Message to the Conference | |
Greetings friends and members of Penn Central,
Confession: I am biased. It is not always a conscious thing, but I am always aware of its presence when it influences my perception of things. It functions much like a lens and channels my thoughts about what I read, how I engage in conversations with my wife and with members of my church community, what I hear from the pulpit, and what I express to church leadership teams when I have been asked to help them through a season of discernment.
A couple of weeks ago a lay leader in my home church was called upon to lead worship and to deliver the morning message in the absence of our pastor. Deb has many gifts that she freely gives to our congregation, and one of these is that she is a great story-teller with the capacity to extract the essential meaning from scriptural passages. On this particular day, she was telling the story from Acts 1 wherein the Apostles and the other followers of Jesus had gathered following his ascension into heaven. They spent much time in prayer trying to discern what they should do while waiting “for the promise of the Father” as Jesus had commanded them. Eventually, Peter took charge and guided the assembly through what could be the first decision of the early Christian church in transition – replacing Judas. Deb noted that these early church leaders faced many of the same challenges that we, like many of you, are facing today, and they set about addressing them in ways that should feel familiar. They acknowledged that there was a vacancy that needed to be filled; they created a rudimentary job description; they identified two suitable candidates; they prayed to God for guidance; and they offered a call to Mathias.
There it is, my bias, exposed through an early example of the church in transition. For, while Deb was speaking to the congregants of our local church about our local challenges, I generalized to the wider church and all of its ministerial settings. In my view, the church has been, and always will be, in transition from one age to another. It is an inescapable fact of being the church.
How to effectively lead the church in times of transition is a constant challenge to those of us in leadership positions. In their book, Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day, Robinson and Walls (2006) write that in being called to God’s church we are called “to responsibility and equipped for it in a time of transition” (p. 47) As Deb pointed out to us that day, these early Christians were equipped to respond to God’s call to be God’s church in several ways. First, they prayed constantly. Second, they studied the scriptures. Third, they relied on God to show them the way forward.
I would add another. They knew that they needed a full complement; that everyone had a role to play and all were expected to be a part of the work that God would lay before them. Together they would be stronger.
Together WE are stronger, too. In the coming weeks and months, WE will be prayerfully considering how the four Pennsylvania UCC conferences will transition into the future. WE – the members of every congregation in every association in each conference – have a stake in this future. Playing off Rev. Dr. Carrie Call’s favorite naval metaphor, we are all in the same boat. Our successful transition into this next age requires us all to take up an oar and row in the same direction which God sets before us.
Consequently, if you – as an individual, as a local church leadership team, or as an association council – are wondering what this transition into the future might look like for you in your ministry setting, I encourage you to reach out to the Church Futures Commission for assistance in your discernment. I also encourage you to individually ponder a call to serve the wider church in some capacity so that when your church or association nominating committee asks you to serve, you are prepared to say, “Yes!” And when the conference leaders call you to serve on a ministry team, you are again prepared to say, “Yes!”
TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER
Dr. Michael Gibbs
Coordinator, PCC Church Futures Commission
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Hey Friends! We know you are excited for the Keystone gathering.
So to give you a little flavor for worship we have included some of our favorite dance moves to learn for our worship celebration. Watch and enjoy your leaders teach you some dance moves! Hope to see you June 7th – 9th at the Penn Stater!
Annual Meeting registrants, click here for more information on how to volunteer (including for the choir) and reporting any dietary needs.
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62nd Annual Meeting of the Penn Central Conference
Attendance registration deadline: May 31st
For the first time, all four Pennsylvania conferences of the UCC will be gathering for a shared Annual Meeting on June 7-9, 2024 at The Penn Stater in State College, PA. We will have shared worship, workshops, meals and meetings as well as each conference's separate business meeting.
We will be joined by General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, who will be preaching during closing worship on Sunday. All four conferences will be hosting a reception with her on Saturday evening as well.
All Authorized Ministers in good standing are voting members of Penn Central Conference. Each church shall be entitled to be represented by two (2) lay delegates with voting privileges.
Registration is now open - register here.
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We recognize that the prices involved are higher than what our churches and clergy have spent in the past for Annual Meeting. We do not want budget concerns to prevent your attendance at this important meeting - scholarships are available!
Please fill out this form and email it to Paul Keller to apply for financial assistance.
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Anniversaries and Necrology
As we gather as a conference we will celebrate anniversaries and remember clergy who have passed.
