No retrospective would be complete without mention of the organization’s tour de force — its triennial gatherings, which have brought together as many as 6,000 women under one roof. Below are the themes, locales, and dates of each of these special meetings, beginning with the constituting convention. Did you attend any of these? Do you remember the women you met there, or the worship, or the speakers?

• "Embrace God’s World," the Constituting Convention, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1987
• "Celebrate God’s Creation," Anaheim, California, 1990
• "God’s Gift of Hope," Washington, D.C., 1993
• "Proclaim God’s Peace," Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1996
• "Live God’s Justice," St. Louis, Missouri, 1999
• "Listen: God is Calling," Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2002
• "Act Boldly," San Antonio, Texas, 2005

The 7th Triennial Gathering, "Come to the Waters," will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in July 2008.

Alongside these triennial gatherings is always the Triennial Convention: the highest legislative body in Women of the ELCA. This meeting finds delegates handling the business of the organization — approving budgets, voting on memorials and recommendations, setting policy, naming a theme for the next three years, and electing a 21-member executive board, including four officers. True to the organization’s commitment to inclusivity, it agreed early on to follow guidelines calling for diversity in geography, ethnicity, and language when electing board members.

The conventions and gatherings have always been about much more than business. They were also about grand themes ... inspiring speakers ... special learning and advocacy tracks for attendees ..  the Triennial Times on-site newspaper ... new challenges for women ... exciting corporate worship ... guests from other countries ... learning to walk the labyrinth ... celebrating the anniversaries of the ordination of women clergy ... giving school supplies and a host of other in-kind gifts to local ministries in convention cities ... hearing of the new Bible study series in LWT and meeting the author in person ... and more.

Each convention has its own exciting story, often described by participants who attended as a mountaintop experience. The fellowship, the devotions and worship, the workshops and seminars, the Augsburg Fortress on-site store, the visit to Capitol Hill to discuss bills in progress (1993, Washington, D.C.), the servant events with local ministries, the exhilaration and exhaustion at the end of each day — all are part of the memories. And the speakers and presenters over the years make up a veritable Who’s Who — including such people as the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the late Senator Paul Simon, storyteller and writer Walter Wangerin Jr., the Rev. April Larson, first woman bishop in the ELCA, Nobel Peace-Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu from Guatemala, Kathryn Wolford, then of Lutheran World Relief, author Barbara Ehrenreich — and many more.

These events did one other highly commendable thing — sought diligently to be a part of the lives of those women unable to attend: through prayers and activities adapted for local use to tie in with the churchwide meeting, through the event site on the Web, and via follow-up print and visual communications to help women at home feel a part of their sisters at the event and to be primed for follow-up action generated by the conventions.

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