Are you curious about how to create real and lasting change in a community of faith? Is your church seeking to develop a faithful and loving response to those living with mental illness? Are you longing for the words to talk about your faith?

 

If you answered "yes"--or even "maybe"--to any of those questions, The Damascus Project, an initiative of the Wisconsin and Minnesota Conferences, UCC, is for you! We are an exciting hub for spiritual learning, offering sacred learning opportunities to help transform and equip spiritual leaders to navigate a changing world and guide a changing church.

 

We are thrilled to share our   new website , which now will serve as the central place to share information related to our learning opportunities. We hope you'll bookmark us and check back frequently!  

 

On our new site, you'll see our two exciting new courses that address key challenges in the lives of local congregations. Check them out:  

 

Being a Faith Change Agent: A New Paradigm for Transformational Pastoral Leadership

Instructor: Rev. Dr. Mark Tidsworth

Who might want to participate in this course? Anyone curious about how to create real and lasting change in a community of faith will benefit from this learning opportunity. While this course is geared to pastors currently serving in congregations, all are welcome.

  

The Church's Response to Mental Illness

Instructors: Rev. Abigail Henderson, M.S.W. 

with Rev. Tisha Brown and Hannah Campbell Gustafson, M.S.W. 

This course is designed to help local congregations develop a faithful and loving response to those living with mental illness. It will include coverage of important mental health terms and concepts, exploration of resource availability, and theological reflection on the realities faced by people and families facing mental health struggles.

Click here for more information on these exciting learning opportunities and stay tuned for the reveal of our 2020-2021 full year of learning later this spring.

Remaining a calm , non-anxious presence is a challenge in these times of general anxiety and tension, yet it is crucial to our work of caring for churches in transition.

 

Uproar: Calm Leadership in Anxious Times , Peter Steinke's latest book, captures the tenor of our times. With his work and other resources, we will look at the anxieties our congregations face and what leadership techniques and skills will best serve us and help us all navigate these difficult times and move toward a hopeful, confident and faithful future.

 

We'll learn about and try out some options, and share our experiences, as we reframe the churches' challenges in the broader context of our social environment.  

More information and registration here  

The Creation Care Team encourages your congregation to join with others in Wisconsin to read Chuck Tennessen's book, Forever Earthbound: Stories for Building a Better Planet, together as our Lenten season leads us not only to Easter but to the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day in April. Chuck has been writing a monthly creation care column in the Dodgeville Chronicle for several years; Forever Earthbound is a collection of selected columns.This book offers congregations a gentle entrance into the sometimes complex and contentious issues around environmental stewardship and global climate change. 

 

The Study Guide offers suggestions for beginning those conversations. Chuck also presented a webinar about using the book; the recorded webinar is available here.

 

Additional copies of the book are available to your congregation at the discounted rate of $5 each (plus shipping). Contact Chuck Tennessen to place an order.

It can be hard to talk about money. And yet Jesus talked about it often, second only to the Kingdom of God. Join Andrew Warner in an exploration of how to preach and teach about generosity and the use of our financial resources. Each webinar will focus on a specific liturgical season and a set of readings. We will plan out at least one preaching opportunity for teaching generosity as a spiritual practice.

Feb 25, 2:00 pm - Lent

Apr 21, 2:00 pm - Easter

 

Find more info and registration on our Stewardship Learning Opportunities webpage

All Creation is Groaning...but listen and the Earth will teach you --Romans 8:18-25 and Job 12:7-9

 

June 5-7, 2020 - Green Lake Conference Center

 

Love of Creation : it's one of the UCC's 3 Great Loves. And it's more important now than ever before. Grounded in our Judeo-Christian faith and seeking to honor the wisdom of the First Nations, we are called to love, revere and care for God's whole creation. Annual meeting will inspire you and provide you with information and connections to resources to help you and your congregation become involved and take action on this critical challenge of our time. Join us at Green Lake Conference Center, June 5-7, 2020, for this year's annual meeting: Healing Our Earthly Home.  

Read more about annual meeting here

February 28-March 1, 2020 or

March 6-8, 2020

Pilgrim Center

Bring your confirmation class or other interested participants and join us for a weekend of faith and team building. We will explore what it means to be the church and how that commitment continues to evolve. Our focus this year will be on our faith journeys, both personal and as part of a greater faith community. Participants will explore the journey stories within our scriptures and identify the parallels in our world today. Check-in begins at 7pm on Friday. The retreat ends after worship on Sunday, between 11:00 and 11:30am. Contact Nathan for registration instructions.

 

Register for the February retreat by Feb. 21, 2020

Please update your church's yearbook information!

 

The National UCC Office's Data Hub is open for your yearbook data entry. If you have any problems or questions, please email  Susan Taylor, or call her at 608-846-7880. Please do not contact the National Office. Deadline for reporting: March 4, 2020. 

 

Remember to fill out the church officer data form online this year: Access this new link here!  

Let's do some math on Driving $mart in God's Garden! Based on current national averages, you drive 15,000 miles a year in an 11-year-old vehicle that gets 22 mpg and buy 682 gallons of gas (2.50) per year for $1705, but your vehicle also emits 13,620 pounds of CO2 annually into God's Garden. Driving is definitely a privilege with many benefits but also many environmental consequences.

As a Christian, you want to be a better steward of God's garden but since your vehicle costs are the 2nd/3rd highest expense in your budget, right now you can't afford to buy an electric vehicle to help the environment. You may think that you'll just continue to negatively impact the climate and have no options...but you'd be wrong.

Learn to Drive $mart and save up to $340 per year and lower your CO2 emissions by 2,725 pounds in your current vehicle (based on 20% improvement). Join us on March 12th at 7pm for the webinar, "Driving $mart in God's Garden."

 

United Church of Christ's National Youth Event will take place at Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana July 22-25th 2020. This 4-day event is celebrated as the largest denominational gathering, often bringing in 4,000 participants. This time together is centered on faith, leadership, service and social justice to empower our youth.

Among an impressive lineup of speakers is nationally-known teen climate activist Jamie Margolin, who, at age 15, co-founded the youth climate action organization Zero Hour, which led the very first Youth Climate March in DC and 25 other cities in 2018.  This is sure to be an inspiring presentation!

The registration fee increases after February 29th. Bus registration is now open. Click here for more info.

Main NYE website, speakers and registration

Who: Young people who have completed 6th through 12th grade.
What: United Church of Christ's National Youth Event
When: July 22-25th 2020
Where: Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
Cost: $375 (February 1st-February 29th) | $435 starting March 1st

 

View the list of books at this link. Holly's book is described as "An exceptional spiritual work with plenty of practices for discovering the blessings in our lives."  

What is innovation, you ask? Catalyst defines innovation as anything that stretches your congregation out of its comfort zone, opens you to new community partnerships, engages your ministry resources in a different way or enlarges your impact in your community.

New this year, every successful grant recipient receives funding for their project and is also matched with a coach who checks in with them quarterly to provide support, encouragement and a relational connection between the projects funded and the Catalyst Team. Our desire is to help you succeed in your efforts and harvest what we all can learn from the times when we fall short. The Catalyst Team and Wisconsin Conference coaches look forward to partnering with you as you explore new ideas in ministry. Contact Tisha Brown today to start a conversation about your innovation ideas and whether or not your project would be eligible for Catalyst funds. Proposals received by March 30, 2020, will be considered for funding in May. Proposals received by September 28 will be considered in November.

Find out more about the Catalyst Grant process here

Click here to learn about the projects that have received funding recently