Center for Progressive Renewal

Here is a brief overview of the Center for Progressive Renewal and the "Seven Secrets" workshop that I will attend next week.

This past year, the Center for Progressive Renewal (CPR) team assembled an unprecedented portfolio of leadership and church development resources that includes:

• A proven process for assessing, recruiting, training and coaching church leaders, with more than 3,500 people engaged in the process.

• A team of the nation’s best leadership and church development consultants, coaches and trainers dedicated to working with conferences and congregations across all denominations.

• An online learning center offering seminary course work, workshops and more than two dozen webinars.

• An innovative business management and executive skills program to equip church leaders with critical business skills.

• A national database of more than 4,000 prospective church leaders representing more than 20 denominations.

• The fourth annual New Church Leadership Institute, offering training to a record-breaking audience of church planters and renewal specialists.

The mission of The Center for Progressive Renewal is 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. The name Progressive Renewal is the articulation of a vision that our organization exists to service the progressive church in a systematic/progressive way. We understand Progressive Christianity as a faith that believes God’s family includes all people; God’s people are responsible for caring for the environment, the poor, sick and vulnerable; that education, health care and civil liberties are vital to abundant life and therefore the desire of God for all people; and that truth is found more often in honest grappling with the questions than in absolute hierarchical pronouncement of the answers. We further believe that this is the type of faith for which millions of Americans hunger.

Revitalization Track

• Re-Branding and New Identity
• Mastering the Media
• Building Your Database - Grow your Church!
• Fundraising and Stewardship
• Re-imagining for Renewal
• Building/Transforming Your Church through Spiritual Practices
• New Spiritual Appetites

Center for Progressive Renewal

Main Sessions

Assets - Beginning Where You Are: Through processes like Asset Mapping and Appreciative Inquiry each individual and church discovers their unique strengths, passions, competencies, and assets. This must be the starting place on the journey to vitality.

Change – Preparing to Follow the Spirit: Having identified our unique strengths we now move to preparing for where the Spirit is leading us. By seeing and accepting the changes we need make, we retool our church for growth.

Mission – Turning the Church Inside Out: Having discovered our strengths and seen the future our church could have we begin the process which moves a church from being internally to externally focused, from a program and management orientation to a service and missional orientation.

Communication – From Identity Formation to Market Saturation: Learning to be “as cunning as a serpent and as innocent as a dove” in terms of branding/re-branding and effectively communicating the values and vision of the church in a way that is irresistibly attractive to those who need its message and ministries.

Connection – Creating Transformational Community: Creating transformation connections by practicing extravagant hospitality. Recognizing the new kinds of connections such as Facebook, the church must offer opportunities for authentic community to in which people are changed

Administration – Managing for Mission: Shifting from managing for maintenance to creating systems and structures that support and enhance the ministry of the church and its mission in the world. Managing data is more important in today’s culture than managing money.

Transformational Worship – The Heart-beat of Vital and Vibrant Church: Any church that offers 52 energetic, relevant, and transformational worship services a year will grow. The community gathers for an authentic experience of God and an hour or so later scatters to be the Church.

Ghosts of Gettysburg

On our way back from DC last week, Ella and I stopped at one of my favorite historic sites, Gettysburg.  We always try to stay at the Colton Motel because of its location and value.  It is located on Steinwehr Ave. alongside the National Cemetery. 

When we checked in, the host told us that our room, number 27, is haunted.  This is a great sales technique for hotels.  It turns out that this corner room is the closest hotel room to the Cemetery in Gettysburg.  According to the hosts, a Union soldier comes at night to tell you to stay down and out of harms way.   Great local color for a hotel!  If you ever go to Gettysburg, you'll see that on every street corner someone is offering a "ghost walk" around town.  Ghost Guides in period clothing lead groups of twenty or so curious tourists around by the light of an old lantern, spinning tales like "blue boy" and "Lincoln's Ghost train".  Supernatural tourism is very good business.  Sam and I once took a trip to Granville, Ohio to spend the night in the Buxton Inn because it has made it onto a number of TV shows about the supernatural. It's always good business to add a ghost to the list of amenities for any hotel stay.


