Janet Woods was awarded the 2023 TW Anderson Award this week at the 137th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church in Garden Grove, California. The award has been presented at each Annual Meeting since 1985 to a layperson in recognition of their service to their church and community. It is named in honor of the only layperson to be elected president of the Covenant.
When Janet Woods moved to Rochester, Minnesota, with her husband, John, and their children 63 years ago, she began playing the organ at the two-year-old Rochester Covenant Church. She went on to accompany the sanctuary choir and the junior choir, play for many vacation Bible schools and Sunday evening services, and accompany countless soloists. She played for funerals and weddings and continued taking organ lessons well into her adult years.
Her ministry expanded to leading weekly women’s Bible studies, co-hosting small groups, serving dinner after church to visitors, taking meals to people in need, corresponding with missionaries, sending encouraging notes to people within and beyond the church—and more.
She led Bible Study Fellowship for years and helped start Community Bible Study, which is now attended by more than 200 people. She volunteered in the medical community and in the wider Rochester community, serving as president of the Methodist Hospital Auxiliary. She and John received the Mayor’s Award for Volunteer Service to the City of Rochester.
Before moving to Rochester, Janet and John had served in a small town outside of Quito, Ecuador—he as a physician while she ran the hospital guest house for visitors. They later taught a class at Rochester Covenant called “Do You Want to Be a Missionary?” More than half the class went on to serve in the mission field.
“You don’t have to know Janet for very long before you figure out that the focus of her life is bringing glory to God and serving him in whatever way he asks,” wrote Pat Anderson, director of worship and music. “I’ve been blessed to know Janet for 34 years and that has always been true. She is genuinely humble, deeply cares about anyone and everyone she meets. She is tireless in prayer, and she carries hope and grace with her everywhere. The greatest blessing is that she has always done it in a way that drew attention not to herself but to Jesus.”
“A gracious and generous leader, Janet Woods has given of herself faithfully and sacrificially for the work of the gospel in her church, community, and around the world,” said Jacqueline Sugihara, corporate secretary of the Covenant as she presented the award, “so today we celebrate Janet and give thanks to God for her faithful service.”
Calling into the gathering via Zoom from her home in Rochester, Minnesota, Woods said, “It’s not me, but a whole list of people who have been faithful, serving the Lord. I am grateful for the teaching I have had from the time I was a child, for faithful teachers and those who have walked beside me as fellow travelers. How grateful I am for this living Savior whom I serve. I am humbled and grateful to receive this award.”
Her son Jeff Woods, an ordained Covenant pastor, received the award on her behalf. “All my life I saw the saints doing the work of ministry–and I saw that at home too,” he said.
