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Official Call to the 2025 Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Conference & Granite State Association

Dear Members of the New Hampshire Conference Family,

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee invites you to come together, as the Gathered Conference, for the 224th Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Conference also serving as the 1st Annual Meeting of the Granite State Association.

What: 2025 Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Conference and

Granite State Association

When: Saturday, October 25, 2025

Where: Hybrid Meeting to be held at the

Geneva Point Center

108 Geneva Point Road

Moultonborough, NH and via Zoom Webinar, YouTube Livestream

access information to be provided upon registration

THEME

This year we will explore the theme “Another Way” based on Jeremiah 6:16.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Our keynote speaker will be the Referend Derek Terry. Reverend Terry is the Acting Executive Director of the Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ. He also serves as pastor of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reverend Terry has authored several books including, most recently, the Vibrant Voices Coloring Book: Coloring the Stories of Black Visionaries.

CONNECTING SESSIONS

Throughout the month of October there will be opportunities to participate in educational sessions to prepare for the business meeting on October 25th and/or to reflect on the current and future work of the Conference.

• October 9: Mission Income and Spending Plan
• October 14: Conversation with the Conference Minister
• October 16: General Synod 35 Recap
• October 21: Conversation with the Conference Minister

BUSINESS

The Gathered Conference will convene to consider:

• Election of new Officers, Board members and Nominating Committee Members
• The Mission Income and Spending Plan for 2026
• Action on the Granite State Association Nominating Slate and 2026 Budget
• A report from the Delegates to the 35 General Synod

WORSHIP

Through prayer, word, song and ritual, our worship will reflect upon the ways in which Jesus has modeled for us the need to choose “another way”. The Sacrament of Communion will be celebrated as part of our opening worship.

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

This year’s hybrid Annual Meeting will utilize numerous forms of technology. Every effort is being made to allow delegates to select options for interactive participation via a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone. Many segments of the meeting will also be shared on YouTube to allow for visitor viewing without interactive participation. We will be providing educational resources, helpful tips, and technology stewards to assist you in this experience. Remote connection information will be emailed to all those registered for the meeting.

DELEGATES

The Conference Bylaws define the voting membership as "those delegates duly appointed by the churches, the Conference officers, members of the Board of Directors, and each ordained, licensed, or commissioned minister with standing in a New Hampshire Association." (Bylaws, Article VII, Section 2). Each church shall be entitled to four (4) lay delegates, one (1) of whom shall be under twenty-five (25) years of age at the date of election. Churches with more than one hundred (100) members shall be entitled to one (1) additional delegate for each one hundred (100) additional members or major fraction thereof.” Delegates for the Conference Annual Meeting will also serve as the Delegates for the Granite State Association portion of the meeting.

YOUTH DELEGATES

We strongly encourage each church to include a Youth Delegate (under 25) as a member of your delegation. The Annual Meeting is an effective setting in which our youth may learn about the wider church, meet church leaders, and come to appreciate the role of the church in addressing matters of social and spiritual concern.

VISITORS

Visitors are welcomed and strongly encouraged as a means of deepening the covenant that our congregations share in the NH Conference and the United Church of Christ.

YOUTH PROGRAM

This year we will be offering a special program for youth who are not attending as Youth Delegate. Since we are meeting at an outdoor ministry site, the program will engage youth in many of the outdoor ministry style activities that they experience at places like Horton Center. Those who are attending the Youth Program will have some interaction with the full assembly. Registration for the Youth Program will be available during the full Annual Meeting Registration period at a cost of $30.00 per youth.

REGISTRATION

Please visit https://www.nhcucc.org/events/am-2025 for up-to-date Annual Meeting Resource Materials and a link to the registration website – which officially opens at 5 pm September 8, 2025.

All registrations will need to be processed online on or before Tuesday, October 6 at 11:59 pm, when online registration officially closes. The Youth Delegate Rate will be $50/person; Retired Clergy and Retired Clergy Spouse/Partners will be $62/person; and Delegates & Visitors will be $92.00/person. Major credit cards and personal checks will be accepted for online registration. As a reminder, in order to support the hybrid nature of our event, we are not able to accommodate “walk in” registrations. If you do not have access to the internet or have any trouble registering yourself, please call Cameron Keller at (603) 225-6647 (Monday – Friday / 9 am to 4 pm / September 9 – October 6).

Please feel free to contact the Conference Office with any questions regarding the Annual Meeting. We look forward to gathering with you on October 25th!

May God’s Peace be with you.

