Are the changes and trends that are occurring in the American Protestant Church—and particularly, in the old mainline (e.g., Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Methodist) congregations—also evident in the United Church of Christ (UCC)? Obviously, the United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant denomination. Yet it may be distinguished from the old mainline by its relatively…
CARD has two major announcements this month. We are happy to share that we have a new Director for the office and the 2018 UCC Statistical Profile is now available! Click here to access the free downloadable PDF, which includes statistics about congregations, membership, finances, as well as ministerial trends. Additionally, we like to highlight…
This week’s blog post is written by Reverend David Schoen, Minister for Church Legacy and Closure, for the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund. How would you define and describe spiritually vital transformative congregations? Faith Communities Today recently released Vital Congregations, a study on the meaning of spiritual vitality, as well as on becoming vital congregations,…
This week’s blog post is written by Reverend David Schoen, Minister for Church Legacy and Closure, for the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund. In the late winter, early spring there’s a lot to do to get fruit gardens ready for the summer. Pruning raspberries and grape vines, as well as fruit trees is something that…
Late spring / early summer is a busy season in the life of the United Church of Christ—many annual meetings are taking place within conferences and associations. I was privileged to attend one such meeting and offer a keynote and workshop for the Minnesota Conference annual gathering in June. The theme of the meeting was…
Does the United Church of Christ (UCC) have a big-city, big-church, liberal bias? I’ve been hearing UCC lay people—and remarkably, pastors—level this charge, in three different Conferences and in various churches, since my “privilege-of-call” days in the Potomac Association of the Central Atlantic Conference in the early 1990s. Two recent instances: This past spring, a…
It’s an old joke. How many [insert your denomination here] does it take to change a light bulb? Change! What’s wrong with the old light bulb!? They say that nobody likes change except a wet baby. That’s certainly true in the church. We hang on to traditions with a fierceness few can match. Where else…
