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Contact Info
Jo Ordway
515-277-6369
Please call me or email me at jo@ucciaconf.org |
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ADD TO YOUR NEWSLETTER MAIL LISTS - Both Printed and Electronic Formats!!
Any churches in East, Northeast, Southeast Associations, please add Jonna Jensen to your NEWSLETTER mail lists at 3675 67th St, Baldwin, IA 52207 or email jonna@ucciaconf.org.
Any churches in Northwest, Southwest Associations, please add Tony Stoik to your NEWSLETTER mail lists at 4557 Hamilton Blvd, POB 2142, Sioux City, IA 51104-2142
or email tony@ucciaconf.org.
Invitation to
General Synod 28
General Synod 28 is now open to guest registration. The call is for you, your family, and your friends. The GS Programming and Planning Committee is offering a unique opportunity to take part in "Your Church, Better" 20 minute mini-workshops. Read more and see if you wish to be a part of the new approach.
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Our Common Life...Words from the Conference Staff
In just a few weeks, we will be beginning a Conference-wide book reading. The book is "This Odd and Wondrous Calling," a delightful series of essays on the art and science of ministry by Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver. It's been sitting on the table by the easy chair in my den for weeks now and I finally decided it was time to open the darn thing. Never one to let myself be a slave to some editor's sense of order, I started not with Chapter 1, but Chapter 8. What a joy!
One of the book's co-authors, Martin Copenhaver, is describing the ambivalence he feels as he prepares to make a hospital call on "Jim", one of his biggest critics in the congregation. There may be a pastor out there who has never had to make that particular visit and thus has no idea what is going through Copenhaver's mind, but for the rest of us, his description of the turmoil going through his mind has to strike a responsive chord:
"When I got off the phone [with another parishioner who called to tell him that Jim was in the hospital], I simply got in my car and headed toward the hospital. Because it's what you do. It is not something I would choose to do on my own, but it is something that is expected of me by virtue of my calling. You are his pastor. He has been entrusted to you, big pain in the ass though he may be. My wife, who is an attorney, can 'fire' a client who is too difficult to work with. If a doctor's care is continually criticized by a patient, that doctor can refuse to offer further treatment and refer the patient to another doctor. A restaurant manager can refuse service to a recalcitrant customer. But pastors are expected to care for those they did not choose and perhaps would never have chosen under any other circumstances. The church, like the family, is a place where we try to learn to live with those we are stuck with. Of course, we are not always able to pull it off. But in those times when we are able to live with, and perhaps even love, those we are stuck with, the church can still give us glimmers of the love of the God who is stuck with us all."
I was reminded of those words recently as I prepared to meet with representatives of a congregation that just lost its pastor. Earlier in the week, I had listened sympathetically as the pastor told me how he was "driven from the pulpit" and just as sympathetically to the moderator who told me how the pastor "just up and quit on us." I was sure that there was truth enough in both observations. It is, after all, a very rare story indeed that has only one side. But I was saddened nonetheless by the anguish that lay just beneath the surface of both men's words. Two good people caught in an unfortunate situation not really the making of either. If only they had both learned to live with, and perhaps even love, each other.
What other jewels of pastoral wisdom are in the essays of Daniels and Copenhaver? Come with us on our journey through "This Odd and Wondrous Calling" and find out.
Tony Stoik
Associate Conference Minister for Western Iowa
Iowa Conference, United Church of Christ |
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Logistic Team is in action!
The Iowa Conference office sincerely thanks the volunteers who are taking on the exciting scheduling for the Searles when Liz and Doug return from their missionary work in Poland this summer.
Teamleader is Sondra Carter at sscarter67@gmail.com or 515.986.1373.
Team members are:
This ambitious team is a dedicated group who wish to share the mission with Iowa. Please thank them for being faithful volunteers and pray for their energy in the next several months as they work on a busy tour schedule for Liz and Doug. |
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Where is a support group?
The congregation of St. Paul Congregational UCC in Oskaloosa has become aware of a need in their community for a support group for children whose parents are incarcerated. They would love to hear of resources for such a group, or if anyone knows of such a group in Iowa. Please contact Rev. Liz Colton at 641-673-7206 or stpaul@mahaska.org. |
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Polity online course...
The Wisconsin Conference United Church has opened registration for an eight week United Church of Christ Polity online course, taught by Rev. Dr. Marti Baumer.
Dates: Weekly, Tues - beginning Jan 25 - March 15
Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm CST
Cost: $50
Materials: The book "The Evolution of a UCC Style", by Randi Jones Walker
Registration Limit: 15 (class fills quickly)
Register
Participants need an internet connection to participate. |
Certification School in Progressive Christian Youth Ministry...
Save the dates: May 22-27, 2011 and November 4-6, 2011! This opportunity will take place in Alexandria, Minnesota and there are early registration incentives; the price will be only $2,000 if registered by February 1. The registration will be up and running soon, but NOW is the time to get this into your budget for 2011. A scholarship form is attached if you wish to apply. |
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Turnaround Church Weekend...
When: February 26 and 27, 2011
Where: The Wisconsin Conference Center, 4459 Gray Road, DeForest, Wisconsin
Deadline for registration: February 16, 2011
This weekend offers a tested model for outreach and growth that you can (and must!) customize for your church. It gives congregations a practical way forward. The model can be adapted for any church, no matter what size or setting.
You will learn:
- Why the solutions that worked so well 40 years ago don't work now
- How to identify the people your church can reach
- Ways to build momentum
- What the pastor and lay leaders both need to do to help the church grow.
Ready to register? Just read more here. |
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Spirituality and Wellness...
As part of its Faith-Based Community Outreach Initiative, the Chicago Theological Seminary Institute for Spirituality and Wellness has developed comprehensive online resources to aid faith communities in exploring spirituality and health, with dozens of practical exercises, book and video resources, and research summaries, as well as a ten-module curriculum for congregations.
To explore more, search these pages. |
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Continuing education opportunities...
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. Visit their website www.progressiverenewal.org at any time to learn what webinars or workshops or ideas of education are available for many denominational leaderships. |
REMINDER...Year end accounting The Iowa Conference accounting for year 2010 will end on the first Wednesday of 2011 which is January 5, 2011. Please be aware that anything received after January 5, 2011 will appear on the 2011 records and not the 2010 records. |
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Conference-wide Book Reading
Realities, chuckles, ponderous thoughts, relaxation...join the Conference-wide Book Readers who will take on their first book starting in January 2011!
What book???
Who is the author???
How do I join???
Where is the book???
How do I obtain the book???
The answers...open
Conference-wide Book Reading and join the fun.
Schedule of the chapters - click here. |
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December 17, 2010
