September 2024 How Do You Feel About Power? Dear Northwest Region,   In the last week working as your ACM, I have been asked the question, “How do you feel about power?” three separate times.   The first time was at a workshop on organizing in faith communities at the SNEUCC 2024 Justice Summit: Politics as an Act of Faith. Area Conference Minister Rev. Isaac Lawson asked the question, and then watched as attendees squirmed with the idea of weilding power. Lawson then went on to define power as “the ability to act or cause an effect.” He invited us to think about the difference between unilateral power, or “power over,” and relational power, or “power with.”   This very much related to the sermon we heard earlier in the day by Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr, who broke down Luke 4:18, explaining that Jesus is calling us to a collective salvation, much in contrast to our society’s pressure to achieve individual salvation. As Christians, we have the power, he said, and the duty to challenge those who would misuse the gospel to oppress others for the sake of their own financial and personal gain. He invited us to think about the power of the Gospel and its core message to love the Lord and to love our neighbors as ourselves.[1] We are called upon to act for the good of all—true social justice.   The third time I heard this question asked was Monday morning as Executive for Area Conference Ministry Rev. Liz Garrigan-Byerly and I ran a Boundary Awareness Training for authorized ministers. In that training, we reminded attendees that boundaries are guidelines that help us know when and when not to participate in a given activity, especially when there is a power differential. Boundaries help protect our constituents from abuse of power. Ministers’ power is derived from our education, our positions as a spiritual leaders, and our resources. The very act of ordination sets us apart as having more power and designates us for leadership, which means we have to exercise our power judiciously and for the good of all.   I am grateful for the opportunity to think about types of power, how we wield it, and how God teaches us to use it faithfully for the good of the whole. So I want to ask you, if no one has yet asked you this week: How do you feel about power? How do you feel your discipleship walk with Jesus is teaching you to use your power? And how are you called to use your power in this season and in this life?   Because, as Dr. Hendricks said, “When we know better, we have to do better.” And I am so grateful to be striving to do better alongside you. [1] Mark 12:30-31 Blessings, Rev. Terry Yasuko Ogawa Area Conference Minister, Northwest Region One to One conversations with Rev. Terry Yasuko Ogawa The Rev. Ogawa will be hosting bi-weekly coffee house hours to meet with clergy for 30 minutes on the first and third Thursday mornings. These can be scheduled by clicking here.  Please contact her Program Support Associate, Deb Holmes if you have questions or problems signing up for a meeting.

Clergy Wellness Retreat - North Central & Northeast Regions

Wednesday, October 2, 2024 
9:30 AM to 3:00 PM

 Congregational Church of Littleton
330 King Street
Littleton, MA 01460

This is the last in the series of four Clergy Wellness Retreats that the Southern New England Conference and the UCC Pension Boards partnered with to offer to SNEUCC clergy during the 2023-24 Program Year.
Click here to learn more and to register

Clergy Renewal

Throughout the Bible, spiritual renewal is lifted up again and again as essential to human wellbeing. Keeping the sabbath holy is one of the ten commandments. The 50-year Jubilee of rest is even extended to the earth. Jesus routinely stepped away from the demands of his ministry to pray alone. Self-care is not selfish; it is faithful.  Click above for more information.

What are you up to? Does your Church or Association have events or news that can benefit from being shared - Meetings, Ecclesiastical Councils, Ordinations, etc?  This newsletter space is just waiting to be populated by your activity!  Please send your events and news Deb Holmes to be included in future monthly publications.  

Do we have your church leaders listed correctly?

Please have your church administrator (or whoever handles your church's email account) visit the Church Dashboard (part of the Southern New England Conference's data base) to make sure we're connecting with all the current leaders in your church. If you have difficulty logging into your account please contact Nancy Stubbs at stubbsn@sneucc.org.

Here we recognize and celebrate Ordination Anniversaries listed from 5 years forward in increments of 5 years, as well as milestone church anniversaries of 100+ years (acknowledging every 25 years).
If your name or church has been missed please contact Deb Holmes and updates will be made to your record and reflected in the next newsletter.

Ordination Anniversaries for September

25 Years
The Rev. Michael Denton

2024 MILESTONE CHURCH ANNIVERSARIES
Southwick Congregational Church UCC - 250 years

Project Proclaim Launches Labs, Cohort Groups & Online Learning  Project Proclaim, the compelling preaching initiative of the Southern New England Conference, is launching multiple opportunities for lay and clergy to get engaged with the project this fall, including learning cohorts, an in-person proclamation lab and online Bible and preaching courses.  Read more     Center for Transformational Leadership Announces Events for the Season   The Center for Transformational Leadership, the Conference’s hub for programming and resources, has announced its schedule for the program year including workshops, retreats, lunch & learn sessions and more. Click here to learn more!      Church Life Cycle & Capacity: A Snapshot of Your Church’s Vitality This hands-on workshop includes information about church life cycles, opportunities often available at each stage of the life cycle, and the kind of capacity (financial, leadership, health, etc.) needed. This gathering is for church leadership groups.  Sept. 25, 7:00 to 8:30 PM • Online  or Oct. 8, 7:00 to 8:30 PM • Online     More Than 200 Attend Justice Summit to Take on Politics as an Act of Faith  The 3rd Annual Justice Summit: Politics as an Act of Faith, presented by the Southern New England Conference's Center for Transformational Leadership, was held Saturday, September 14, 2024, at the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. This day-long hybrid program aimed to equip local church leaders, both lay and clergy, to engage with politics as people of faith, and was open to people from any denomination, as well as other UCC Conferences.   Read more  Read more about the keynote, in which Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. Challenged Christians to Take Tangible Steps to Oppose Oppression and Injustice.

There is a lot going on in Southern New England! Click here to access the SNEUCC Upcoming Events Newsletters, which list details about upcoming trainings, gatherings and events. Or, click here to access the Events Calendar.

Classifieds, Transitions, and Obituaries

Transitions within the Southern New England Conference can be found here.
Obituaries within the Southern New England Conference can be found here.

A full list of classified postings can be found here on the SNE website.  Some examples include: Church Administrator, Digital Minister, Organist/Choir Director, Director of Faith Formation as well as items for sale or free.
Church administrators are welcome to use the online template to submit information.

Temporary Ministerial Coverage

The Southern New England Conference maintains Temporary Ministerial Coverage (TMC) lists for all 6 SNEUCC regions. These lists contain Clergy and Lay people that are interested in providing Sunday Supply, Sabbatical Coverage, and Bridge Coverage. All the people included on the list have had a Criminal Background Check and are required to have Boundary Awareness Training as well as Racial Justice Training. 
These TMC lists are regularly updated in real time.  If your church is in need of a list please reach out to the Program Support Associate for your Region:
North Central, South Central & Northwest Regions: Deb Holmes holmesd@sneucc.org
Northeast, Southeast & Southwest Regions: Lynn Varney: Varneyl@sneucc.org
If you are interested in being included on any of the Temporary Ministerial Coverage regional lists please contact Jill Ford at fordj@sneucc.org. 

Newsletter Subscriptions

You are receiving this newsletter because we've identified you as a local church or you have standing in one of the associations in the South Central Region of the Southern New England Conference. The Regional Newsletter is sent on a monthly basis, on or near the Third Tuesday of each month. If you would like to have events included, please make sure to have them submitted by the Second Wednesday of the month to Deb Holmes.
If you would like to unsubscribe or change your email preferences, please visit sneucc.org/subscribe and enter your email address.