In preparation for the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Southern New England Conference on Saturday, reports by the Conference President and Treasurer are now available online.

In her report, President Rev. Angela Menke Ballou talks about the work that has been done to get the new Conference up and running during the past year. And in his report, Treasurer Calvin Price talks about the Conference's budget deficit, and efforts to address it.

Find the reports here 

Registration for the meeting is now closed. News reports and recordings will be posted next week.

Director of Stewardship and Donor Relations The Rev. Dr. David Cleaver-Bartholomew writes:

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” I was introduced to a new way of referring to what we typically call a budget in a local church, Association, or Conference setting. The person introducing the budget used the phrase mission spending plan and challenged us to do similarly in our own settings.
 
One reason for encouraging us to make this switch is that words matter. As we all know, words play a crucial role in framing the way we view and think about things. The term budget is a term borrowed primarily, but not exclusively, from the business world. It basically refers to an estimate of income and expenses for a given period. As such, the term budget by itself neither denotes nor connotes any special aspect regarding the income and expenses it sets forth.
 
In a church, Association, or Conference setting this is both regrettable and does us, its users, a disservice.  Our income and expenses do possess a special nature, namely, they are to serve the specific purpose of fulfilling God’s mission in and to the world, both within and outside of the congregation, Association, or Conference.

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And I’m very excited to welcome Lillian Steinmeyer as our Environmental Justice Intern for the coming year, where she will take the lead in developing and facilitating these retreats. 

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The Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ is calling on congregations to defend transgender and gender nonbinary individuals as states pass laws and enact administrative policies that limit freedom and attack civil liberties.

"It is urgent that we act now," said Rev. James D. Ross II, SNEUCC Minister for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. "Our prayers are necessary, and I believe our prayers also represent a commitment to act. We must use our voices, our bodies, our money and whatever else we have to insist on justice for our colleagues, friends, family members, and neighbors."

Debbie Gline Allen, Minister of Faith Formation, writes: Post-pandemic faith formation ministries require a greater focus on supporting parents/grandparents/caregivers with faith conversations with their children at home, as well as with more ministry in intergenerational settings. This is not only due to the availability of fewer volunteers, but because faith formation in the church has always been substantially more effective with all ages present.

Registration is now open for The SNEUCC Faith Formation Leadership Program classes, which are open to all and provide tools and resources to assist both clergy and lay leaders in shifting to these more effective faith formation models.

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