Please help us celebrate these churches with significant anniversaries in 2024:
Seventy-Five Years
Hamilton Park UCC, Lancaster
One Hundred Fifty Years
Locust Grove UCC, York
One Hundred Seventy-Five Years
Elias UCC, Newmanstown
Two Hundred Years
St. John’s UCC, Lewisburg
First UCC, Middleburg
Two Hundred Fifty-Five Years
St. Paul UCC, Manheim
Two Hundred Eighty-Five Years
St. John's UCC, Fredericksburg
Saint John's UCC, Jonestown
See also a list of clergy celebrating ordination anniversaries in 2024. If you notice any missing churches or clergy, please let us know!
We will also be remembering those clergy who have passed since last Annual Meeting.
Charles Baboian - June 4, 2023
Susan Martin - June 2, 2023
David Wild - July 3, 2023
DeForrest Koontz - September 11, 2023
Phyllis Baum - September 30, 2023
Paul Gerhart - January 18, 2024
Again, if you notice anyone missing from this list please let us know.
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Worship for Churches to use on June 9:
The Conference Ministers of the four Pennsylvania Conferences have prepared a worship liturgy and sermon for use in churches on Sunday, June 9. This will allow clergy and church delegates to remain for the entire Annual Meeting. The materials align with Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson's theme for the Sunday worship at Annual Meeting. The worship at Annual Meeting will be recorded, but not livestreamed. Churches' lay leaders can use the following liturgy and sermon manuscript that morning.
Liturgy for Sunday worship .docx
Liturgy for Sunday worship PDF
Sermon for Sunday worship .docx
Sermon for Sunday worship PDF
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2024 Annual Meeting Mission Project
Our mission project this year is to make and distribute Period Packs. Period poverty is limited or inadequate access to menstrual products because of financial constraints or negative stigmas. Please sign up to donate supplies, this will help prevent us from having too much of one item and not enough of another. Thank you.
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Scheduling notes:
June 12 - St. Thomas UCC, Harrisburg - Rev. Dr. Nora Foust preaching
| Printable eNews are available. Pastors and secretaries, please feel free to share with your congregation members that don't get this weekly email. Download and print this PDF with the weekly message to the conference, prayers for Penn Central and brief list of events. | |
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Prayers for Penn Central Conference
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. Ephesians 6:18 (NLT)
This week, we pray for each other as we continue to live into God's calling...
First UCC, Carlisle
St. Matthew's UCC, Carlisle
Salem Stone UCC, Carlisle
Trinity UCC, Cashtown
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Keystone Project Town Halls
Please join us to learn more, ask questions and give feedback about the Keystone Project on one of these three Zoom calls before our larger conversations at Annual Meeting. Click on the date to register.
May 30 - 7:00PM
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God is still speaking….. How?
For the past 20 years the United Church of Christ (UCC) has popularized the sayings, God is Still Speaking or Still Speaking God. If you are a person 18 years of age or older who is a UCC member in good health, an active visitor, or authorized pastor participating in a UCC church in Pennsylvania, USA, here is a research survey study in which you can participate that will give you the opportunity to explain what this idea means to you.
Participating should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Your answers are kept strictly confidential, only to be viewed by the project investigator. Data gathered will be de-identified prior to results being reported. The survey is completely voluntary and you may withdraw from completing it at any time. It will ask you personal questions about how you experience God or spirituality in your life.
If you are interested, click here to read and approve the consent form and start the survey.
| Church Futures Commission | |
Discover What Coaching Could Do For You: Free Initial Coaching Session for all Penn Central Clergy & Consistory/Council Presidents
The Penn Central Church Futures Commission invites you to experience the clarifying, empowering, and strategic benefits of coaching. Unlike a mentor or a consultant, coaches aren’t there to tell you what to think, feel, believe, or do. Coaches’ deep listening and intuitive questions support clients in their identified growth, problem solving, and strategy implementation, while evoking new awareness. One of the greatest benefits of coaching is that it provides an intentional partner who is there to confidentially support, encourage, and strengthen you in your ministry. The best way to understand what coaching is, is to experience it yourself. Therefore, the Church Futures Commission is providing free initial coaching sessions for all Penn Central clergy and Consistory/Council Presidents. For those wanting to pursue additional coaching, the next three sessions, scheduled over a four-month period, will be available at a 50% discount. Click here to access the Church Futures webpage, where you can learn about our two professionally trained coaches and to schedule your initial session with one of them.
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Association Events
June 2, 2:30PM - Rev. Steven Ostenforf installation service - Trinity UCC, Hanover
June 23, 2:30PM - Rev. Preston Van Deursen installation service - St. Paul's UCC, New Oxford
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EcoPreacher Cohort
New Cohort begins in September 2024
Once monthly meetings online via Zoom
As our climate-changed and changing world continues to demand courage, imagination, and resourcefulness, congregations and their leaders have a unique opportunity to offer prophetic voices of possibility. With their skills and community connections, preachers are in a special position to offer spiritual guidance in the quest for understanding, connection, and resilience in a world in need of environmental healing and wholeness.