We walked into town that evening for dinner and on the way, right outside our hotel room, is a momument to the 55th Ohio regiment from Norwalk, Ohio.  My Great Great Grandfather Jerome and his brother Edmund Franklin were both conscripted into that unit earlier that year and fought at Gettysburg.  My Grandfather, a World War I veteran himself, used to tell tales about his Grandfather in the Civil War and the effect that it had on him, but I had never been able to find the monument on past visits.  The 55th Ohio were stationed right at the bend in the infamous "Fishook" defense of the Union Army and saw continuous action throughout the three days of battle.   We can only wonder how these coincidences occur in life.  Carl Jung called it  "Synchronicity".  It means basically that there are many things in life that go beyond our human understanding.  This should be obvious to us, but we like to hang on to the notion that we can explain everything.  Life holds many mysteries. 

In the top photo you can see the motel in the background.

You can also see the iron National Cemetery fence behind the monument.

The second picture is to prove I was there.

Someone had left a buckeye on top of this monument.

I put my hand on it when I reached up for the picture.

I sleep like a rock and wouldn't have known if we had an otherworldly visitor anyway.  But, it was a good excuse to sleep with the light on just in case...  I still keep my ancestors close to me.

How Wide is Our Welcome?

An Association staff member shared with us in worship last fall about how impressed they were with our inclusion of people with disabilities at Trinity.  The remark surprised me a little because I feel that we are always being challenged to find ways to be inclusive.  The UCC is taking steps to support congregations with resources designed to help local churches  understand the special needs of our members and friends.  Trinity has a history of caring, which stretches back to the days of Leo Keil and the house christened after him.  David Kiewit is the current Hope Homes director and he will be at Trinity on August 7th.  David tells the story about how his father began the Hope Homes project with a $5 gift from a concerned mother who wanted the church to find ways to care for her child when she was no longer able. 

In partnership with the church's Disabilities Ministries, the Mental Illness Network will present the second national Widening the Welcome II: Inclusion for All conference Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Doubletree Inn in Columbus, Ohio.  I hope that several of you will attend with me.  This is a National event and we are fortunate that it is taking place so close to us. Mental Health issues affect each family.  Widening our welcome in understanding the challenges faced by those who suffer is an intentional act leading to our goal of radical hospitality.

The conference – which drew 235 people to its debut event last fall in St. Louis – aims to educate about these disorders and disabilities, as well as help congregations develop Accessible to All (A2A) covenants and mental-health ministries. National statistics indicate that at least one in four families is affected by mental illness, brain disorder or other disability.

"At the St. Louis conference, the whole committee realized that we could not simply stop at one gathering," said the Rev. Kirk Moore, Widening the Welcome web administrator,"We sensed that a movement was beginning and wanted to build on our experience to help make a widened welcome a reality across our denomination.

"This year's conference builds on the close relationship of the UCC, its Disabilities Ministries and Mental Illness Network. It seeks to show how Widening the Welcome weaves those ministries, and really, all ministries, of the UCC together."

Keynote speakers this year are: Thomas E. Reynolds, associate professor of theology at Emmanuel College and author of "Vulnerable Communion: A Theology of Disability and Hospitality"; Carolyn Thompson, whose concentration is on raising awareness and understanding of disability and access issues in congregations and larger church bodies; the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, UCC director of Publishing, Identity and Communication who has been nominated to become executive minister of UCC Local Church Ministries; and Christine Guth, program director for Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADNet), a disability advocacy organization affiliated with Mennonites and related denominations.

This year's slate of speakers, preachers and workshop leaders will bring considerable experience to the conference, says an enthusiastic Johnson. "In a variety of ways, they have been affected by these issues personally and have worked in this field of inclusion. We seek to invite, and even urge, congregations to take up leadership in this vanguard ministry."

Kathi Wilson, chaplain at Emmaus Homes in Marthasville, Mo., took part in last year's event and plans to be in Columbus in September. "I was particularly thrilled because of my call and background to see a conference such as Widening the Welcome come to fruition," she said. "I see it as a concrete work in our desire to put the faith of our heart into the living way of Jesus." Emmaus Homes' mission is to enhance the quality of life for all people with cognitive, intellectual and other brain disorders.
Throughout its 54-year history, the UCC has highlighted, approved and enacted resolutions related to disabilities and mental illnesses/brain disorders.

Please consider taking part in this important form of Christian Hospitality.

