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Important This Week
- The Conference Office will be closed Thursday and Friday for the holiday.
- What happened at General Synod and how that affects your church
- Save the date for the 2020 National Youth Event in Indiana
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Conference Minister recap of the 32nd General Synod
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The Thirty-Second General Synod of the United Church of Christ met in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ending a week ago today. More than 800 delegates, including 32 from PSEC, and 1500 visitors gathered around the theme “Shine!” – let your light
shine
before all people (Matthew 5:16). The music, worship and artistry were, in keeping General Synod tradition, AMAZING!!! The work of the national church can seem far away from the local church pew, but there were conversations at Synod that will affect the life of every UCC congregation. Among them were clear calls for a Manual on Church like our current Manual on Ministry, deep convention about the negative effects of local church autonomy and what (if anything) to do about that, and core identity questions at the heart of conversation about the inclusion of both the Faith and Welcome movement, Open and Affirming ministries and all theological positions in-between.
Through the resolution process, Synod delegates spoke to our UCC churches by voting to:
- Support a 'listening campaign' to address resolution process
- Recognize the Mental Health Network as a Historically Underrepresented Group
- Call for the UCC bylaws to be revised with non-binary gender language
- Condemn acts of violence and bigotry in the U.S.
- Call the U.S. to pull back from brink of nuclear war
- Denounce acts of white supremacy
- Address the global migration crisis
- Engage in conversations over Jesus' call to "Follow me"
- Replace 3 Southern New England conferences (Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island) with 1
- Urge action on the opioid crisis
- Urge Congressional hearings to address violence in America
- Become advocates for the Green New Deal
Delegates celebrated the ministries of retiring leaders Rev. Jim Moos (Associate Executive of Global Ministries) and Don Hart (Executive Director of the United Church Fund). They learned that the “Clergy Debt Task Force” is expanding and changing scope; that America’s oldest press, Pilgrim Press, is in the process of being relaunched; AND that the 3 Great Loves Campaign will continue to 2021. More than 500 delegates and visitors marched through downtown Milwaukee in a rally calling for a change in policies that separate immigrant families.
General Synod delegates also approved overwhelmingly the nomination of the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson to be Associate General Minister of Global Engagement and re-elected Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer, General Minister and President, for a second term.
This is just a very brief overview of a week that was packed with people bringing the Christ light to what feels like an ever-darkening world. Synod 2021 is going to Kansas City, Missouri. If you have never been, plan now to attend! It is, outside of your church, one of the best things the United Church of Christ does to witness to the good news of the gospel!
Blessings,
Bill
Rev. William Worley
Conference Minister
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'Disaster Preparedness Manual for Churches' now available
Is your church prepared to withstand a natural disaster and help your congregation and community in the aftermath? Do you want to be prepared but don’t know where to start? Being ready just got easier, thanks to the new “A Disaster Preparedness Manual for Churches” developed by United Church of Christ Disaster Ministries and the Insurance Board. The manual was unveiled June 22 at a UCC General Synod workshop.
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Information available on the 2020 National Youth Event
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The National Youth Event website is now available. Visit
nye.uccpages.org for a detailed agenda as well as a list of the scheduled speakers. Check back for more information.
National Youth Event will take place at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana July 22-25, 2020. This four-day event is celebrated as the UCC's largest gathering. Often bringing in 4,000 participants, this time together is centered on faith, leadership, service and social justice to empower our youth and young adults (ages 12-22).
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Free webinar set on the Green New Deal
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UCC Match Grants for CWS Kits deadline now Dec. 31
UCC Disaster Ministries is extending the deadline for congregations assembling CWS Emergency Cleanup Buckets to apply for Matching Grants up to $250 each. Churches now have until Dec. 31 to stretch their own cash and in-kind contributions to stocking up these supplies so in demand following hurricanes, flooding and other disasters.
