Today’s CARD blog is written by the Rev. Elizabeth Dilley, Minister for Ministerial Support and Accountability, part of the national setting’s Ministerial Excellence, Support and Authorization (MESA) ministry team. She writes this piece on behalf of the 2018 Genesis Fund Selection Committee, which also included the Rev. Bentley deBardelaben, the Rev. Penny Lowes, and the…
Did you go to summer school when you were a kid? And if you are a teacher, did you teach summer school? Many students view summer school as a kind of punishment (and some teachers do, too), but I remember summer school fondly. For three consecutive summers, back when I was in high school, I…
So, if you feel called to ministry, but not in a traditional fashion, this post is for you. It’s also for you, if you are sick of the current ministry choices and want something else. Ministry Context Given the recent election, I’ve been thinking a lot about maps. There’s the map of the country painted…
This week’s post is written by Rev. Holly MIllerShank, Team Leader of the Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization Ministry Team (MESA) Team in Cleveland. “Look at us,” Hetrick says from behind his signature round-rimmed glasses. “Look what the dead are telling me. The dead are telling me we have a structural issue within our society. Why…
Behind many of the words that we use are numbers and data to give credibility to our thoughts and ideas. With data, we can chart and plot and see trends that otherwise we only know through intuition or anecdote. And as any student of statistics learns, numbers and data can be used in a variety…
This week’s blog post is written by Reverend David Schoen, Minister for Church Legacy and Closure, for the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund. Where are congregations closing as well as new congregations being received in the United Church of Christ? This study shows trends in geographical location of the 159[i] closed congregations as well as…
A decade ago, two words changed my life. They showed up as I was having a meal with an Associate Conference Minister. He was a straight-shooter with whom I got along well. I decided to ask him about something that is often on my heart but that I rarely discuss: “If I was going to…