Following on from a successful EcoPreacher Cohort in 2022-2023, and with the desire to support, educate, and engage preachers in the integration of climate consciousness into their preaching, The BTS Center has partnered with Creation Justice Ministries and Lexington Theological Seminary to offer this year-long cohort of learning, companionship, and exploration that will begin in September 2024.
This cohort will offer monthly sessions to help preachers understand climate change and other environmental justice issues more deeply as spiritual crises that require creative, faith-rooted action. Our intentions for this cohort are:
- To create a covenanted space for preachers to learn, reflect together, and offer support to one another as they regularly preach in a climate-changed world
- To create a diverse, respectful, identity-forming ecumenical group that welcomes preachers from lectionary-grounded, non-lectionary-focused, and identity-based communities
- To offer opportunities for participants to take risks in exploring ecological and eco-justice themes in their preaching, in a safe, mutually-supportive, non-judgmental space
- To increase engagement with eco-preaching resources, including the EcoPreacher 1-2-3 resources being offered through the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
Facilitated by Rev. Nicole Diroff of The BTS Center and Derrick Weston of Creation Justice Ministries, with collaborators Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, this cohort will offer an expansive opportunity for connection, creativity, and grounded responses to climate change through the art of preaching.
Learn more here.
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St. Thomas UCC Golf Tournament
Friday, August 2, 2024 12:30PM
Manada Golf Club, Grantville, PA
$85 Entry Fee - 18 holes of golf with cart, luncheon and pig roast dinner
Contact St. Thomas UCC, Harrisburg at admin@stthomasucc.net or (717) 652-7259
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Hartman Center Homecoming Camp 2024
Registration is now open!
Sunday, July 28th through Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
We will be returning again to Hartman Center Campground in Milroy, PA as guests.
Use coupon code PCC2024 if you would like to use a Penn Central Conference campership for 50% of your registration fees
Check out the full list of camping experiences for all ages and register here.
In addition to the cabins and lodges, RV sites will be available. We would love it if lots of Penn Central Conference folks are able to reserve and use those sites while we are there. Check the website here.
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Upcoming events with our partners at Lutheran Camping Corporation's Kirchenwald and Nawakwa
Click here to register for these and other events
Check out the summer camp options here
Use coupon code PENNCENTRAL2024 if you would like to use a Penn Central Conference campership for 50% of your registration fees.
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Educational Opportunities | Registration is important for planning purposes, even for virtual events, so please let us know if you need to cancel your registration so we have the most accurate numbers. | |
Boundary Training in 2024
Boundary Training at Keystone Annual Meeting
June 7, 2024 Undercurrents and Riptides Online – A two-hour session will be offered as part of the Keystone Annual Meeting (this one will not be via Zoom.) In this session, we will discuss the hidden (and obvious) dangers of ministry in an online world. From Social Media to AI to Pornography, the internet can pull us in many directions and not all of them are good for us. (This will be repeated November 19, 2024 in Zoom format.)
Summer/Fall Boundary Training registrations coming soon!
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Painting with Spirit: An Introduction to Fluid Art
Join with a few of your ministry peers for a fun and reflective time learning about fluid art (aka acrylic pouring)! No experience necessary.
Join with a few of your ministry peers for a fun and reflective time learning about fluid art! No experience necessary. You will learn from a professional fluid artist (Ann Benton Yeager) and create a 12x12 canvas of your own. Your Conference staff will share a bit of scripture and poetry and we will also have refreshments for all.
The class has two costs: $50 for instruction (payment due now) and $15 for supplies (payable via cash or Venmo at the event.) Financial assistance available. Make sure to wear old shoes and painting clothes. (The paint washes off skin but will not wash out of fabric.)
Get your artistic side ready and join us for one of the upcoming Painting with Spirit events. Space is very limited. Come to either Lancaster or Harrisburg.
Register here.
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UCCMA National Conference 2024
Conference 2024, the national biennial gathering of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association (UCCMA), will take place July 10-13, 2024 at the First Congregational Church of Greenwich, Connecticut. Designed for church musicians, choral and handbell choir members and worship leaders, the three-day event includes workshops, plenary sessions, worship services, evening entertainment and networking opportunities. The stellar roster of presenters includes:
- · Tom Shelton, associate professor in choral activities at Westminster Choir College
- · Nathanial Gumbs, concert organist and director of chapel music at Yale
- · Ellen Dickinson, director of bell programs at Yale
- · Braxton Shelley, associate professor of music, sacred music and divinity at Yale
- · Janet Yieh, concert organist and specialist in women composers
The conference’s theme, “A place at the table,” inspired the planning for the entire conference experience. Our goal is to send participants home reenergized with lots of new resources and ideas to use in their local congregations.