Your 2025 Annual Meeting Planning Committee:

Rev. Carlos Jauhola-Straight (Chair)

Rev. Gail Doktor

Rev. Rebecca Josephson

Rev. Dr. Lynn Wickberg

Rev. Walt Hampton

Rev. Gordon Rankin

Staff to the Annual Meeting Planning Committee:

Mr. Cameron Keller

Register Here!

Conference Minister Corner

Read the whole message on nhcucc.org

Rev. Walt Hampton | Transitional Associate Conference Minister for Judicatory Ministries

A Nation at the Breaking Point

Charlie Kirk is dead. Assassinated at a Utah college rally. A young life taken in a storm of rage.

The response from our leaders has not been unity, but escalation. President Trump, in his Oval Office address, tossed aside the language of mourning and healing. He blamed the “radical left,” vowed revenge, and doubled down on the narrative of enemies within.

The message was unmistakable: not peace, not reconciliation, but war.

...Read the full article here.

Thank you to all those who have supported the appeal to rebuild at the Daisy Dube Children's Home in Mt. Salinda, Zimbabwe. In our first few weeks, we have been able to raise $22,585! An initial disbursement is being sent to Zimbabwe so they can start the building process. The appeal will continue for at least the next six weeks.

To read the full appeal request, please visit here.

Sponsored by NHCUCC Women's Fellowship

This is a day devoted to expressing peace through the sharing of music, visual arts, culture, and communication. It is part of a global initiative inspired by the United Nations and PEAC Institute.

This global Pause for Peace concert has been planned hoping to bring billions from around the world together through cultural music and feel the transformative power of human connection.

All are invited! Saturday, October 4th, 9am to 4pm

at the UCC Congregational Church of Laconia, 18 Veterans Square, Laconia

Thank you to the following local musicians, who will perform the Live Peace Concert through the day:

• K.Robet Bengston
• Jazz Sanctuary house Band with Rev. Emilia Halstead
• Suzuki Children’s String Orchestra, Director, Sue Ann ERB
• Bristol UCC Joyful Noise Ukulele Band (Director: Debbie Doe / Manager: Karen Sticht)
• The Power Chords, director, Lorraine Barrows

In addition, we’ll hear from Dr. Jaylene Bengtson, local artist, of how the

visual arts can bring awareness and inner peace. Come for all or part of the day! Lunch will be available. Donations are greatly appreciated for both lunch and concert performances. This will help defray the cost of the day, with a portion going to support the PEAC Institute.

UKAMA SUNDAY RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Our annual celebration of our partnership with the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe will take place this year on Sunday, October 19. This is the Sunday closest to the day (October 18) that mission work began in Mount Selinda.  

You can find resources for celebrating Ukama Sunday on the Conference Website. If you have questions or need help with anything about your celebration, contact the Mision Group at ukama@nhcucc.org. We do have sheet music for a few Shona hymns which we can provide. 

Many churches are using their Ukama celebration to receive an offering in support of the rebuilding of the Daisy Dube Children's Home (please see the article above for more information).

If you are doing something special, especially if you're planning to do, receive, and send a communication with your partner church, please let us know so we can share your ideas with others.  One relatively easy option would be to take a group photo of your congregation and send it to your partner. You can ask them to send you a group photo in response.  

Peace, 

David Keller

UMG Chairperson 

A Legacy for Charlie Kirk:

Highlights the urgent need to teach the discipline of listening for understanding

by the Rev. John Buttrick - published in the Concord Monitor - September 20, 2025

CBS News reports that Charlie Kirk was a conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA in 2012 with the purpose “to rival liberal groups such as MoveOn.org.” 1. He chose colleges and universities as the venue for his lectures and discussions. He challenged students to prove him wrong. “Charlie Kirk literally wrote the book titled ‘Campus Battlefield,’” said Isaac Kamola, a director at the American Association of University Professors, a faculty rights group. “He treated higher education as a war zone, with faculty and students who did not share his preferred ideology as an enemy to be defeated.”2. He was tapping into a college tradition. Eddie R. Cole, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, explains that “College campuses have always been a site where cultural fissures play out, and where society often hashes out those divides. In the colonial era, colleges served as centers for debate on topics like the morality of enslavement and British taxation.” Vimal Patel, a reporter for the NY Times, reminds us, “Colleges have often been the setting for America’s most divisive and memorable cultural flashpoints, over communism and racism, the Vietnam War and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”3.

