Love Your Neighbor Social Innovation Challenge Supports Community-minded Wisconsin Entrepreneurs

5 Community Project Proposals Won Grants

 

There was a terrific turnout at last weekend's "Love Your Neighbor Social Innovation Challenge" hosted by First Congregational UCC in Janesville. Eight community-based project ideas were pitched and five of them received grants of $500 to $1500.

 

The Challenge was a little like the TV show Shark Tank, but with a UCC Three Great Loves heart, a democratic spirit, and a mission of supporting and mentoring entrepreneurs who are motivated more by community uplift than by profit. It's a collaborative competition designed to encourage ideas that are financially sustainable, spiritually grounded and which demonstrate a love of neighbor in a local community.

 

For congregations, it's a proactive way to build up their surrounding communities and build relationships with others doing good work. The Challenge's local, Conference and national organizers hope to see this implemented nationwide.

 

Continue reading to learn about the winning proposals and how you can bring new life and hopeful possibilities to your local community through this model.

If you have questions about the event or would like to explore the possibility of hosting one in your community, contact Rev. Tisha Brown or Rev. Tanya Sadagopan

On October 13 and 14, First Congregational UCC Menomonie  honored Indigenous Peoples Day by hosting members of Ho-Chunk UCC to engage the church in the "Blanket Exercise." This exercise is a telling of North American indigenous peoples' history from the fifteenth century to present day. The exercise is participatory--the blankets show the size and population of indigenous people in North America from the time of European explorers and how and why they diminish over the next 500-600 years.
View photographs from the event

by Rev. Abby Henderson, Director of Leadership Development, Minnesota Conference UCC

 

Rev. Abby Henderson is the new Director of Leadership Development in the MN Conference. She began her work on October 7, 2019. 

In Paul's second letter to Timothy, the dying patriarch charges his faithful protégé to "continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it" (2 Tim 3:14). 

I really love that line: for me, it captures something of the essence of church. Church is a place we go to receive deep wisdom, wisdom that has fed generations before us and generations to come, wisdom that can anchor us when nothing else will. 

My mother tells a story from her childhood that speaks to this: she was a little girl, five or six, sitting in the pews of her congregational (soon to be UCC) church in Connecticut, watching the minister preach. His voice sounded urgent and intense.

Continue article

by Hans Holznagel, United Church of Christ

 

An Advent Retreat

Friday, December 13, 2019 from 9:30am - 3:00pm

Jesus says, "I am the bread of life." Poet Mary Oliver writes, "Eat bread and understand comfort." In this Advent retreat we will ask: How is Jesus our bread? What does genuine nourishment look like? How do we give and receive comfort? Come join us as we explore the powerful metaphor of bread and thoughtfully prepare for a spiritually satisfying Advent.  

Learn more 

As the climate movement pushes our society toward becoming fossil free, how can we ensure that the transition happens in a way that is just and fair for workers? This question will be at the heart of the UCC's next Creation Justice Webinar. The featured guests will be Michael Leon Guerrero from the Labor Network for Sustainability and Michael Williams from the BlueGreen Alliance. In a world that often falsely pits the wellbeing of workers against protection of the environment, they will help us see how matters of justice are interconnected rather than oppositional. The webinar will be on November 14th, but register even if you can't make it to receive a link to the recording. Sign-up here

 

At this workshop, you will learn:

The same workshop will be held in two locations:

Thursday, November 7, 2019, from 10am to 3pm
Grace UCC, Wausau
Register for Wausau workshop

 

Thursday, November 14, 2019, from 10am to 3pm
First Congregational UCC, Watertown

Register for Watertown workshop

 

Youth Faith Formation Retreats

Register for November retreat (deadline: November 1, 2019)

Knock Knock Middle School Retreat
November 22-24, 2019 at Pilgrim Center

Come to Knock Knock with your youth group. Start a new group or fire up the one you've got, like your confirmation group. Don't come alone! Bring all the interested Middle Schoolers in your church, plus one adult leader for every five kids. The leaders go through the workshops with the youth. Your group will feel the impact for a long time! 

Registration link (deadline: November 15, 2019)

Registration for the Jesus Core retreat in January will be available soon!

Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma

March 13-20, 2020 or March 20-27, 2020

More information

Webinar, Nov. 12, 2019 at 2:00pm CST

Three retreat dates: May 11-14, 2020, Nov. 9-11, 2020, and May 10-12, 2021
Siena Retreat Center, Racine
Leaders: Rev. Winton Boyd, Chelsey Hillyer, Rev. Katrina Jenkins, and Sharla Steever

Event flyer

Searching Churches

 

Wider Church Searches

The National UCC has several open positions. Details

• Rev. Lisa Bodenheim was installed at Prescott United Church of Christ in Prescott on October 13, 2019

Retirements

• Rev. Jim Iliff retired from Middleton Community Church in Middleton on October 12, 2019

Anniversaries

• St. Paul's UCC in Marshfield celebrated their 125th Anniversary on October 21, 2019. Congrats!

• Clifton "Don" Mundell, father of Rev. Kevin Mundell, passed away on October 9, 2019. Obituary

The Conference Transitions feature appears monthly in the Wisconsin Conference Life. Please share your transition information, including church anniversaries, with the newsletter editor by emailing Nola.