, Doris said.
She doesn’t remember why the group moved to First Assembly of God, which provides the fellowship hall for the meetings.
Doris does remember that the group used to have prayer meetings every month ahead of the luncheon, but combined with the luncheon and planning meetings, it got to be too much. Some of the women who started the group are gone or gotten older, she said, and now it’s harder to get women involved in leadership roles.
“I never get tired of telling the different stories that they tell,” Doris said of the luncheon speakers. “I wish we had more people involved.”
There is no lunch meeting planned for January, to avoid bad weather, although the planning committee will meet to continue the discussion on regrouping that will start at the December luncheon.
The Clinton Stonecroft Christian Women’s Club normally meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 11:45 a.m., although the luncheon is moved to the second Tuesday if if conflicts with a holiday week, as it did in November. The luncheons and program usually end by 1 p.m.
“It’s been a great group and it’s been fun,” Debra said.