Kirk had some success with his goal to persuade students to his point of view. He did it with composure and with no hesitation to affirm absolutes. During Q&A, Kirk would often respond to questions with a question of his own. He would preface his question by referring to a widely accepted value that vaguely related to his point of view. He would then ask the student, “Do you agree…?” Agreement with Kirk’s generalize example, would by extension, suggest that the student agreed with Kirk’s original assertion. If the student did not want to make the connection, then Kirk would win the debate. As Ashley Ahn and Maxine Joselow, writing for the Guardian explained, “Kirk pioneered a style of ideological warfare against what he viewed as bastions of leftism, helping turn campuses into cultural battlefields….”4.

It seems, these “battlefields” were more a setting for widening the gap of disagreement than as a means to bring students into his ideological camp. For example, he spoke against gay and transgender rights. He defended Christian nationalism. He condemned what he called gender ideology. He championed right to life. He demonized DEI. He said, “Large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America…. He claimed the idea of climate change was ‘complete gibberish, nonsense and balderdash.”’ He suggested Jews are trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite immigrants.5. Statements like these raise negative visceral reactions in many people, as well as inviting rational dissent.

Debates can make good theater. They can be interesting, fun, and capture a competitive spirit. Charlie Kirk had the presence, the talent, the intellect, and the skill to be a winner. He was a successful popular right-wing political activist, an author and a media personality. The goal of his organization, Turning Point US is "to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government".6. However, an unintended consequence of his movement was the alienation of more and more people from one another. If each “side” is becoming more aggressive, determined, and seeks to demonizing the other, what is lacking from the efforts of Charlie Kirk? The missing component seems to be reconciliation.

As we consider the near collapse of the effectiveness of political and social discourse in our country, reconciliation seems as elusive as the Cheshire Cat. Charlie Kirk has taught us that debates are not a method for the much-needed healing of the nation’s political divide. Debates result in winners and losers. They are a boost for the winners but they do not provide the opportunity for reconciliation with others. That is the missing component in Kirk’s movement! I know that reconciliation was not Kirk’s goal, but watching his presentations and debates has reminded me that building a rapport like he had done with students, could not only facilitate debate, but could also have abandoned arguments and replaced them with listening and understanding sessions. Understanding is a motivation to reach out to discover new goals that may free people to move creatively into the future. A sniper has killed Charlie Kirk, a purveyor of conservative ideas. But perhaps his unintended legacy will be the demonstration of his neglect to teach the discipline of listening for understanding. Noticing that vacuum, may be the motivation to add understanding as an instrument for reconciliation. He has prepared the way. We may give life to his legacy by following reconciliation into a more effective government and society.

1. https://abcnews.go.com/US/visual-timeline-charlie-kirk-shooting-unfolded/story?id=125478526

2. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/charlie-kirk-turning-point-usa-chicago-suburbs/

3. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/11/us/charlie-kirk-views-guns-gender-climate.html

4. Ibid.

5. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/13/charlie-kirk-campus-culture-wars

6. See #2

7. https://tpusa.com/

SAVE THE DATE!

How do you talk to people you disagree with politically?

A 60-day Gaza Ceasefire Plan Accepted by Hamas

On August 18, 2025, Hamas accepted a 60-day ceasefire deal based on a framework drafted by Steve Witkoff and Netanyahu’s lead negotiator, Ron Dermer. Israel has not yet acknowledged Hamas' acceptance of the deal, and has instead continued their merciless bombing and starvation campaigns in Gaza. This critical piece of news has not made it into mainstream media in the United States, and in fact, the media and politicians continue to peddle lies that it is Hamas that is standing in the way of a ceasefire deal.

In addition, even as ceasefire negotiations continued in Doha, Qatar, on September 9, Israel attempted to assassinate the Hamas officials involved in those negotiations. How can Israel be serious about retrieving the hostages when they actively attempt to sabotage negotiations? As the mother of one of the hostages said, "it could be at this very moment that prime minister Netanyahu has essentially sentenced my son to death... why does the prime minister insist on blowing up every small chance for a deal?"

Meanwhile, in Gaza City, an evacuation order has been given for the nearly one million Palestinians remaining in the area. But where can they go? The evacuation order instructs Palestinians to the so-called "safe zone" of Al Mawasi, even though this area has also been bombed repeatedly. According to Gaza's government media office, the area has been targeted over 100 times and over 2000 Palestinians have been killed there. Residents of Gaza have no safe place to go. As one resident put it, "we are merely attempting to delay death a little longer."

The news out of Gaza continues to be catastrophic, which can dampen our spirit of resistance in the solidarity movement. Still, there are small victories every day. The Block the Bombs Act in congress continues to add more co-sponsors every week, and now has nearly 50 democratic representatives signed on.