Streets of DC

On a stroll through the crowded streets of Chinatown in DC, while Ella and I were hunting for my favorite meal of fried rice, I glanced to my left and saw Dennis Kucinich weaving his way through the crowd.  His gray pinstripe suit looking a bit out of place on a day that nearly topped 100 degrees.  By the time I could say anything he disappeared into the throng.  He walks fast. I wonder how often congressmen and women walk through those places.  

During my two days of free time, I had the opportunity to see most of the Smithsonian (at least the parts that I have never been to), Ford's Theatre, (where as luck would have it we witnessed a lively discussion between three authors who were each experts on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln) and the UCC's Justice Witness Ministries offices which are located just across the street from the Capitol and next to the Supreme Court.

On Monday,  I attended a prayer vigil in front of the capitol organized by a number of ecumenical partners.  They are praying each day  at 12:30 for a just budget which recognizes the least among us. The above photo is from the National Council of Churches website.

Jim Wallis summarized the movement like this;
"In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political—and moral.
As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up—how it treats those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms and to speak out for justice.

Our goal is simply this: Whenever a new budget or deficit reduction proposal is put forth, somebody should ask how it will impact the poorest and most vulnerable. This is a biblical question, a fair question, and a question of justice."


Also, attending the prayer vigil was Paul Sherry, who I have known for 25 years.  He is from Illinois and became General Minister of the UCC in the late 1980's and served for about ten years.  Paul is now working with Kim Bobo and the Interfaith Workers Justice organization on the issue of unemployment. Paul is a good leader and worked for many years in Chicago for Community renewal.
Here is a link to his work;

IWJ - Public Policy - Employment


Future Blogs include; Widening our Welcome, Catholic in the UCC,  and Center for Progressive renewal.

I leave Friday for the CPR training.  The paragraph below summarizes their mission;

Today, many of our mainline churches are declining and in need of intentional revitalization. These churches were built in and for an age that has now passed away. They are good, strong churches who have served their communities faithfully. But they were designed to serve a world that no longer exists. We believe that many churches can make the transition into this new age. CPR Congregational Consultants are passionate about coaching your church towards new life in an age of social networking, shifting demographics and declining attendance.

Native American Ritual

Photos of the exterior of the recently opened Smithsonian American Indian Museum.
What a difficult task it is to recount for you everything I have learned about Native American ritual!   Practically all Native Americans today consider themselves Christians, especially those in North America.  Whenever Christianity enters a culture the indigenous understandings of the world and God become woven into the faith and practices of the church.  In the UCC, our predecessor denominations were concerned about the treatment of native Americans and organized missions on Indian lands.  Great stories are told of the Congregational missionaries living in North Carolina with the Cherokee people at a time when the government forced them to march to an Oklahoma reservation.  The Congregationalists accompanied the Cherokee along what has become known as "the trail of tears" because so many died along the way.   

In the late 1800's, Congress passed a law that Indians were not allowed to practice native rituals and in many places their religious objects and drums were confiscated and destroyed.  The population of Native Americans, South, Central and North has been estimated at 300 Million at the time of the discovery and conquest of the late 15th Century.  Diseases for which the Indian population had no resistance is responsible for a 70% loss of life among their population.  This is one of the significant untold stories of world history.  An estimated 210 million Indians died from a variety of illnesses contracted through contact with European settlers between 1500 and 1800.  A number of written accounts detail European settlers stumbling upon entire abandoned, uninhabited native American cities.  Similar accounts come from South America, where Indians tell the story of not being able to keep up with burial practices due to the large number of losses to diseases and people succumbed to their illness rather quickly.

A number of factors make recovery of indigenous religious beliefs and practices difficult.  I have just spent three days immersed in the history, ritual and beliefs of Indian culture and have only scratched the surface of what that reality must have been like for them.  Much of what I learned though can be beneficial for those of us who respect their approaches to spirituality.  It will take several blogs to begin to lay out its implications. This is especially important as we stretch ourselves to understand where God is still speaking in the life of the church.  Hymnals, pews, organs and steeples have been symbols of "church" for a relatively brief time in Christian history and we don't know yet what the future holds as we seek renewal in our time. 

