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April 1, 2011 Volume 3, issue 8 |
Correction: The number for the Green Lake Conference Center is 902-294-3323 and their toll free number is 800-558-8898. Apologies! |
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Personal Finance for Christians Workshop |
Steve Clapp will be hosting a workshop on April 29 at the Wisconsin Conference on Personal Finances. More information |
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General Synod 2011 | |
Don't forget to attend an orientation session in your Association.
RSVP if you haven't already!
Northeast Association: Monday, April 4, 6:00 p.m. at the home of Association Minister Rev. Art Wille. Dinner will be served. RSVP by 3/15. Dinner will be served.
Northwest Association: Thursday, April 7, 6:00 p.m. Green Mill Restaurant Eau Claire RSVP by 3/17. Dinner will be served
Southwest Association: Tuesday, April 12, 6:00 p.m. at the home of Association Minster Rev. Bob Mutton. Dinner will be served. RSVP by 3/25.
Southeast Association: Tuesday, May 3, 6:00 p.m. at Christ's Church in Milwaukee. 915 E. Oklahoma Avenue, Milwaukee. Dinner will be served. RSVP by 4/18.
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Ten Ways to Stay Close to Your Family |
| From UCC.org |
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Written by Donna Schaper
We see them every day, but that doesn't mean we're always as close as we'd like to be. Here are ten ways to bond with your family in the midst of everyone's busy days. Read More |
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Wisconsin Conference Life |
A Message From Our Conference Minister |
Grace a peace to you in these Lenten days and every good hope for a blessed Easter.
There are lots of preachers' stories. You used to have to look them up in books, but now they're everywhere on the internet. You probably know what they say about many of the stories we preachers use: "They are all true. Some of them may have happened." The following is such a story:
A young man in a wealthy community was graduating from high school. The tradition in that community was that a high school graduate got a new car, and so the boy and his father had been out car shopping and had settled on a particular model. At the graduation party, the boy had been expecting a set of keys, but instead his father gave him a gift-wrapped Bible as his final gift. The young man was angry and threw the Bible aside. It led to an estrangement from his father, and he went away to college without his car.
Unfortunately, not too many years later the father died. Following the funeral, the young man was going through some of his father's things, and he came across the Bible. It was still wrapped with the ribbon that had been on it when it was given to him. He opened it up, and inside he found a check for the exact amount of the new car that he and his father had looked at.
The story reminds us that Easter can be a lot like the experience of that high school graduate. The promise is profound, an entirely transformed life, but the delivery system may be something we simply did not expect. We imagine the dramatic, once-for-all resurrection of Christ and expect something equally dramatic. What we receive may be more ambiguous. It may require a measure of faith that seeks and locates saving power within the Word that provides the promises of God. We may even reject the offer, because we do not have sufficient trust to recognize the ultimate gift within the carefully chosen wrapping.
Easter is coming. Don't miss its amazing gift, because it comes to you in unexpected ways. You won't always get handed the keys to the kingdom but may have to look inside the scriptures and find there the full payment on what it is your faith desires. Don't forget to look inside what may appear to be a tomb of disappointment, because inside is just what is promised, "He is not here. He is risen!"
Wishing you much joy for this coming Easter!
David S. Moyer
Conference Minister |
Making Sense of Lent - Daily Devotionals |
The Wisconsin Conference is honored to have many talented ministers and laity serving the churches in our state. Our Making Sense of Lent Daily Devotionals highlight some of these talented voices.
If you are not receiving Making Sense of Lent - Daily Devotionals sent by the Wisconsin Conference, please sign up to receive them during this special time of reflection and preparation. |
Issues Dividing the State: A Resource Area and Online Meeting For Our Pastors |
Invitation for Pastors to Share Resources
The Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ has set up this online blog with the intent to provide resources to our pastors in regards to the current political situation in Wisconsin. This forum is intended to help resource pastors who may be ministering to members with conflicting views. This is not intended as a sounding board or open discussion area of the political issues.
Comments/Resources that are posted will need approval before they are visible. We invite you to share resources that have been helpful in your ministry during this difficult time. If you have any questions, please contact Liisa Analore, Executive Assistant at [email protected].
Pastors: Please join us online for an online conversation on April 6 at 2:00 PM. Register. |
Bethlehem Partnership Online Recordings |
The Bethlehem Partnership, a partnership of the Southwest Association has met online for a four part series on Palestine and the partnership. The online series wrapped up on March 30 but we wanted to share with you links to the recorded meetings as you may find them interesting and informative. Recorded meetings:
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Annual Meeting 2011 - June 10-12 Green Lake Conference Center |
The Wisconsin Conference Annual Meeting will be on June 10-12 at the Green Lake Conference Center. The official call to the meeting will be posted on our website on April 7 and sent to you in an email on that same date.
In previous years we have mailed registration booklets to our churches for their delegates. This year, we will be mailing an invitation to the meeting, including a registration sheet for the Annual Meeting and Thursday workshop. The registration booklet is linked to our website and can be found through this direct link. This slight change will be more efficient and cost effective for our office as well as honoring our committment to the environment by reducing the amount of paper used. Look for your letter invitation in the your mail box by mid- April.
Reservations for accomodations at Green Lake Conference center can be made at any time by calling 920.294.3323. |
One Great Hour of Sharing Sunday April 3 |
Through One Great Hour of Sharing, United Church of Christ members reach out in the name of Christ to:
- Build sustainable communities. OGHS supports self-help programs in more than 80 nations to build sustainable communities that enable people and communities to stand against and rise above hunger, disease, illiteracy, and other forces of injustice that deny and destroy dignity.
- Respond to Disaster. OGHS provides emergency and long-term assistance to people in the aftermath of hurricanes, tornados, storms, floods, tidal waves, fires, explosions, technological disasters, civil strife, war, or other natural or human-caused events. On average, OGHS responds to a disaster once every 2.5 days.
In cooperation with Global Ministries, Church World Service, Action by Churches Together, Interchurch Medical Assistance, Foods Resource Bank, Oikocredit, Freedom from Hunger and hundreds of local partners around the world, One Great Hour of Sharing is part of a remarkable network of service and caring that is efficient, effective and faithful. Administrative costs are typically less than eight percent annually.
The United Church of Christ unites with Christians in eight other Protestant denominations and Church World Service in One Great Hour of Sharing, thus multiplying the effectiveness and extent of our witness many times over.
The partnership we share with nearly 6,000 United Church of Christ congregations across the United States and Puerto Rico is where this remarkable miracle connecting UCC members to the world truly begins. The UCC annually channels more than $3 million dollars through One Great Hour of Sharing to humanitarian needs in the world.
The One Great Hour of Sharing offering is administered through Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ.
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Sincerely, Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ |
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As witnesses to God's love in Jesus Christ, the Wisconsin Conference serves with congregations, pastors, laity, and wider church partners to
- provide networks of clergy support
- engage laity in spiritual growth and leadership development
- establish and renew congregations
so that the people will respond to the Spirit's call, grow in faith and discipleship, and participate in God's transforming work of peace and justice. |
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