Important This Week

• Registration open for Men's Clergy Retreat (save the date for the Women's Clergy Retreat)
• Trauma Training set for September
• Get Neighbors in Need offering materials now

From the Conference Minister:

Yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Two days before that, three people were fatally shot by a gunman at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida simply because they were black. My dream for the world is not as eloquent as the one Martin Luther King shared on August 28, 1963. I dream of world where white people no longer kill black people because they are black.

Our Conference’s Zachariah Walker Racial Justice Initiative leaders hosted a profoundly thoughtful and inspirational commemoration of the 1963 Washington March last Sunday at House of Faith Baptist/UCC Church in Philadelphia. We heard from people who witnessed the hope and possibility of that August day in Washington and who have carried that hope and possibility ever since. We heard a powerful word from Rev. Cean James who called the church to the models of biblical prophecy that join God and God’s people in world-changing witness.

Now, more than ever, we need prophets like Martin Luther King who was dubbed “There are two ways of being a prophet,” wrote Richard Rohr. “One is to tell the enslaved that they can be free. It is the difficult path of Moses. The second is to tell those who think they’re free that they are in fact enslaved. This is the even more difficult path of Jesus.”

Some among us labor naively under the belief that we are free from racism — especially in communities where there are no (or very few) people of color. Dr. King pointed us to that reality, and what had been cloaked, confused and uncertain suddenly became obvious.

Dr. King had a visionary's gift for discerning the right direction and turning the nation towards it, blending vision with action. He never ceased to see the better side in those who disagreed with him. He opposed force with love. "Just keep loving them, and they can't stand it for too long."

Resolving any challenge requires a laser focus on transforming the relationships that hold the problem in place. That is the difficult path of Jesus, and it is the one we, the disciples of Christ, are called to follow. The country is crying out for that kind of relational, transformational witness. Now more than ever, the world needs “courage in the struggle for justice and peace.” Will we see that the world has it?

Rev. Bill Worley

Conference Minister

Neighbors in Need offering materials available

In 2023, the Neighbors in Need “BEHOLD!” theme continues. This year’s focus is on environmental justice. Plastics, electronics, and other non-compostable wastes are being shipped across, and even tossed into, our waterways, launched into space, and buried in landfills. As people of faith, we believe these egregious acts are sinful and unholy. We must be better stewards of our planet!

Please join us in promoting this year’s NIN campaign at your church! Many churches will collect the offering on Oct. 1, as part of World Communion Sunday. Free resources available to download or print assets at UCC Resources webpage.

Upcoming PA Academy of Ministry classes announced

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Sept. 11 - Oct. 30. Online on Zoom

Eight Mondays from 6:00-9:00p

Join Rev. Roberta Kearney for classes for clergy, lay leaders, and congregation members. The ecumenical evening classes are designed to enhance or develop skills to teach Christian education. Even if you are not a teacher within your congregation, the understandings of different learning styles, the relationship between age and learning, the importance of identifying teaching moments, and the actual practice of teaching are valuable components of this class. From children's chats to adult education, teaching can take so many forms that require a range of skills that you will learn in this series of classes.

Click here to register. Cost is $275 for the series of eight online classes. 2.5 CEUs.

Other classes coming up include:

• Moral Injury and Veterans Ministry (starting in November)
• Introduction to Preaching (starting in January)
• Preaching & Worship through the Year (in the spring)

For more info, visit the PAM webpage.

PSEC office closed Monday

The PSEC office will be closed Monday, Sept. 4 for the Labor Day weekend!

September is National Preparedness Month

September is National Preparedness Month (NPM). Launched in 2004, NPM is FEMA’s annual preparedness outreach campaign. NPM is sponsored by FEMA’s Ready Campaign, which aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies. The 2023 theme for National Preparedness Month is “Preparing for Older Adults.” The campaign will focus on preparing older adults for disaster, specifically older adults from communities that are disproportionally impacted by the all-hazard events which continue to threaten the nation. Older adults can face greater risks when it comes to extreme weather events and emergencies, especially if they are living alone, are low-income, have a disability, or live in rural areas.

FEMA has provided this NPM Toolkit, that includes templates and drafts of newsletter articles, blogs, posters, and other collateral material that you can use in various outreach efforts.

The UCC Disaster Ministries “Home Page” also offers disaster planning tools and resources. 

From the Addiction & Recovery Taskforce: A Thought for the Healing of the Soul in Recovery

“I don't know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.”

Ralph Abernathy

Installation of the UCC's 10th General Minister and President

The Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson will be installed on Friday, Oct. 20 at 5:00p at the Lakewood Congregational Church in Lakewood, Ohio. The service will be livestreamed. More information is available now at ucc.org/gmp-installation. Details about the livestream and registration with be coming soon.

