September 1, 2010 Volume 2: Edition 8
I Love The Church
by Gail O'Neal, Associate Conference Minister for Christian Nurture and Congregational Life
 
Pilgrim Center Cross
Pilgrim Center Cross
I have often referred to myself as a cheerleader for the church.  I don't mean that I use 'Pollyanna" vision when I consider this very human, very frail, very faulty institution.  The church is guilty of appalling sins, some make us blush, and others make us weep.
 
That is not what I mean.  I love the church for reasons that I don't understand with my mind; rather with my heart.
 
I was blessed to grow up in the church.  My parents went; my grandparents went, every aunt, uncle, and cousin went.  I would have taken the cat if allowed.  We didn't attend the same church nor belong to the same denomination.  We ranged from Mennonite, Methodist, Lutheran, conservative, liberal, urban and rural.  Obviously, we didn't believe the same things and even the beliefs we shared carried differences.  But those differences didn't keep us from being family or being churched.  It was about being part of Christ's church and having a sense of how big and wide that was to accommodate not just us, but loads of other people as well.
 
read on
The Gathering - Bringing Church Into The Community
 
The Gathering Church Service
The Gathering Church Service
St. John's UCC in Sheboygan, led by Pastor Greg Whelton, has added an additional worship service.  It isn't at 9:00 am on Sunday morning, or always behind the walls of their church, and the people attending aren't usually sitting in pews.  This special worship service, called "The Gathering" takes place in the middle of the surrounding life in the community that envelops their building.  They meet in God's world - on the beach, farms, and local restaurants.  Meeting monthly, this spiritually uplifting event has drawn many unfamiliar faces and has brought the word of God to some who haven't yet experienced his graces.  In non-traditional spaces, with food, music and community, St. John's UCC in Sheboygan is infiltrating their community with God's word. For information on "The Gathering" see their website calendar or call 902-452-5296.
Online Course at Lakeland
 
The M. A. program in Theology at Lakeland College is seeking students for the introductory course in Old Testament for this fall term, beginning Sept. 9 at 5:30-8:30 PM. Dr. Karl Kuhn is the instructor.  The course is offered in a unique format with GotoMeeting software.  You are at home on your computer (no driving to class!), speak to everyone else in the class via Skype, and you see on your screen whatever the instructor puts up on his screen.  There is financial aid available for UCC students.  This would be an excellent beginning course for anyone interested in graduate study and for anyone simply exploring what further study would involve.  Course meets every Thursday evening from 5:30 to 8:30 from September 9 through the first week in December.
 
Please contact Colleen Darling at the Mission House Center at Lakeland College if you  might be interested, at 920-565-1538 or [email protected]
 
Remembering Doris Beatty
 
Doris Beatty
Doris Beatty
With great affection, the Wisconsin Conference acknowledges the life of Doris Beatty who recently died on July 21, 2010.  Before there was an official Arts Committee, Doris teamed up with Ginger Long, Rheda Schultz, Vicki Kessler, Linda Hancock and Gail O'Neal to form the Women's Art Collective.  Together they created the 12 foot fibre piece now hanging in the chapel at the Conference Center entitled, "The Mustard Seed."  With scripture as their foundation, the Collective went on to produce other pieces including The Flood panels which encircle the west wing meeting room at the Conference Center, Fishes and Loaves at Pilgrim Center, a piece hanging in our national UCC offices in Cleveland, and works in numerous churches throughout the state.
 
 
Doris never met a piece of fabric she didn't like, or couldn't find a use for.  Quilts were her loving forte but just as often she could be found producing dolls for friends or a shopping bag of finger puppets for Head Start.  Doris brought tremendous gifts to the table; a keen eye, a willing heart, a strong mind and a joyful spirit.  She was an inspiration to women in ministry and will be missed by many.
Board of Directors to Host CHHSM President
Bryan Sickbert, CEO and President of CHHSM
Bryan Sickbert
 
The Wisconsin Conference Board of Directors invites Board Members and representatives from Wisconsin CHHSM agencies to a day with Rev. Bryan Sickbert, CHHSM's President/CEO, at Pilgrim Center in Ripon on Monday, September 20.  The program will begin with breakfast at 8:00 am and conclude at 3:00 PM.  

 
Rev. Sickbert will be with us to discuss Spiritual Resources for a Church Related Board.  

