 |
|
Conference staffers to take part in pipeline walk
|
|
Associate Conference Minister Kelly Galllagher and new Climate Justice Intern Alyssa Browning-Gray will be taking part in the Martin Luther King Walk to Stop the Kinder Morgan NED Pipeline this weekend and they invite everyone to join them.
The walk is scheduled to step off from the site of the proposed natural gas pipeline compressor station in Northfield on Saturday, January 16, and go for 34 miles over three days to the Plainfield construction yard site for the proposed pipeline.
|
|
|
Craigville Retreat Center under new management
|
|
United Camps, Conferences and Retreats, a non-profit organization with 40 years of experience running retreat centers, took over the operation of the Craigville Retreat Center on Cape Cod on Jan. 1st.
Craigville is still available to churches and other non-profit groups that wish to hold retreats there. Information can be found on the UCCR Craigville webpage.
The Massachusetts Conference had managed Craigville, owned by the Christian Camp Meeting Association, since 1960. After several years of discussion and study, the Board of Directors voted in 2014 not to renew the lease to operate Craigville, which was only being used by a small number of Conference churches. The Board felt that spending time and resources on operating a retreat center was not within the core mission of the Conference, which is focused on nurturing vitality and covenant among local churches.
Read more
|
|
|
Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast to begin Feb. 10
|
|
This will be the sixth year that we provide a day-by-day opportunity to fast from carbon as a Lenten discipline. Initiated by the UCC and endorsed by other denominations and faith groups, thousands of people of every Christian perspective - and people who are not Christians - have benefited from this opportunity to become more conscious and conscientious in their daily lives. The 2016 daily email messages will run from Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10, through Easter Sunday, March 27.
|
|
|
Traci Blackmon to speak at Super Saturday
|
|
|
| | A Vision of the Beloved: Building Solidarity in the Age of Ferguson |
The next Super Saturday - an opportunity for lay and clergy to worship, attend workshops and network - will be held March 12 from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM at Killingly High School in Kililngly, CT (approximately 35 miles south of Worcester, MA).
The featured speaker will be the Rev. Traci Blackmon, the newly appointed Acting Executive of the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries. At right, watch a video recording of the Rev. Blackmon speaking in Massachusetts after the Ferguson shooting
Get more details about Super Saturday
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Conference Events
|
|
Jan. 20, 9:00 AM - Jan. 21, 3:30 PM
Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge
Clergy training, limited to 18 people per session. Registration is one a first come, first served basis.
Jan. 30, 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Edwards House Meeting Center, Framingham
A day of training - for both clergy and congregants - to lead small groups in general, and small group Bible study in particular. Facilitated by the Rev. Anne Robertson, executive director of the Massachusetts Bible Society.
Feb. 3, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Edwards House Meeting Center, Framingham
A workshop for clergy, spouses, treasurers and trustees with Al Eaton, CPA and principal of Faith Financial, LLC.
|
|
|  |
|
Racial Justice Training & Sacred Conversations
These events are led by Massachusetts Conference facilitators and are free and open to all. Please click here for more information and to RSVP to the appropriate church.
Sacred Conversation on Race
Jan. 20, 6:30 PM
First Church in Sterling
Sacred Conversation on Race
Jan. 28, 7:30 PM
UCC Burlington
Racial Justice Training
Feb. 3, 17, 23 and March 2
Trinity Church, Northborough
|
April 4- 6, 2016
Edwards House Meeting & Retreat Center, Framingham
Three-day, self-contained course that introduces theories foundational to interim ministry. The class hours are devoted to providing opportunities for experiential learning through the use of case studies and sacred story.
|
|
|---|
|
|
The Rev. Ms. Lisa Durkee called to The Congregational Church of Weston as Pastor
Effective: Jan. 10, 2016
The Rev. Mr. Paul E. Barnes died on Nov. 2, 2015. No details are currently available; information will be posted as it becomes available. | |
|
|---|
|
|---|
|
|
|
Jan. 17, 2:00 PM
First Church of Swampscott Congregational
Jan. 21-23
Charlemont Federated Church, Charlemont
|
| |
|
Jan. 29, 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Andover Newton Theological School, Newton
Feb. 18, 6:30 PM
Andover Newton Theological School, Newton
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