For this first blog concerning Native American ritual I want to set out a few essentials;

1.  The essential foundation for Indian spirituality is "respect".  Paying attention to what you eat, how you interact with nature, and who you treat others is central to everything that they do.  Life is divided into three realms, the middle world in which we live, the lower world of the spirits of the earth, and the upper world from which comes wisdom and guidance from God and our ancestors.  All of these realms must be treated to with respect.

2.  Transcendence is very important in Indian ritual.  Drumming is a technique whereby the leader sets the tone for the ritual.  Rituals are performed to explore these realms and to ask questions, to  receive power, to restore ones soul, and to find healing.  Singing, dancing and drumming are consistent features.  This is also prominent in African Christian worship and Trinity has a couple of Ghanaian drums from Rev. Ledo's time with us. 

3.  Sometimes when we here stories about animals bringing messages and teaching lessons we may think that this is similar to Western society where we understand and write in metaphors.  But, for the Indian, these are not metaphors, this is real.  The essence of a bear can teach us much about ourselves because all nature is one.  The transcendence of worship lifts you to a place where you experience these things in new ways. 

We were given a song sheet with ritual songs.  Indian songs remind me of the Psalms, the songs found in the Bible that ancient Israelites used to sing on special occasions.  Indians are encouraged to write their own song of their life.  This form of self-expression can be very healing.  There are songs for every occasion in life.  An example;

Behold, the time has come.
The time has come to unite as one.
Behold the time has come.
To encircle the Earth with our love.

The circle is also important in Indian ritual because it symbolizes that we are all the same and each of us has a place on the earth.

In the next blog, I plan to discuss some of the specific rituals that we participated in.  I also had an opportunity to visit the new American Indian Museum which is part of the Smithsonian Museum.  I would recommend a trip to see it when you're in the DC area.

Back in Ohio for awhile

Someone asked me about an idea from a recent blog and someone else said that they couldn't find a way to let me know that they were following what I was writing.  You can ask questions or make comments at the bottom of each blog.  Simply click on "comments"  at the bottom of my entry and it will give you a box to type in and post after my blog.  Don't worry, if it's offensive or unhelpful I can delete it or respond without others seeing what was written.  There is also a link called "follow" where you can be notified whenever the blog is updated via email.

While we were in Florida, Sam and I had an opportunity to visit two holocaust museums.  One is located near Orlando in Maitland and another in St. Petersburg.  We have been to the Holocaust museum in D.C. several times and I would recommend it to anyone planning to travel there. 


The events surrounding World War 2 teach us that misinformation and persecution of groups of people no matter what their differences can lead to terrible consequences. My personal interest in the subject is to be sure we recognize oppression as its happening and not in hindsight.  My father was one of the first American soldiers on the scene to liberate the Concentration camps, so I compare his memories with the accounts in the museums.  Both museums had on display letters that have been written by the KKK which deny that it happened.


Both museums we visited continue to be active in their communities to teach about injustice and prejudice in the world today. The Maitland museum has a community program to counter bullying. 


The UCC also has very good resources and anti-bullying initiatives and I would recommend that you look over this page on the ucc website;   http://www.ucc.org/justice/children-and-youth/what-can-we-do-to-stop.html


The State of Florida passed legislation in 1994 that Holocaust education must be taught in public schools as;

• An investigation of human behavior
• An understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping
• An examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions by offering intensive training programs, curriculum materials, resources, and sustained support.

Florida's tie to World War 2 is the journey of the S. S. St. Louis. 

On November 9-10, 1938, Nazi troops destroyed hundreds of synagogues, as well as 7,000 Jewish-owned businesses and homes.  Kristallnacht was the real beginning of the Holocaust.

From 1933 to 1938, half of Germany’s 600,000 Jews remained in the country, because they believed that anti-Semitism would soon diminish. After Kristallnacht, they understood that they had to emigrate. Tens of thousands flooded foreign consulates throughout Germany for visas. The problem was that few countries were willing to accept them.
The S.S. St. Louis was part of the Hamburg-American Line. On May 13, 1939, six months after Kristallnacht, 937 men, women, and children, boarded the S.S. St. Louis for Cuba. 930 of them were Jewish refugees from Nazi persecution and were among the last to escape from Germany’s tightening restrictions on emigration.
The ship arrived near the Havana harbor two weeks later. The passengers were unaware that Cuba’s government had changed just a week before the ship had sailed and the new government would not honor their visas. The new administration ruled that only 28 passengers held valid passports and could enter the country.


