We as the United Church of Christ recently took a look at our mission statement, purpose statement, and vision. The results gave us, among other things, a vision that is short and to the point: United in Christ’s love, a just world for all. This bold proclamation requires us to be accountable for acting faithfully in a…
So, I used to have this ministry colleague, George, who carried a stack of dog-eared 3×5 cards in his hip pocket. George had scribbled the Sermon on the Mount and assorted Bible verses on those cards, and he consulted them frequently, he said, in an effort to live a more virtuous and holy life. He kept…
Reverend David Schoen, Temporary Minister for Church Legacy and Closure, Church Building and Loan Fund, Local Church Ministries – United Church of Christ. For more information on the 111 Closed Congregations in the UCC, please contact him at dschoen@ucc.org. For more closure and legacy information see Church Legacy and Closure Resource. Recently, I hiked through an…
The Rev. Dr. J. Bennett Guess is Vice President of the UCC’s Council for Health and Human Service Ministries and the former Executive Minister of Local Church Ministries within the UCC’s national setting. Ten years ago, Trinity Hill UCC in Cincinnati, Ohio, was facing some big decisions. Its once-thriving congregation had dwindled to a few…
At the end of every year, we share some of our most memorable posts from the past twelve months. This year, I’m highlighting a few of our most viewed articles. The following post is from April 25 and summarized the major themes and findings of the UCC Ministry Opportunities Research Report. This post received the…
This weeks blog post is written by Reverend David Schoen, Temporary Minister for Church Legacy and Closure, for the Office of Church Building and Loan Fund within Local Church Ministries. Rev. Schoen has also completed a report on Congregations that Closed in the United Church of Christ 2012-2015 that will be available soon to the wider church.…
At a meeting of our Conference’s Church and Ministry Council last week, we were looking at the newly released Fall 2016 Statistical Profile of the United Church of Christ. It has some graphs that should look very familiar by now, showing a denomination that continues to grow smaller. One of our younger clergy on the…
