July/August response: Assembly Plans Underway

Chanda Rule to Lead Music

by response editors

Are you saving the date for United Women in Faith’s Dream It! Believe It! Do It! Assembly 2026? Join us May 15-17, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a weekend that celebrates who we are and all we can achieve together. Assembly is our chance to unite, recharge, and deepen our faith.

Music Leader Announced

As of press time for this issue, event organizers were celebrating the addition of music leader Chanda Rule. A jazz performer and Union Theological Seminary graduate with her feet rooted in gospel, a heart filled with soul, and a voice touched with jazz, singer and songwriter Rule has been weaving stories through song since her childhood. 

Featured in Cicily Janus’ The New Face of Jazz (Billboard Books), Rule has also performed as an opening act for India.Arie, Kamasi Washington, Amel Larrieux, Angela Bofill, and Regina Belle and The Whispers. A published writer and podcast host, Rule also integrates music with sacred text, liturgy, and storytelling to open new vistas for congregations and communities. 

“I believe songs are God’s healing balm for the human spirit and I love to use music to celebrate and honor unconditional love and the downright sacred wholeness of every being,” Rule said.

Influencers to Join Main Stage Panel

Among influencers in attendance will be Pastor Mya P. Miller, Ph.D., human resources director at Humana. Miller has more than 20 years in the corporate world and is the senior pastor of a growing church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where more than half of her churchgoers are millennials and young adults. Listen to her on Faith Talks, September 4, when she discusses suicide awareness. In addition to her support for young people and mental health, Miller is an author and fitness enthusiast.

Jennifer Hockenbery, Ph.D., another influencer, has also committed to Assembly 2026. Hockenbery is the interim executive director of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has also served as a college dean, philosophy professor, and editor of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.

Another participating influencer, Rev. Liz Theoharis, Ph.D., is a theologian, author, pastor, mother, and longtime antipoverty activist. Founder and executive director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, she is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and teaches at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. 

Why You Should Register

There has never been a more important time for women of faith to come together, tap into our strength, and unite to change the world. Assembly 2026 is that moment—a once-every-four-years gathering of women committed to faith, empowerment, and making a difference. Picture a weekend that uplifts your soul, strengthens your faith, and brings you together with an unstoppable sisterhood.

Continue watching for additional Assembly 2026 news in response and online at uwfaith.org/assembly, and be sure to register beginning September 1. 

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