Breakfast ($7) and lunch ($10) can be provided at a total cost of $17 per attendee.  Fees can be paid on the day of the event. To RSVP, please email Liisa Analore at [email protected].  Please RSVP by September 10.
Louis Edward Nollau - A Celebration of His Life 200 Years after his Birth  
November 5 (8:30am)- 6 (12:15pm), 2010 at Eden Theological Seminary Louis Edward Nollau

Registration fees:
Friday and Saturday - $50
Friday only - $35
Saturday only - $25
 
The United Church of Christ has a long, multifaceted history populated with different nationalities, theologies and people. Among these, Louis Edward Nollau stands out as one of our most important founding fathers.
 
Two hundred years have passed since the birth of this important man, during which the church united from many different roots. Today, we reflect upon our Evangelical Heritage and its influences on our modern-day church.
 
We invite you to join us as we celebrate and explore the life of a man whose conscientiousness and untiring energy helped create institutions that last still to this day. Please join us in St. Louis in November in an event sponsored by the Wisconsin Conference UCC, the Deaconess Foundation and Eden Theological Seminary.

More information and registration
Back Bay Mission Video Update 
 
Video InsetBack Bay Mission, a community ministry of the United Church of Christ, serves the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the wider church community by faithful witness for social justice and compassionate service to the poor and marginalized. Back Bay Mission shall embody with integrity and truth the prophetic mandate of Micah: "to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
 
Rev. Shari Prestemon, Executive Director of Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Mississippi provides an update to OdysseyNetworks.org on the work of the Back Bay Mission in the Gulf area.

View the video
WI Conference Welcomes URC Visitor
 
Rev. "SPI" LewisThe Wisconsin Conference will welcome United Reformed Church minister, Rev. Stephen Paul Illtyd (SPI) Lewis, as a visitor to the Conference in October. The Wisconsin Conference holds an ecumenical partnership with the United Reformed Church and welcomes a guest each year to learn about the teachings and mission of the Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ. 
 
SPI will travel from his home in Bristol, United Kingdom where he serves as a minister of a small church in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire to Wisconsin.  He is interested in seeing how small churches connect with their community and how they work out their mission.  He is also interested in seeing the ways that churches encourage members in spiritual development - prayer and study groups amidst the demands of busy life styles. 
 
SPI's role in the South-West Synod of the URC is as one of the five Synod Pastoral Advisors in the Synod includes helping communication between local churches and Synod.  He also serves on a Pastoral Committee to give guidance to the life of the churches in the Synod. SPI's background is in school teaching and he often serves as a local tutor for the denominational lay training program, "Training for Learning and Service" and also as a local tutor for an ecumenical training program preparing people for ordination in the Church of England and Methodist traditions. 
 
SPI will spend a week in each of the four associations, visiting congregations and will participate in the Northeast/Northwest Clergy retreat at Moon Beach and attend other events and gatherings in congregations and associations.  He will be invited to preach in congregations.  Contact the Association offices for SPI's schedule in your Association.
GLAUCE Annual Fall Event
Church on Fire: Igniting a Passion for Christ - A Event For Church Educators
 Glauce
October 12-14, 2010 in Techny, Illinois
 
Keynote Speaker:  Blair Bertrand who currently attends Princeton Theological Seminary as a PhD candidate in Youth ministry. 
  
 
Is Your Playground Safe?
United Church of Christ Insurance Board 
 
Every day in the US nearly 500 children are sent to emergency rooms because of injuries sustained on playgrounds! Kids hurt themselves falling off slides and structures, colliding with moving pieces of equipment or other children on swings, and catching their clothing on equipment. Children also hurt themselves in ways we cannot predict or foresee. Research shows the most dangerous pieces of playground equipment are swings, monkey bars, climbers and slides. Of course accidents will happen, but simple steps you take today can go a long way in providing a safe play area for your most precious resource: your children!
 
Celebrate The Power Of Bridging Faith And Ecology
 
An open house and showcase, created by the Interfaith Earth Network and partners, will highlight the success of local congregations' green teams. Enjoy an afternoon of inspiration and live music (Jeff Bray, Jahmes Tony Finlayson, Holly Haebig), network with green teams as they exhibit, perform and demonstrate their sustainable living, faith education, and advocacy projects. Children's activities, earth-friendly snacks.
 
Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1-4 p.m. at the Urban Ecology Center.  For all ages. Free; donations to support the work of the Interfaith Earth Network gratefully accepted.
 