How You Can Help Block the Bombs to Israel

Block the Bombs to Israel bill (H.R.3565) is in the House of Representatives

While every death is a tragedy, since the beginning of the Israel war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, following the Hamas attack that killed 1200 Israelis, the U.S. has given more than $30 billion in tax-payer funded weapons to Israel to enable its bombing of Gaza. This means the U.S. is a major part of Israel’s killing of more than 60,000 Palestinians.

Please join NH Peace Action, Peace with Justice Advocates and friends for collective action focused on legislation to Block the Bombs to Israel.

Please ask Representatives Pappas and Goodlander to cosponsor H.R.3565 and Senators Shaheen and Hassan to introduce a companion bill to H.R.3565 in the Senate.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: Call (202) 224-2841 / 603-647-7500

Sen. Maggie Hassan: Call (202) 224-3324 / (603) 622-2204

Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01): Call (202) 225-5456 / (603) 285-4300

Rep. Maggie Goodlander (NH-02): Call (202) 225-5206 / (603) 226-1002

Gun Violence Prevention Resources

The 56-page guide to assist you and your congregation.

NH UCC Christian Educators Community of Practice

Next Zoom Gathering: Wednesday, September 24th 7pm 

RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/dJwVYu4YHPT5u3im6 

All Christian Education staff, volunteers, and lovers are welcome to join us to connect, share, and support one another as we get back into the groove of youth groups, intergenerational happenings, and more in our places of worship! Together we'll build community, exchange ideas, and offer support to each other. 

Please share this information with the CE leader in your home church so we can loop them in! 



Questions? Email Tivvi Pare

Confirmation Retreat: October 3rd-5th

All youth in grades 6-12 are invited to join us for Confirmation Retreat at Horton Center whether they are in a confirmation program or are just thinking about. Together we'll enjoy the beauty and peace of the natural world while building relationships, learning about the UCC, and exploring our own personal beliefs. Email Tivvi for more info and register today! 

Apple Crisp Day - Fall Open House on the Mountain: September 27th

RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/v8zvWCrX9MKwGHrr7

The site and trails will open for your enjoyment starting at 9am and ending at 5pm. 

You are welcome to come on your own, bring a friend, or bring your family! Come enjoy the foliage from a rocking chair on Madison Porch or take a hike up to one of the ledges and take in the view from up there. Bring everything you need for a picnic lunch, a book, a craft, your hiking boots, a musical instrument, or whatever else you need to make your day enjoyable. Horton Center will provide restrooms, coffee/tea/water, and delicious homemade apple crisp, of course! 

Closing Work Weekend: October 10th - 12th 

Can you come and help us cook? Clean? Fix? Paint? Build? We need you! 

Camp is nearly ready to be closed down for a long winter's rest. Many hands make light work! The more the merrier as we enjoy good company, a wide variety of tasks, and delicious food, too! Please email Tivvi if you're able to make it for a few hours or a few days: TPare@nhcucc.org 

Shalom, friends!

Tivvi Pare 

(she/her/hers)

603-545-9660

TPare@nhcucc.org

WIDER CHURCH HAPPENINGS

Wednesday, September 24, 1:30 – 4:30pm ET, Boundary Training for Retired Ministers with Rev. Tara Barber and Rev. Melanie Oommen

Maintaining healthy boundaries is challenging at any stage in ministry and it is particularly tender and difficult attending to boundaries as we transition out of our last call, and while in retirement. "A Sure Foundation", "The Ministerial Code" and Rev. Dr. Bruce Epperly's new book, "The Jubilee Years" along with case studies, will provide the content of this training. Rev. Tara Barber will offer this focused Boundary Awareness Training for those entering and living in retirement. Note - This training completes individual requirements for boundary training ONLY WHEN authorized by a local Committee on Ministry. Participants must be able to use zoom chat and breakout room functions.

Thursday, November 13, (9:00 am – 1:00 pm), The Minister’s Code as a Tool for Boundary Keeping

This advanced unit of Boundary Awareness Training will be offered via Zoom. Registration will open in mid-September and will cost $25. The training will be facilitated by Revs. Jonna Jensen and Gordon Rankin.

CONFERENCE MINISTER

September 28, 2025

This Sunday, Rev. Rankin will be preaching at First Parish Church in East Derry where Rev. Bob Fellows is serving as Bridge Pastor.

Conference Office

Monday - Friday | 9:00AM - 4:00PM

The Weekly News promotes the mission and ministry of the NHCUCC.

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