Complicating the process was Nazi propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbel who had decided to exploit the case of the S.S. St. Louis and its passengers for his own purposes. Knowing that Jews would be coming into Cuba, Goebbels engineered an anti-Jewish hate campaign there. He spread misinformation that these Jewish immigrants were criminals and would be a threat to Cuba. In fact, because of Goebbels propaganda, five days before the S.S. St. Louis left Hamburg, 40,000 Cubans took part in a demonstration against Jewish immigration to Havana.


The ship stayed in the Havana harbor for one week, while officials tried to gain the admission of the rest of the passengers.
Now that the ship could not dock in Cuba, Captain Schroeder sailed it to the Florida coast. There he hoped that the United States would admit the passengers. Desperately trying to avoid a forced return to Germany and certain death, the passengers – more than 400 of whom were women and children, and many of whom actually had quota numbers to eventually enter the United States. The State Department sent word that it would not interfere in Cuban affairs and refused to allow the passengers to come ashore. In fact, even as the ship was entering Florida’s territories, the Coast Guard had fired a warning shot in its direction. There was no choice but to turn back toward Germany.
Sailing up and down both coasts of Florida, the St. Louis was shadowed by a Coast Guard ship to prevent passengers from swimming to freedom in the United States. Passengers recalled being able to see cities like Miami from the liner, but were unable to go that short distance to freedom.
Passengers pleaded with world leaders to give them asylum so that they could avoid going back to Germany. The Joint Distribution Committee and other agencies did manage to persuade four countries to admit them. They were Belgium, Holland, France, and England. Within a year, however, the Nazis occupied the first three of these countries and most of the passengers eventually died in concentration camps. Only those in England were saved.
For Hitler, the case of the S.S. St. Louis proved that, in spite of the protests of the Allied leaders to the contrary, they didn’t want Jews in their countries any more than he wanted them in his. In fact, when a Canadian official was asked how many Jews fleeing from Nazi Europe could be admitted to Canada, he responded: “None is too many.”  which eventually became the title of a book, describing Canada’s disastrous refugee policies.
Unfortunately, our own government succumbed to the anti-Semitic and conservative pressures of the State Department and placed severe restrictions on the refugee quotas.


The Florida Holocaust connection reminds us how we view history through the lens of our place in life.  Let's hope that people of goodwill will have the courage to do the right thing when the times demand. It's a call to keep our ears open to the world's need. If you're in the St. Petersburg area, it's well worth visiting the Florida Holocaust Museum. 

The Day after Synod

A little local flavor;  the Tampa Convention Center is surrounded by a "riverwalk" area where people are able to dock boats and sit and watch the river.  Between breaks yesterday, someone claimed to have seen a dolphin in the bay.  I spent some time watching, but other than a couple of lizards who played among the palm trees and a few waterfowl, nothing made an appearance in the water.  A large brightly colored sign that says, "Caution Manatee area" hangs over the opening of the bridge to the bay.  When I was in Maine I didn't see any Moose either. 

The last day of business was packed full of more resolutions than I can remember.  In an effort to save money, a proposal was considered which would change the frequency of Synod from every two years (odd numbered) to 3 or 4 years.  This was defeated.  The representatives asked that  the Synod planning committee could consider ways to cut costs for future Synods. 

Two significant resolutions passed by substantial margins;  A resolution to "Counter actions of hostility against Islam and the Muslim Community" was ratified by a 729-10 vote.  Another resolution, "International human rights related to sexual orientation and gender identity" passed by a 757-9 vote.  A church in Worcester, Massachusetts operates a rescue mission for LGBT people who are escaping persecution in their homeland.  Four young people spoke about the physical abuse that LGBT individuals suffer around the world.  There are currently thirty-five people in the program.  More information is available at www.lgbtasylum.org 

Other resolutions that were affirmed;
Affirming Health Care Coverage for Clergy  and Lay employees
Mindful and faithful Eating
Support of the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners
A Covenant for Youth Ministries  (written largely by Sharon Nelson from Orrville) -Ask Melissa for more information
Reflection and advocacy on behalf of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Tracy Hughes spoke to our women's group about the issue.)
The Rights of Lesbian, Gay and Transgendered parents and adoption
Forming a Theological commission for the UCC
Common agreement on mutual recognition of Baptism (I wrote about this earlier.)