More Information
 
Transition Tidings-
 
In conjunction with the passing of the Organizational Design proposal of the Wisconsin Conference at the Annual Meeting we have begun to work on the transitions that need to occur before July of 2011.  We would like to keep you all updated on what has been happening and will publish  updates  in Wisconsin Conference Life.   Here are the things that have been started:   
 
A constitution and by-law review and re-write committee is working and has a target of having a draft to the Conference Board at its November 29 meeting.  We intend to have items that Associations may need to vote on to the Associations prior to their spring Association meetings.
 
Common Financial System:  Very soon the Southeast Association accounting will be moved to the Conference business office and by January 1, 2011 all Associations will have their financial management done by the business office.  Deposits will come to the Trost Center.  Each Association will have its own separate account and account number and all their funds will be managed for their purposes.  Checks will identify the Association name.
 
Common database: Intention is to have it ready by January 1.  The common database will be run out in two steps.  The first will be January 1-June 30, 2011.  During this time the database will be on the Conference server, but each of the four Association offices will be able to access it individually.  After June 30, the access will be available to the two regional Associate Conference Ministers and the Administrative Assistant to the Associations.
 
Directory Update:  We are moving forward with the idea that there will be one directory.  All churches and clergy will be listed as they currently are in the Conference directory.  Then, at the end of the book there will be colored pages, one color for each Association.  There each Association can list its own committees, etc., and any other numbers, emails, etc., that it wishes.
Knock, Knock! Be There! 
 
It's a middle school thing! Start your 6-8th graders on an adventure called CHURCH. Open the DOOR to energized Youth Ministry.

At Knock Knock, your group will:
  • Discover love and acceptance as the true experience of the church
  • Connect faith to THEIR most pressing concerns
  • Dealing with peers ("Friends")
  • Family Relationships ("Family")
  • Violence ("Hurt")
  • Media Temptation ("Influence")

November 19 - 21, 2010 Pilgrim Center on Green Lake
Friday 7pm  - Sunday 11:30am
Cost: $135  per person 

Early-bird rate is $125, if registration is postmarked by October 15th
 
Registration Deadline: Oct, 29, 2010

More information

MayI Love The Church...
 
As a young girl from a small town, my best friend Jane and I decided to give each other church tours.  After school one day, she walked me to the Presbyterian Church that she attended and gave me a tour which included a baptismal tank that absolutely fascinated me.  On another afternoon, I walked her to the Methodist Church and showed her every single room, even the ones up behind the chancel where choir robes and stoles were kept.  We scoured every nook and cranny together; those being the days when churches could leave their doors wide open and two young girls could wander in and around as if they owned the place.  I can still take that tour in my mind even though the building itself is long gone.
 
I can still close my eyes and sit in that sanctuary.  I can see the arch over the chancel with the gold leaf lettering.  I can hear the creaky choir chairs after the anthem.  My knees can feel the rail where my mother and I knelt to take communion together.  She nearly flipped when she caught me trying to lick every drop of Welch's grape juice from the teeny glass with my tongue. I can go down those stairs and find the fellowship room where my wedding reception would be.  I can go up those stairs and find the Sunday School room where Mrs. Freese did her best to instill some sense of story and ethics into our young minds.  I remember exactly where my Dad and I sat when he served as the usher.  My first grade teacher sang in the choir.  My friend Sue sat four rows over with her family.  My mother's funeral was in that church, filled to the brim with people who loved her and grieved her loss right along with her family.
 
One particular morning, I arrived at church about as confused and upset as a teenager can get.  I can't remember the circumstances; only that Mrs. Best must have read crisis on my face.  She put her arm around me and suggested I walk to her house where Mary Ann, my friend, was skipping church that morning.  So I did.  Jesus looked a lot like Mrs. Best that morning.  Church split from what continued to happen in that beloved building to a random location where Christ was present.
 
Why do I remember that particular morning so well?  Why is it that whenever I walk into a church, I feel like I belong, like somehow I have the freedom to wander around like its home?  How is it that I see the church taking shape in coffee shops, gyms, on soccer sidelines, trains in South America, and on ash covered fire trucks in New York after the Towers fell?
 
I love the church.  Not my church, not your church, not even our church, but Christ's church; because deep within lie the seeds of God's love with the ability to grow, nurture, forgive and heal lives that are just about as mangled and mixed up as they can be.  We're all stories waiting to be told, longing to be heard, and aching to be loved.  That's church.
 
It's all about God, my friends.  Church is about God, just like Scripture.  Beyond the buildings, the budgets, the potlucks, the tremendous missions, the shameful wrongs that we bring to it, it's about the sanctity of that home that has the potential to change and heal our lives.  Christ will always be springing up where the church needs to be. 
 