Rev. Dr. Thompson was elected General Minister and President at the 34th General Synod on July 3 in Indianapolis. She is the first woman to serve as GMP of the UCC. She took office on Aug. 1.

Rev. Dr. James Mills Sr. installation at Wentz's UCC

Click the invitation below to download a PDF to share.

Trauma Training Program Sept. 23rd and Sept. 30th

The Welcome Project PA, in partnership with Lakeside Global Institute and the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference, is pleased to offer professional trauma training modules for ministry leaders and volunteers in their respective contexts, to prepare them to better assist their constituents who have suffered trauma. The purpose of this program is to assist professionals in their caring for people who have suffered various forms of trauma, to create an awareness of the causes and consequences of trauma, and how it affects our human relationships and social interactions. Finally, this program strives to enable those who have suffered/continue to suffer from trauma, a path forward to progress and a way out of destructive cycles. Trauma 101 and 102 will cover the basics of trauma. The subsequent sessions with The Welcome Project PA and the PSEC will apply the trauma training to more specifically define, explore, and discuss religious trauma and its effects on individuals and faith communities. For more information and to register, click here.

Registration open for Men's Clergy Retreat in October

Clergymen, give yourself the gift of joining the PSEC/PNEC Clergy Men’s Retreat, Oct. 3-5. Take a step back from all the demands placed on you, step out of your comfort zone with friends you can trust, rest and spend time in nature. Engage in thoughtful conversation that will help give perspective on life’s biggest obstacles and have some fun. Guys from the Retreat Planning Committee will facilitate conversation based on Richard Reeves book Of Boys and Men. You don’t have to read the book to be on the retreat and our conversations will go far afield from that text. So feed your soul to strengthen your ministry this October at Kirkridge. Click here for more information and to register.

Save the date: 2024 Clergy Women's Retreat dates set

The 2024 Clergy Women's Retreat will be held from Jan. 16 at 4:00p until Jan. 18 at noon at Mariawald Retreat Center in Shillington. Please mark your calendars to save the date and watch future eNews emails for more registration information.

Upcoming Training events

Registration is open for:

Basic Boundary Training on Sept. 14 in Schuylkill Haven. More info

Advanced Boundary Training (Managing Pastoral Transitions) on Sept. 27 on Zoom (or view the recording of the event and complete a one-page synopsis). More info

Advanced Boundary Training (From Gutenberg to ChatGPT: Tools, ethics, technology and best practices in the life of Church) on Oct. 18 on Zoom. More info

Diversity Training on Nov. 8 on Zoom (or view the recording of the event and complete a one-page synopsis). Click here

Register now for the Partners in Building Conference

Church Building & Loan Fund is excited to invite you to Partners in Building, a two-day virtual conference on Sept. 21-22 hosted to connect church leaders with the resources they need to effectively repurpose, finance and manage their properties.

Some highlights of the conference include:

• Resources on repurposing, financing and managing church-owned property
• Connections with CBLF staff and loan partners, capital fundraising executives, building professionals and other experts
• Presentations and workshops on a wide range of topics, including how to incorporate property into your church’s vision and future

Click here for more information and to register. The early bird registration fee is available until Friday, Aug. 25.

Lay Leadership courses scheduled for the fall

Growing Our Spiritual Lives

The first step in making our churches more vibrant, faithful and effective, is for each of us to cultivate our spiritual lives. Our congregations are like trees: in order to reach out with our branches and bear fruit, we must first deepen our roots in our faith. This course on Spiritual Life will meet for three sessions at Saint James United Church of Christ, 321 S Limerick Rd, Limerick, on Saturday mornings from 9:00-11:00 as follows:

• October 7: Spiritual growth through congregational worship
• October 28: Spiritual growth through personal disciplines
• November 4: Spiritual growth through small groups.

The course will be led by Laura Walters and Charlotte Fiedler. They have received training from Wanda Craner, and Charlotte received a certificate in Spiritual Life from Immaculata University. Click here for more information and to register.

Discerning Our Mission

How do we go about reaching out to the world in the name of Christ? This course on Mission will meet for three sessions at Saint James United Church of Christ, 321 S Limerick Rd, Limerick, on Saturday afternoons from 12:30-2:30 as follows:

• October 7 - What is mission?
• October 28 - Local mission
• November 4 - Global mission

This course will be led by Dr. Charles A. Maxfield, a minister of the United Church of Christ, with a Ph.D. in Church History with an emphasis on mission history. Click here for more information and to register.