In April, I wrote about Mission 1: a denomination wide initiative of the United Church of Christ to address hunger. Capitalizing on the number one, the event began on 11/1/11 and ended on 11/11/11. During that time, those within the denomination worked together to feed the hungry and address food-related injustice. The results include: 1.28 million items of food donated (exceeding the goal of 1 million) Over 35,000 letters to Congress (exceeding the goal of 11,111) Read More …
United Church of Christ
Prayers of the People – A Different Approach (#0547)
At Naples United Church of Christ the pastoral prayer follows the same basic pattern each week: Pastor provides a prayer focus and invites people to pray Time of silent prayer Pastor offers the prayers of the people Musical response Yesterday, we chose to do things differently. The Rev. Catherine O'Connell, Associate Pastor, and I co-wrote then co-led the prayers of the people, which included a congregational response. The pattern we used was: Pastor provides a prayer focus Read More …
A New Day in the PCUSA (#0516)
The Presbyterian Church (USA) or PCUSA has been in the news more this past week than any time this year. The denomination officially amended its constitution earlier this year to allow gays and lesbians to serve as ministers and lay leaders. Last Saturday, the Rev. Scott Anderson was ordained as the denomination's first openly gay pastor. He told CNN: "It's an exciting time for me personally to be the first openly gay person ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and Read More …
How to Reverse Mainline Decline (or not) (#0510)
Rev. Cameron Trimble is the Executive Director of the Center for Progressive Renewal, which seeks to "renew Progressive Christianity by training new entrepreneurial leaders, supporting the birth of new liberal/progressive congregations, and by renewing and strengthening existing progressive churches." Recently, she spoke in Connecticut to a group of seventy-five United Church of Christ pastors and educators. In her speech, Trimble made the historical observation that Read More …
The UCC, General Synod, and the Trinity (#0422)
Earlier this month, Terry Mattingly wrote a misguided and poorly researched article, "Got News? Adios to God the Father?" suggesting that the United Church of Christ was about to move away from being a fully Trinitarian denomination. This kind of journalism is not what one would expect from Mattingly who writes the nationally syndicated "On Religion" column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and is director of the Washington Journalism Read More …
The Unique Vocation of the United Church of Christ (#0414)
The United Church of Christ is currently in the midst of General Synod 28 (July 1-5) in Tampa, FL. Yesterday afternoon, I joined other members of local churches from across Florida as guests at a special community wide afternoon worship service. The Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, Senior Pastor of Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, preached a prophetic sermon marked by hope, which included these words: A year ago Bishop John Shelby Spong, the former Episcopal Bishop Read More …
Progressive Theology – Shared Affirmations (#0401)
Patheos recently launched a progressive Christian portal. During the next two weeks, this new portal is hosting a symposium exploring what progressive Christianity is and why that matters today. Bruce Epperly, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) who serves as Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education at Lancaster Theological Seminary, contributed an article to this week's discussion Read More …
Your Church’s Facebook Page (#0395)
Eric S. Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ recently posted an excellent guide to creating and effectively utilizing your church's Facebook page. He encourages those congregations that have not yet created a presence on Facebook to do so, especially in light of recent research that shows the majority of Americans age 12 and older now have Facebook accounts. Newcomers will benefit from his step-by-step Read More …
The Abbreviated Sermon on the Mount (#0394)
Drew Willard, pastor of the United Church of Christ of the Villages, FL, will be leading a session on Biblical storytelling, entitled "The Three Point Sermon on the Mount," on July 3 at the United Church of Christ's General Synod. Recently he shared what he calls "the Cliff Notes of the Sermon on the Mount" with some of the folks in the Florida Conference: You have heard that it was said, "One Way," but I say to you, "God is still speaking..." Don't pray, donate or serve Read More …
Review of A Spiritual Life (#0390)
Meet the Editor and Authors Allan Hugh Cole, Jr. has been on the faculty of Austin Presbyterian Seminary since 2003. Currently, he serves as Academic Dean and Nancy Taylor Williamson Professor of Pastoral Care. Previously, Cole served in pastoral ministry in Upstate New York and on Long Island, and was visiting lecturer in pastoral theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His teaching and research interests include pastoral theology, loss and bereavement, Read More …