Video of these discussions can be found at www.ucc.org/synod/

I'll offer more reflections later.  In these last two days we plan to see the Florida Aquarium located here in Tampa, Busch Gardens and Universal Studios in Orlando and then return late Friday night to Ohio. 

Thanks to those of you  who are stepping up to cover duties while I am gone. 

Fireworks

Fireworks were enjoyed by Synod Goers this evening over the bay in Tampa.  Ruth and Lori Tisher, Ella, Sam, Shannon and Stephen watched from a nearby patio.

Fireworks also dominated the business of the day surrounding the issue of unified governance.  This issue was the only piece of business from 10 a.m. until dismissal at 8:45 a/m.  with the result being a 613 to 161 affirmative vote. 

Nearly 900 delegates passed the morning's common agreement of mutual recognition of Baptism by a 92% margin.  The main point of contention is that in order for other denominations to recognize baptism from the UCC, the Trinitarian formula, "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" must be used in the Sacrament.   

We heard a report from the executives about about articulation of the core values of the UCC.  Three core values were identified;  continuing testament, extravagant welcome and changing lives.  Geoffrey Black, General Minister, encouraged synod delegates to take back the 11-1-11 to 11-11-11 challenge for hunger related issues.  (Read my previous blogs for more information about Mission1.
or visit the website at www.ucc.org/mission1 

What this would mean for us in the church year, since it begins on a Tuesday and ends on a Friday is that kickoff of the event would be Sunday Oct. 30, Communion on November 6 and wrap up on Sunday the 13th which is also Stewardship Sunday.

Geoffrey Black also laid out his five goals as General Minister;
1. Be a Growing Church
2. Widely recognized in the public square
3. To be a catalyst for excellence in Ministry and church life
4. That Environmental Stewardship is essential to our practice of the Christian faith
5. That the UCC be relevant and reflective of the age and race demographics of the U.S.

The three things we can do to make these goals real is to;
1. Get behind Mission1.
2. Be Ambassadors for OCWM and Stewardship Giving.
3. Partner your church with a church that is very different from your own.

He ended by reminding us that hard work is not alien to our tradition.

You may want to check out a new UCC sponsored program begun by two twin brothers who are traveling the U.S. interviewing people who are working in mission.  Their videos may be viewed at www.Twinmaps.com

On this fourth of July we were reminded that 11 of the original 52 signers of the Declaration of Independence were UCC members.  (Congregationalists of which 11 % of UCC churches pre-date the founding of our nation.) 

Tomorrow is the final day of synod.  8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
 

More Synod Materials

If anyone is interested in reading current books about the cultural changes that are influencing our congregations, I picked up a suggested reading list compiled by the Faculty of Eden Seminary.  Suggestions include;  Strategic Leadership for a Change by Kenneth McFayden, Toward a Hopeful Future:  Why the Emergent Church is Good News for Mainline Congregations by Phil Snyder and Emily Bowen, and Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is telling the American  Church by Kenneth Dean.

I also ran into an old friend, Lorin Cope, today.  Lorin is now the Director of Donor Relations for Crossroad in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  (Crossroad is more familiarly know as Fort Wayne Children's Home to some.) He spoke about the ways Crossroad has changed in the last decade to keep up with current social service needs of young people.  They are now involved in more outsourcing for parents and children and have fewer residents.  At Trinity, we often discuss Crossroad as a mission  partner and try to find ways to support their work. One church is raising money to sponsor a fall festival for the residents.  Other special needs are periodic as well.  Lorin offered to come to Trinity to speak and interpret the work that is now being done at Crossroad.  I am bringing back materials for our committee to consider.

I have been invited to the OCWM (Our Church's Wider Mission) luncheon tomorrow (July 4) as a representative of a congregation that faithfully supports wider church mission.  They haven't given any more detail than that, but I will bring back information  from that event as well.  Our Synod day tomorrow begins at 7 a.m. and will conclude at 8:45 p.m. so that we can adjourn in time for 4th of July fireworks over the Bay.  The Tampa Convention Center sits right at the top of the Bay and we will be able to watch fireworks from the riverwalk area.

