Faith for Thought

Faith for Thought is a bi-weekly offering of the

Michigan Conference United Church of Christ

August 28, 2015

From Rev. Dr. Campbell Lovett

Faith for Thought - Haiku

At a recent Michigan Conference staff meeting, every staff member wrote a haiku poem related to their work. Haiku is an ancient Japanese form of poetry. It is usually in three lines with 5 syllables in the first and last lines and 7 syllables in the middle line. Learn more about the work of the Michigan Conference staff and see if you can guess which staff member wrote which haiku. Hint: Cheryl Burke is on sabbatical!

Churches give money

Conference spends it wisely

I keep track of all.

Churches with questions

calendars and scheduling

plan meetings galore!

Post job openings,

assist search committee chairs,

finding interims.

WebEx on the road

Installations are joy

Pastors and churches

Emails and phone calls

all six Associations

questions and answers

Michigan Conference:

equipping clergy, leaders

most always hopeful.

This is a great exercise for one of your committee meetings or retreats. Please send us some of your efforts and we'll put them in future E-Bulletins.

With you on the journey,

Campbell Lovett

Deadline to register is just 47 days away - Register today!

Michigan Conference UCC
2015 Annual Meeting

Friday, October 23, 2015

First Park Congregational Church

10 East Park Place, NE

Grand Rapids, MI

Saturday, October 24, 2015

L.V. Eberhard Center

301 Fulton St. West

Grand Rapids, MI

For more information and to register online visit: www.michucc.org

Association Fall Meetings

Covenant Association:

Saturday, October 10th
Location to be determined

Detroit Metropolitan Association:

Saturday, October 3rd
St. John-St. Luke UCC, Detroit

Grand West Association:
Sunday, October 11th
Hudsonville Congregational UCC

Southwest Association:

Saturday, September 26th
First Congregational UCC, Coloma

United Northern Association:

Saturday, September 26th
First Congregational UCC, Benzonia

Prophetic Integrity Mission Area Team

Social Justice Grants

Good day to you one and all. It is that time of year for grant applications through the Prophetic Integrity Mission Area Team of the Michigan UCC conference. We have been most impressed with the innovative ideas and the concepts various churches have produced in past years. Please note the adjustment in the application process from previous years. We have attempted to grant financial assistance to programs and projects which have a connection to social justice action. Again this year, the focus of the awards will narrow somewhat. The awards will be given out to the programs which are specifically focused on social justice. We believe that social justice effort brings about change not just for the individual, but groups of people, and possibly at a much larger level. READ MORE

Grace and Peace to you,

The Prophetic Integrity Mission Area Team

PI-MAT Social Justice Grants - Letter

Guidelines & Application

In our prayers...

The Michigan Conference asks for continued prayers for Rev. Deborah Dean-Ware, pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Ann Arbor. Deborah has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is receiving medical treatment. Deborah is blogging about her experience at:

Pastoring Into the Unknown: Living With Breast Cancer While Being a Pastor, Mother, and Wife.

Please continue to lift up the Rev. Sherry Schacht (Eastern Association; retired pastor) and her family with prayers filled with strength and courage - determination and faith - love and comfort.