Important This Week

• New OCWM video from PSEC
• Update from most recent Keystone Working Group meeting
• PSEC Annual Bookkeeper/Treasurer training event scheduled

New PSEC OCWM video

What is OCWM and why do we donate to that? Those are two of the most often asked questions when it comes time to draft a church budget or have any conversation about the mission of the church. This short video will help answer those questions and offer some important insight and inspiration about how our shared resources make for a stronger church and a better world. Enjoy!

Keystone Study Group -- Summary of 8/25 meeting

The eighth meeting of the Keystone Study Group* took place Friday, August 25, 2023. Relying on the grace of God, we have been busy trying to address next steps in our work outlining how Together We Are Stronger, The Keystone Conference. The work toward becoming ONE Keystone Conference has caused us to anticipate the many questions which this potential new venture in ministry brings.

We focused on developing the “essential functions” that strengthen effective conference support and service in ministry, as well as authorizing ministry in the great diversity of our settings. In this gathering, we named desired outcomes for the Keystone Conference, the “better” and “vibrant” ministry we anticipate. We recognize that God is welcoming us to create something in the power of the Spirit that is new and challenging.

Each conference area is beginning to plan conversations this Fall to welcome the leaders and congregations to explore our process. Members of our working group will communicate through many settings: in person, online, in groups large and small, to secure your participation in this vital time of perceiving the “new thing” our still-speaking God is doing through us all.

Across all 4 conferences, including portions of Maryland and New Jersey, we want to understand how God is speaking to your heart through our affirmation, “Together We Are Stronger, The Keystone Conference.” How do you see God creating new vibrancy and hope through this emphasis? We welcome your responses to questions with the invitation for everyone to visit the Keystone Conference Project website hosted by the PSEC. Read about how this project came about, our study information and summaries following each meeting.

Your questions and comments in the next few months will help us all grow toward greater understanding and work together. You are invited to email, at Keystone.Conference.Project@gmail.com. You may also use the postal service and direct mail to the Keystone Working Group through your own area Conference Office.

Each Conference will soon post conversation dates and settings for Fall 2023. Wherever you are, you will have opportunity to engage with us and strengthen the vision of the Church, which God’s Spirit is developing. In addition, Save the Date Now for a “Mini Synod” gathering all 4 conferences, June 6-9, 2024, in State College.

We hear the voice of God still speaking, calling us to trust each other and rely on the grace of God in the next steps of our journey in the assurance that . . .

“Together We Are Stronger! The Keystone Conference.”

Sharing our progress in grace and hope,

KWG Communications Team

Steve Davis, St. John’s UCC, Fullerton (PNEC)

Heather Kurtz, Zion UCC, Arendtsville (PCC)

Bob Fogal, Carversville Christian Church (PSEC)

Deb Long, First Trinity UCC, Youngwood (PWC)

*A study and discernment group of the 4 PA area UCC Conferences – Penn West, Penn Central, Penn NE, and Pennsylvania SE

PSEC's Annual Bookkeeper/ Treasurer FREE training

Saturday, Oct. 14, 9:00-11:00 on Zoom

Do you have questions about 1099 reporting? How about financial reporting to your Board or Consistory? Do you understand housing allowance? Cash basis vs accrual basis? Do you have Balance Sheet or Income Statement questions?

Email tammie@psec.org your intention to attend and bring your questions! Click here for a flyer to share.

From the Addiction & Recovery Taskforce:

Recovery is indeed possible

September’s annual focus on recovery has new aspects each year. One highlight in the present is growing awareness of the reality that people do recover. “The Anonymous People,” a documentary published in 2013, celebrates the rarely-acknowledged fact of more than 23 million persons living in recovery from active substance use disorder. Whereas anonymity was thought to be important in the early years of the recovery movement, an understanding that anonymity has contributed to shame and stigmatization is finally dawning. No individual person represents any specific recovery program, but the privacy of individuals and the struggles that some face should not dissuade us from encouraging ourselves or our loved ones from seeking help.

Register: Cultivating Generous Congregations Seminar

The Cultivating Generous Congregations seminar for pastors and leaders offers an opportunity to explore faithful, practical, and tested ways to promote generosity in our congregations. Be sure to recruit at least a team of two for this program. This is a virtual seminar on the following Mondays from 7:30-9:00p: Sept. 18, Oct. 2, Oct. 16, Oct. 30, Nov. 13, and Nov. 27. Registration is open until Sept. 13. For more details and to register, click here.

Gun, bomb threat webinars, resources for churches

FEMA sent this email to share upcoming opportunities from the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Check out the email to find links for many resources and training opportunities, including:

• Active Shooter Preparedness webinars
• Bomb Threat Management webinar
• Mass Casualty/Active Shooter Impact & Recovery Seminar series

UCC webinar: The Climate Strike Movement 5 years later

Five years have now passed from when Greta Thunberg and others launched a movement that reverberated around the world. The movement continues as organizers prepare for the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on Sept. 17. This webinar will feature faith-based organizers and activists who will reflect back on the movement and where we are today. Speakers will include Rev. Jim Antal, Aly Tharp, and Gabriela Martinez. Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time on Sept. 13 at 1:00p, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it. Register now!