The Global Ministries booth has a constant stream of speakers.  Today I was able to hear from several African Church leaders.  Someone from Swaziland spoke about the efforts of the  church to stem the tide of violence in places like Sudan and Libya through the working relationship with Muslim religious leaders.  Another speaker talked about the challenges of the church in South Africa.  An interesting and consistent theme was their desire to resist secularism and a passion to  hold on to their religious rituals and way of life. 

I attended a workshop today titled, "10 keys to becoming an open and affirming church".  In my conversation  with Paul  Shupe from Lexington, Mass, he spoke about this same issue and ways that Hancock UCC is approaching education and affirmation. More information can be found at www.ucc/lgbt   There is an ecumenical "Welcoming Church Coalition" which suggests that step one is to create a leadership group to explore possibilities.  I also picked up a booklet that our finance committee will find helpful "10 Ways to Increase Giving in Tough Financial Times".

Other workshops  with interesting titles that I have flagged to attend over the next two days are;  "3 strategies for reaching new people",  "2 Ways to keep your church building from killing your congregation", 5 key elements of growing a Stillspeaking church", "5 key elements of Hospitality", "20 tips to improve Church Hospitality", "6 ways to improve your Church Newsletter" and "5 ways stillspeaking can increase worship attendance".  These are offered at various times through the day and I hope to bring back resources for our committees and church leaders.  I still need to make a run on the bookstore too.  There are a lot of good resources to be found there.

Synod Day Three

Sunday morning at Synod I saw Ruth and Lori Tisher and Joyce Schoer. 

Joyce and I were both assigned to attend the committee hearing which concerns issues that UCC Pastors and employees have with the Pension boards Health care benefits.  We worked in committee for about four hours crafting laguage to present to the General Synod on either Monday or Tuesday. 

I commissioned Ruth Tisher as our Mission Chair to do two things this fall;  first to get us on board with the UCC's 11-1-11 to 11-11-11 mission emphasis to fight hunger and the  second is to help move Trinity toward being recognized as a "Global Mission Church".  This will be a good agenda for our work this fall.

Synod Day Two

Here is a brief recap of the first day of Synod;

The UCC has a very good start on General Synod 28.  Representatives from about 100 new church starts came forward with signs printed with the names of the new churches.  We have a five year total of 173 new churches in the UCC.  The Center for Progressive Renewal executive director, Cameron Trimble spoke briefly  about their work and encouraged each local church to think about it's role in creating and renewing local UCC churches. 

Some of the larger issues facing Synod this time are unified governance, frequency of General Synod gatherings, and mutual recognition of Baptism. 

Two new leaders are nominated for important positions in the National setting;  Ben Guess is nominated to head the Local Church Ministries as Executive Minister and Jim Moos has been nominated for election as executive Minister of Wider Church Ministries.  Acceptance speeches from both of these leaders can be found on the UCC website www.ucc.org/synod/

In addition to my family, Ella, Samuel and Shannon as visitors.  Names you may also know;  Rich Plant, Gary Friend, John Schluep, Lori and Ruth Tisher, Jim and Sharon Nelson, Sandy Lueschen, Ray Deuring, Bob Molsberry.

A prominent theme is Mission:1.
11.1.11-11.11.11
That they may all be 1.
One United Church for 11 powerful days to feed the hungry and confront food-related injustice.

More information can be found at www.ucc.org/mission1

Mission  Committee take note;  The goal is for UCC churches to collect more than 1 million items of healthy food and household items for local outreach.
Online contributions of more than $111,111 for Neighbors in Need (We observe NIN on World  Communion on the first Sunday of October.)
11,111 letters to congress asking our government to reform foreign assistance to effectively provide benefits for hungry people.  This is being called an "offering of letters".

Everyone told me that it would be unbearably hot in Tampa at this time of year, but actually it has been in the high 70's to low 80's with very enjoyable nights.  

Tomorrow morning we begin conversations in our smaller committee working groups.  I was assigned to the "Affirming Health Care Coverage" committee.  Charged with bringing a concise statement before the larger body, each committee brings together a variety of opinions and suggestions for implementation and makes a presentation of less than 20 minutes for consideration. 

Synod continues through Tuesday, July 5th.


One of the more interesting signs in Florida!