Message to the Conference | |
Greetings Penn Central members and friends,
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And waking up, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” Mark 4:35-41 NRSV
How would you describe the current state of the world? I’m presuming that you’re feeling that its status falls more on the chaotic side of the spectrum than the peaceful. You may have many reasons, like I do, to name chaos rather than peace, including personal ones that go beyond national and world events. Personally, I would love to have a burning bush, a pillar of smoke, or a livestream of Jesus sitting in a boat in a storm exclaiming to the world, “Peace! Be still!”
If I’m not going to get something that obvious from the Divine, I’d even take a visit from a departed loved one or ancestor. I’m thinking of Paul McCartney’s mother, who died when he was 14 years old, who came to him in a dream in a chaotic point of his life and career. He said, "She was reassuring me, saying, 'It's going to be OK, just let it be.' I felt so great.” He would go on to write the song “Let It Be” out of the positive nature and assurance that his mother, Mary, gave to him in that dream. I guess I’m envious of Sir Paul’s experience, especially because I’m feeling like the chaos is winning.
I was once in a workshop that asked participants the question, “What are the scriptures that you carry with you?” It was meant to help us identify the foundations of our personal faith, so that amidst the storms and chaos of life, we could draw on these passages of wisdom and comfort. The point was to shift from counting on Jesus to appear and calm everything to connecting to the divine wisdom of the written Word, passed on from our ancestors’ faith.
“Be still and know that I am God,” from Psalm 46 is a passage I carry in musical chant form in my heart that ties into this week’s gospel passage. “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God,” the prophet Micah proclaims to us mortals what is required of us. In Roman’s 5:1-5, the Apostle Paul writes about the process of living through suffering which builds endurance and character, ending in a “hope that does not disappoint us.” This has been a passage important to me living with a chronic illness.
This year July 14th will be twenty years since a tornado formed and ripped through Campbelltown, PA. Some of the members of the congregation I served there were home at 3 p.m. that afternoon when the tornado warning was declared. Some sat in their bathtubs reciting scripture and the Lord’s Prayer for comfort until the storm passed.
While not all scripture is meant to bring comfort, there are life-passages that we can carry with us like a yoke of hope and comfort amidst the chaos of these days, like oars helping us navigate the torrents of the storm, and like an ancestor assuring us that peace and stillness are possible. May we all have the gift of such “life-preservers” in these days.
Dwight
Rev. Dwight Hein
Facilitator of Care to Clergy and Clergy Families
Penn Central Conference
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I bring greetings to each of you in Penn Central Conference from your Board of Directors.
We gathered for our 62nd Annual Meeting, a meeting like no other gathering in our past 62 years! As we came together Saturday morning to do the business of the conference, one could feel the undercurrents of excitement, expectation, wonderment and uncertainty. To think we had 145 in-person delegates and 33 on-line delegates, not to forget our visitors, for the meeting was exciting and encouraging at the same time. A number I have not heard yet is how many of our 150+ congregations were represented at this meeting. [Editors note: approx 105 churches and 5 other ministry settings were represented] That number will tell another story which will also play a role in the Keystone vote to be held November 9th.
This year our agenda items were few with only one action item. Our treasurer, Rev. Mike Price, gave a short report with some interesting statistics. He shared 53 churches participated in all 5 giving opportunities (Five for Five) which are: One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS), Strengthen the Church, Neighbors in Need, The Christmas Fund and finally Our Churches Wider Mission (OCWM).
He shared the Finance Committee was happy to report the following grant recipient information: Approximately $9000 was given for A/V needs, clothing banks and more as Innovation Grants, $5000 was given for the Lebanon clothing bank from the St John’s, Lebanon grant, and finally the Outdoor Ministry Commission disbursed in 2023 and thus far in 2024 approximately $82,000 to churches/groups and camperships. Remember when OCWM giving goes down it affects the work of our conference as it funds the ministries of our conference and our staff.
Our action item consisted of approving the Nominations Commission’s slate of new board members and delegates for General Synod 2025. I cannot thank these folks enough (and you know who you are!) for the work they will do to serve our board and our conference, either as a returning member or a new member. Kudos to all of you for stepping up and saying “Yes I will serve!” With the addition of the new members, we gave a hearty thank you to Phil Landers and Dave Downer who have both completed their terms. Both have previously served many more years and have served in many capacities. Thank you again Phil and Dave!
Blessings to all!
Carolyn Herman
Board Moderator
Penn Central Conference Board of Directors
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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. | |
Scheduling Notes
Sunday, July 7 - St. Thomas UCC, Harrisburg - Nora Foust preaching
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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...
