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CT Clergy Gather to Celebrate 25/50 Year Ordinands

Almost 100 Connecticut clergy gathered at the Four Points Sheraton in Meriden on Dec. 4 to celebrate the 25th and 50th Ordination Anniversaries of 18 church leaders, chaplains and educators. The attendees spent time in fellowship, shared a meal, and heard the words of keynote speaker The Rev. Kaji Spellman Douša, Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church in Manhattan.

Rev. Spellman Douša spoke about church as a Living Sanctuary. She began with a look back at the Abolitionist history of the church and gave a specific example of efforts at Darien Congregational Church (where Spellman Douša was an Acting Associate Minister in 2006-7). She recalled Darien’s former senior pastor, the Rev. Ronald Thomas Evans, giving tours of the sanctuary and revealing a secret area hidden under the floor of the sanctuary and used to shelter formerly enslaved Africans as they migrated north to find a new life.

Read more, including a list of the clergy who were honored


$50,000 Set as Goal for Friends of the Conference Appeal

The Connecticut Conference recently sent out it's annual Friends of the Conference appeal, and is hoping to increase participation to raise more than $50,000.

Money donated to Friends of the Conference helps supplement income received through Our Church's Wider Mission Basic Support and per capita contributions from churches to help the Conference carry out existing ministries and develop important strategies moving forward.

In this year's appeal letter, Conference Minister the Rev. Kent Siladi, lifts up the focus on living the love and justice of Jesus.

Read the letter & make a donation


Many Voices One Mission: Ministry As Art

By Susan Page Townsley, Associate for Innovation, Leadership and Change for the Connecticut Conference, UCC

“Art is a human activity,” wrote Leo Tolstoy, “consisting in this, that one man hands on to others feelings he has lived through.” 
 
The work of ministry is, to be sure, an art.  In crafting worship we attempt to make space for the breadth of human experience, the joys, the struggles, the vagaries, the hopes.  In pastoral work and mission we connect individuals and groups to share in a common purpose to bring dignity, compassion and justice to the other.
 
I like the use of the word “art” for ministry.  I think ministry is about one third imagination and two thirds project planning and time management.  Much like the writer who needs to put in the work to get the story in the form of so many well-constructed sentences, or the sculptor who must chisel the stone to match her imagination, the art of ministry needs space for both imagination and for the labor of creation.

Read more


Many Voices, One Mission is a regular series highlighting the ministries of the CT, MA, and RI Conference of the United Church of Christ.

 


Churches in the News

NPR.ORG: Connecticut VA Opens Its Doors To 'Bad Paper' Veterans

For an estimated 500,000 veterans, being put out of the military with an other than honorable discharge is a source of shame and an obstacle to employment. "Bad paper," in most cases, means no benefits or health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs — even when the problems that got them kicked out were linked to PTSD, traumatic brain injury or military sexual assault.

But last month, Connecticut opened state VA resources to vets who can show that one of those conditions is linked to their discharge. For veterans like Thomas Burke, now a youth minister at Norfield Congregational Church, it's part of a long path to recovery.

Read or listen to the NPR story


Starting With Scripture: Out of Our Wilderness

 

By The Rev. Candace Whitman, pastor of Fishers Island Union Chapel, in Fishers Island, NY

I am the kind of person who likes to be prepared. I am prepared with a sermon every Sunday. I come with notes to Trustee meetings. I joyfully prepare for guests, and love to go prepared to birthdays with a specially selected gift.
 
But I am not prepared for the change of seasons this year. I’ve been busy, and my summer clothes are still in my drawers, sweaters in the storage bin upstairs. The hostas need snipping in the garden, and I still haven’t looked for the small snow shovel I keep in my car just in case I am stuck in a storm.
 
I am not ready for winter, let alone Christmas, and yet Advent has begun.

Read the full post


Starting with Scripture is a weekly devotional written by current and former clergy and church leaders of the Connecticut Conference, UCC. Subscribe to receive the reflection each Monday at: ctucc.org/subscribe.


Super Saturday Workshop Proposals Now Being Accepted

Workshop proposals are now being accepted for the next Super Saturday, being held March 16, 2019, at Minneachaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, MA. 

If you would like to share concepts and practices you’ve developed that are changing your congregation or community’s mission and ministry, we invite you to consider submitting a workshop proposal.  As a workshop leader, your registration will be free.  

Submission deadline is this month - find out more here.


Upcoming Conference Events

 

2019 Women Clergy Event: Food for the Journey
February 5, 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM
South Congregational Church, 
East Hartford, CT

Clergy women are invited to a day of relaxation and prayer. Explore the indoor labyrinth, relax with kinetic sand and soulful music, find time to create in the art space or find silence in the prayer corner.

CT UCC Confirmation Retreats
February 8 - 10
March 1 - 3
April 5 - 7

Silver Lake Conference Center, Sharon CT

Join us for a great experience with activities, worship, and fellowship appropriate for youth in grades 7-9 during their Confirmation year.


Obituaries

The Rev. Mr. Mark I. Hamilton, 70, died of acute myeloid leukemia at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, ME on Nov. 26, 2018.  Mark is survived by his wife, Sally, and his two sons, Justin Hamilton and Nathaniel Hamilton. 
 
Mark was ordained in 1985.  He served the Storrs Congregational Church in Storrs, CT, Trinity Congregational Church in Gloucester, MA, the First Congregational Church in Methuen, MA, First Congregational Church in Rochester, NH, and the Community Congregational Church UCC in New Port Richey, FL.  He retired to Walpole, ME in 2014. In retirement, as in ministry, Mark worked tirelessly for the disadvantaged, social justice and peace issues and concerns.  
 
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at 1:00 PM at the Second Congregational Church, 51, Main Street, Newcastle, ME.

Read more


Classifieds

More: ctucc.org/classifieds


Other Events of Interest

Non-Directive Coaching Skills Basics for Busy Pastors
Jan. 29, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Edwards House Meeting Center, Framingham, MA

Led by Rev. Todd Weir and Rev. Jim Latimer, who teach how to listen powerfully and not give advice. 

 
 
 

Connecticut Conference, UCC
125 Sherman Street, Hartford, CT 06105
Toll Free in CT: 866.367.2822 | 860.233.5564