This conference is open to all. Scholarship help is available for first-time UCCMA conference attendees who wouldn’t be able to attend without some financial assistance.
Complete information is available at https://uccma.wildapricot.org/conference-2024.
Learn more about UCCMA and what it has to offer the musicians in our denomination by signing up for a free 90-day trial membership (or join as a full member!). Information about the 2024 conference can also be found on our site: https://uccma.wildapricot.org/join-us
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2024 Financial Ministries Webinars
4th Wednesdays of the Month – 7:30pm Eastern (6:30 Central)
July 24 – Narrative Budgets: Telling your Story by the Numbers
https://UCC.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvfuigrDwqHdI98h61fh1SpPrQJ2yC26iA
A narrative budget translates the line items of a traditional budget into a story of how your congregation makes a difference in the world. It can be a helpful tool for a stewardship campaign or annual meeting. By telling the story of our congregations' impact, we can inspire generosity in our donors.
August 28 – 3 Best Practices for Stewardship in Congregations
https://UCC.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrd-6vqTIpG9egZClLQ6xXRV5jWRz-JVYT
We will discuss the three practices most likely to increase giving in a local congregation: teaching about generosity, pastoral leadership, and online giving options. The webinar will examine why these practices matter and discuss how to implement them in a congregation.
See full 2024 list here.
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From our friends and partners | |
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UCC's Justice and Peace Action Network are offering 50% scholarships for 12 UCC members for Justice Leadership Program's Justice Jubilee program this fall. The Jubilee program is for adults interested in weaving social justice into the fabric of their faith while gaining knowledge and confidence to do the work of justice within their congregation and community.
Please share this opportunity through conference newsletters or send directly to interested congregations and individuals.
Sign-up today - space is limited!
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Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry
Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry, upcoming classes
https://www.lancasterseminary.edu/programs/pennsylvania-academy-of-ministry/
PAM is a Regional Theological Education Program of the UCC and serves church leaders in the PC(USA), ELCA, UMC, and other denominations.
Practices of Church Leadership. May 21–June 25, 2024. Tuesdays, 7–8:30pm EST via Zoom. Instructor: the Rev. Sara Hertzog.
This nuts-and-bolts class covers the basics of leadership and administration, with practical application for everyone on the ministry leadership team. Topics include: covenant and authority; conflict; family and congregational systems; vision and mission; handling administrative tasks; spiritual care and boundaries. Clergy, lay leaders, and MIDs are encouraged to register. 2.5 CEUs. $325.
Innovation and New Models of Leadership. July 9–Aug 13, 2024. Tuesdays, 7–8:30pm EST via Zoom. Instructor: the Rev. Dale Davis.
This challenging class engages an array of exciting leadership models and is supported by a podcast series produced especially for the Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry, featuring Gil Rendle, Karen Georgia Thompson, Doug Powe Jr., Lovett Weems Jr., John Schol, and Sarah Drummond. 2.5 CEUs. $325.
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PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc.
Our courses have between 4 and 15 participants. This allows for deep and productive discussions in the online forum. We know that a small class size allows the participants to develop learning relationships with each other and for facilitators to push participants to a more indepth learning experience.
o Four-week and Six-week long summer courses offered include:
o What about the Bible (4-wks) – June 1 to 30, 2024
o Pluralism and Religion in North America (6-wks) – July 10 to August 20
o Introduction to Spiritual Health (Pastoral Care) (6-wks) – June 19 to August 6, 2024
Go to pathwaystheological.org to find out more.
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Thornwald Home and Sarah A. Todd Memorial Home, continuing care retirement communities of United Church of Christ Homes, are seeking a compassionate and resident focused team member for the position of Chaplain.
This full-time position (working 75 hours in a two-week period and splitting time between Thornwald Home and Sarah A. Todd Memorial Home) provides spiritual support and comfort for the residents of the communities, in coordination with each resident’s home congregation and in accordance with United Church of Christ Homes standards. Responsibilities include planning, developing, organizing, implementing, evaluating, and directing programs that meet the individualized spiritual needs of residents; coordinating and conducting regularly scheduled spiritual services for residents; and maintaining a visitation program for all residents. Learn more here.
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Directory
Rev. Dr. Carrie Call, Ph.D.
Conference Minister
email: ccall@pccucc.org
Phone: 717-433-3196
Rev. Dr. Nora Driver Foust
Associate Conference Minister
email: nfoust@pccucc.org
Phone: 717-433-2587
Rev. Dwight Hein
Facilitator for Clergy Care
email: dhein@pccucc.org
Phone: 717-433-6306
C. Paul Keller
Office Manager
email: pkeller@pccucc.org
Phone: 717-652-1560
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