Read more
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Drop off donations for unaccompanied youth at PSEC
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Helping Hands is a humanitarian program that reunites unaccompanied youth from Central America with family that already resides in the USA. Bethany Children's Home provides them with a safe place to live and grow until they are reunited with their families.
Click here
for a list of the items they are currently in need of, as many of the youth, aged 5-14 years
, arrive with just the clothes on their backs.
If your church is collecting items for Helping Hands and is unable to get them to Bethany Children's Home, you can drop items off at the Conference Office, 1441 Laura Lane, Pottstown, during regular office hours (Monday-Thursday from 9:00a-3:00p and Friday from 8:00a-12:00p).
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PSEC summer reading list: "She: Five Keys to Unlock the Power of Women in Ministry"
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Positioned between Johnson's scholarly
She Who Is
and Spong's anecdotal
There's a Woman in the Pulpit
is a 2016 title by Karoline M. Lewis:
She: Five Keys to Unlock the Power of Women in Ministry
.
She
is that best-of-both-worlds book: solidly researched and eminently readable.
Lewis's five "keys" each speak to a different truth: women, the Bible, feminism, and theology; vulnerability, bodies, and sexuality; gender, identity, and authenticity; sexism; leadership. She points out, "The key before all of these keys is to tell the truth about yourself," to acknowledge "a power already present."
One section that particularly resonated with me concerns our language for God. "We betray our own biases, theological and gendered, when our primary references to God are male," Lewis writes. My suggestion: On any given Sunday, note each example of gendered language in the bulletin, scripture readings, and hymns. Is the language of worship balanced, or does it tilt (perhaps heavily) in one direction? Words matter...
While
She
might first attract women readers, everyone can benefit from Lewis's wisdom. Broadening perspectives, experiences, and understandings can open ways to healing and to unity, for
all
God's people.
Janeen Adil
St. Paul's UCC Birdsboro
and Hungry Soul Ministries
Check out all of the recommended books at
psec.org/booklist
. Have a book to recommend for other clergy and lay leaders? Send an email to
brea@psec.org
with a 100-200 word description of the book and why you're recommending it and we'll add it to the PSEC summer reading list and share your recommendation in eNews.
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Bring the Spring Meeting Jesus artwork to your church
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Because there have been folks inquiring about the 9 ft. Jesus present at the PSEC spring meeting, we are going to make it available to churches to host Jesus for a given period of time, depending upon the demand. We will start with the Philadelphia Association and have Jesus make his way up through all the associations. Interested churches are to contact Rev. Anne Cormier at
annecormier@comcast.net
and must have the ability to transport the art work. (An SUV worked for the spring meeting.) Instructions and a short list of tools needed on how to deconstruct and construct the piece will be provided.
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Shop AmazonSmile to benefit the Conference
AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that gives customers the same selection of products and the same prices, but the foundation donates a percentage -- usually 0.5% -- of eligible purchases to the charitable organization selected by the customer. If you haven't attached your Amazon account to PSEC, please consider doing so now!
Support PSEC Here
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Sign up for the Cultivating Generous Congregations event
PSEC and Lake Institute on Faith & Giving invite you and your ministry teams to a seminar experience that could change the way you and your congregation approach giving and generosity.
Cultivating Generous Congregations is a two-day interactive seminar, demonstrating how pastors and ministry leaders can unearth and energize congregational generosity by exploring the significant and necessary steps to creating lasting cultural change within a congregation.
This course is intended for those who:
- Believe in their congregation’s capacity for greater generosity;
- Have a desire to become more comfortable with money;
- Are willing to redefine giving in your congregation; and
- Understand giving to include service, social networks and the sharing of ideas and professional expertise.
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UCC 2019 Stewardship Theme Materials now available
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Digital downloads and printed materials for your congregation's annual stewardship efforts are now available online from UCC Resources.
Click here
to view the various 2019 stewardship resources.
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Church Events
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Educational Opportunities
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Missed a week? Read past eNews here:
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