Zion Stone Valley UCC, Dalmatia
Shiloh UCC, Danville
St. James UCC, Danville
Trinity UCC, Danville
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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 23, 2:30PM - Rev. Preston Van Deursen installation service - St. Paul's UCC, New Oxford
June 23, 2:30PM - Kathy Steiner installation service - Pleasant Hill Chapel UCC, Jonestown
June 23, 3:00PM - Jonathan Parades ordination service - Church of the Apostles UCC, Lancaster
August 4, 3:00PM - Su Rider ordination service - St. Peter's UCC, Lykens
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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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Christ Church UCC invites you for the June Fire Pit Fellowship featuring our Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Carrie Call.
Wed., June 26th @ 7pm. Outside at our pavilion and fire pit.
Rev. Call will speak on the question: How can the church encourage good, civil conversation in times of division and discord?
An article to encourage reflection and conversation is David Brook's Atlantic article "How America Got Mean". Brook’s article
We hope to see you on June 26th at 7pm. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the firepit. If it's rainy we'll meet in the sanctuary. There’s plenty of parking at Christ Church UCC, 247 S. Market St., Elizabethtown, PA 17022.
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Northern Cluster Pig Roast and Concert June 30
On Sunday, June 30, beginning at 5pm, the Northern Cluster of UCC Churches will host a free pig roast and concert at MYO Park in Millersburg. Brad Crum, our wonderful Elvis impersonator from Carsonville, will provide the music. Bring a covered-dish to share, and a lawn chair. A free-will offering will be received. All are welcome – come join us for great food, music, and fellowship! For more information, please contact Rev. Ray Holland, 570-682-9828.
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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
Via Zoom - 10:00AM and 6:00PM
These boundary trainings are a repeat of topics covered in the first half of 2024.
Money Matters - July 16, 2024
Financial Health and Vitality can be a challenging conversation and in this two-hour session we will look at the various ways in which money does matter in ministry, personally and vocationally. Financial Misconduct is in the top-five reasons for fitness reviews and conference staff receive numerous questions about how to move in healthy ways when it comes to church money. Come out and we’ll take a deep dive into this sensitive topic. Register here
Healthy Beginnings and Endings – August 20, 2024
All ministries have beginnings and endings. In this session, participants will look at healthy expectation setting in new calls as well as ethical departure requirements. Register here
The Ministerial Code – September 17, 2024
This is the ordained minister’s code of ethics and should underpin our ministry. It’s a grand document. Join Nora as we look at it line-by-line and examine the practical implications of living a life worthy of the calling to which we’ve each been called. Register here
Intersectionality and Power Dynamics - October 15, 2024
In this session, ACM Rev. Dr. Nora Foust will discuss ways in which we as leaders in the church navigate ever changing power dynamics as culturally more and more important intersections are defined. Her participation in a training event with Rev Lori Tapia, the DOC National Pastor for Hispanic Ministries, and Dr. Sharon Fennema, our UCC Curator for Join the Movement, led to the development of this culturally relevant discussion. Register here
Undercurrents and Riptides Online - November 19, 2024
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. Register here.
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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.
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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Spirits United Interfaith Pride Service
Central PA Pride Weekend
Sunday, July 28, 5:00PM
Keynote Speaker will be PCC's own Rev. Cindy Garis August
Music by the Spirits United Interfaith Choir
Livestreamed on Facebook.com/mccofthespirit
Metropolitan Community Church of the Spirit
2973 Jefferson St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
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Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry
The Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry (PAM) offers Innovation and New Models of Leadership.
July 9–Aug 13, 2024. Tuesdays, 7–8:30pm EST via Zoom.
Instructor: The Rev. Dale Davis.
This cutting-edge class introduces you to the latest leadership models and features a podcast series produced especially for the Pennsylvania Academy of Ministry, featuring well-known experts Gil Rendle, Karen Georgia Thompson, Doug Powe Jr., Lovett Weems Jr., John Schol, and Sarah Drummond. 2.5 CEUs. $325.
Information and registration: https://www.lancasterseminary.edu/programs/pennsylvania-academy-of-ministry/
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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 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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Shiloh United Church of Christ York Pennsylvania looking for an administrative assistant. This person would be accountable to the senior pastor and to serve the church by
*coordinating the day today operation of the building
*Coordinating support staff members and volunteers
*Assisting the church treasure and financial secretary
*Maintaining accurate accounting of membership records
*Coordinate the scheduling and communication of programs
*Provide assistance to the senior pastor and/or the assistant pastor
If interested please contact Linda Little with questions by June 21st 2024. Start date would be as soon as you are able to and training would be provided.
Thank you so much for your consideration!
Linda Little, Chairperson of Church and Ministry
Cell- 717-309-4523
lslcmt@yahoo.com
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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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