I hope we are paying close attention.  There are yet wanderers out there who need an afternoon tour of the holy to set them on the right path toward home.
In This Issue
Bringing Church to Community
Remembering Doris Beatty
CHHSM President to Visit
Nollau Celebration
Back Bay Video Update
URC Visitor
GLAUCE Fall Event
Is Your Playground Safe?
Westend Gospel Singers
Church Building and Loan Fund Logo 
 

 
Thinking about a
 campaign for your church?  In 13 weeks
you can go from thinking to doing to celebrating your success with
 
 MissionInsite

WI UCC is offering free, unlimited access to MissionInsite, a tool for you to utilize to locate church members, acquire instant access to community information, and access demographic data. 
  
 
 
Join The 2011 Worship Committee
 
 
Are you a choir director, worship leader or musician in your church? The Worship Committee of the Wisconsin Conference needs you!  The committee meets monthly 4-6 times a year to plan the worship of the upcoming Annual Meeting.  Lunch and mileage (volunteer rate) are provided. 
 
Email Liisa Analore at [email protected]
 if you are interested in serving
 
 
Join us on Facebook
 
twitter 
 
Links
 
 
 
 
 
 UCC
 
Association web sites
 
Gospel Workshop
 
Gospellers 
A Gospel Workshop, sponsored by the Wisconsin Conference UCC, is being held on Friday evening September 17 and Saturday, September 18 at Our Savior's UCC in Ripon, Wisconsin.
 

Westend Gospel Singers

Background

Brochure

Bulletin Insert

Bulletin Announcement and Church Newsletter Article

 
 

 

 
 

Online Programming Offered through the Wisconsin Conference now has online registration

 Work Smarter
 Not Harder
Monthly Online Administrative Classes through the Wisconsin Conference
 
WebEx
 Church Newsletters
 Good Newsletter Strategies From Print to Electronic
September 8
10:00 am-10:45am
$10 Register Online
 
PC Check Up - 5 Simple Tools To Make Your Computer Run Faster
October 13
 1:00 pm-1:45pm
$10 Register Online
 
Time Management - Easy Ways To Capture More Time

November 10
 2:00 pm-2:45pm
$10 Register Online
 
Facebook/Twitter - Using the Social Network to Stay in Touch

December 8
11:00 am-11:45am
$10 Register Online
 
Email Management - How To Gain Two Extra Hours Each Day

January 5
2:00 pm-2:45pm
$10 Register Online
 
Photo Editing For Web Pages - Posting Great Images on a Budget

 February 9
10:00 am-10:45am
$10 Register Online
 
Excel Excellence - Tips for Maximizing Spreadsheets
March 9
1:00 pm-1:45pm
$10 Register Online
 
Making Them Move - Creating Online Videos and Promotions

April 13
10:00 am-10:45am
$10 Register Online

 

Sept 17 & 18

 
Is your church having an upcoming event?  The Wisconsin Conference loves to receive digital pictures of events held within our conference.  Send us your follow ups, pictures, and quotes!  You just might see your church featured in our electronic communications.
 
Westend Gospel Singers
from Eberswalde, Germany
singing gospel music
in English
 
Gospellers
PERFORMANCE
SCHEDULE
 
Sunday, Sept. 19
9:00 Worship
Our Savior's UCC
343 Scott St.  
Ripon WI 
 
Sunday, Sept. 19
4:00 Concert
Grace UCC
535 S. Third Ave.
Wausau, WI 
 
Monday, Sept. 20
7:30 Concert
St. Stephen's UCC
903 East 2nd Street
Merrill, WI 
 
Wednesday, Sept. 22
7:00 Concert
Swiss UCC
18 Fifth Avenue
New Glarus, WI   
 
Friday, Sept. 24
7:30 Concert
Plymouth UCC
2717 E Hampshire Ave
Milwaukee, WI 
 
Saturday, Sept. 25
7:00 Concert
First Congregational UCC
100 E. Broadway
Waukesha, WI 
 
Sunday, Sept. 26
10:00 AM Worship
Grace UCC
4920 Sherman Blvd
Milwaukee, WI 
 
Sunday, Sept. 26
7:00 Concert
First Congregational UCC
310 Bluff Ave.
Sheboygan, WI
 
Monday, Sept. 27
7:00 Concert
Grace UCC
2801 Garfield St.
TwoRivers,WI 
 
Tuesday, Sept. 28
10:30 Worship
Cedar Community
5595 County Road Z
West Bend, WI 


Wisconsin Conference UCC
608-846-7880