Upcoming training options:

Advanced Boundary Training (Managing Pastoral Transitions) on Sept. 27 on Zoom (or view the recording of the event and complete a one-page synopsis). More info

Advanced Boundary Training (From Gutenberg to ChatGPT: Tools, ethics, technology and best practices in the life of Church) on Oct. 18 on Zoom. More info

Diversity Training on Nov. 8 on Zoom (or view the recording of the event and complete a one-page synopsis). Click here

Lay Leadership courses scheduled for the fall

Growing Our Spiritual Lives

The first step in making our churches more vibrant, faithful and effective, is for each of us to cultivate our spiritual lives. Our congregations are like trees: in order to reach out with our branches and bear fruit, we must first deepen our roots in our faith. This course on Spiritual Life will meet for three sessions at Saint James United Church of Christ, 321 S Limerick Rd, Limerick, on Saturday mornings from 9:00-11:00 as follows:

• October 7: Spiritual growth through congregational worship
• October 28: Spiritual growth through personal disciplines
• November 4: Spiritual growth through small groups.

The course will be led by Laura Walters and Charlotte Fiedler. They have received training from Wanda Craner, and Charlotte received a certificate in Spiritual Life from Immaculata University. Click here for more information and to register.

Discerning Our Mission

How do we go about reaching out to the world in the name of Christ? This course on Mission will meet for three sessions at Saint James United Church of Christ, 321 S Limerick Rd, Limerick, on Saturday afternoons from 12:30-2:30 as follows:

• October 7 - What is mission?
• October 28 - Local mission
• November 4 - Global mission

This course will be led by Dr. Charles A. Maxfield, a minister of the United Church of Christ, with a Ph.D. in Church History with an emphasis on mission history. Click here for more information and to register.

Registration open for Men's Clergy Retreat in October

Clergymen, give yourself the gift of joining the PSEC/PNEC Clergy Men’s Retreat, Oct. 3-5. Take a step back from all the demands placed on you, step out of your comfort zone with friends you can trust, rest and spend time in nature. Engage in thoughtful conversation that will help give perspective on life’s biggest obstacles and have some fun. Guys from the Retreat Planning Committee will facilitate conversation based on Richard Reeves book Of Boys and Men. You don’t have to read the book to be on the retreat and our conversations will go far afield from that text. So feed your soul to strengthen your ministry this October at Kirkridge. Click here for more information and to register.

The 2024 Clergy Women's Retreat will be held from Jan. 16-18 at Mariawald Retreat Center in Shillington. Please mark your calendars to save the date and watch future eNews emails for more information.

Installation of the UCC's 10th General Minister and President

The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson will be installed on Friday, Oct. 20 at 5:00p at the Lakewood Congregational Church in Lakewood, Ohio. The service will be livestreamed. More information is available now at ucc.org/gmp-installation. Details about the livestream and registration will be coming soon.

Pension Boards release 2024 rates and plan enhancements

The following premium rates and plan enhancements for the 2024 plan year will be effective Jan. 1. Continued participation in coalitions sponsored by the Church Benefits Association help the UCC Health Plan realize savings through collective purchasing power achieved in partnering with health benefits plans of other denominations.

Preliminary rate filings show that ACA Marketplace insurers are requesting a median premium increase of 6% for 2024. UCC Health Plan updates remain competitive with, or even lower than marketplace plans.

• UCC Non-Medicare Plan: 3% increase (no change to copays and deductibles)
• UCC Pharmacy Plan: No change to copays
• UCC Medicare Advantage Plan: 1.5% increase
• UCC Dental Plan: 4% increase
• UCC Vision Plan: No change
• UCC Life and Disability Plan: No change

For specific rates, please visit the 2024 Rate Locator web page.

These benefit enhancements are also effective Jan. 1 for the Non-Medicare Plan: 

• Annual incentive increase from $300 to $500 for participation in Healthy Stewards Wellness Program
• $0 copay for Insulin
• $0 copay for Teladoc services

Neighbors in Need offering materials available

In 2023, the Neighbors in Need “BEHOLD!” theme continues. This year’s focus is on environmental justice. Plastics, electronics, and other non-compostable wastes are being shipped across, and even tossed into, our waterways, launched into space, and buried in landfills. As people of faith, we believe these egregious acts are sinful and unholy. We must be better stewards of our planet!

Please join us in promoting this year’s NIN campaign at your church! Many churches will collect the offering on Oct. 1, as part of World Communion Sunday. Free resources available to download or print assets at UCC Resources webpage.

Register now for the Partners in Building Conference

Church Building & Loan Fund is excited to invite you to Partners in Building, a two-day virtual conference on Sept. 21-22 hosted to connect church leaders with the resources they need to effectively repurpose, finance and manage their properties.

Some highlights of the conference include:

• Resources on repurposing, financing and managing church-owned property
• Connections with CBLF staff and loan partners, capital fundraising executives, building professionals and other experts
• Presentations and workshops on a wide range of topics, including how to incorporate property into your church’s vision and future

Click here for more info and to register.