Report on the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference, UCC

This is a report I have written on the 2016 Annual Meeting of the UCC's Pacific Northwest Conference that was held April 29 to May 1, 2016. I wrote it for the church I serve, the First Congregational Church of Maltby which does not belong to the UCC.

A Report on the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference

of the

United Church of Christ

Rev. Dr. Tom Sorenson, Pastor

The First Congregational Church of Maltby

May 3, 2016

I attended the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ on April 29 and 30 in Wenatchee, WA. Of course I am well aware that the First Congregational Church of Maltby is not a UCC church. I, however, hold ordained ministerial standing in the UCC, the Maltby church is party to a four-way covenant with me, the UCC church that holds my UCC membership, and the Conference. I am required to attend my Conference’s Annual Meeting as a condition of my ordained ministerial standing. I thought that perhaps some of the people of the Maltby church might be interested in learning a bit about the UCC by learning some of the details of this year’s Annual Meeting. So read this report if you’re interested. Ignore it if you aren’t.

To be perfectly honest, these Conference Annual Meetings have gotten pretty routine for me. I don’t always get much out of them. This year I kept wondering how some of you would have reacted to what you would have seen there. Thinking about that question at least made the meeting a bit more interesting for me than it might otherwise have been.

The theme of the Meeting was “Out On a Limb,” stressing our need for discovering new ways of being church. Here, in no particular order, are some of the things you would have experienced had you been present at this meeting:

·       A gathering of a couple hundred people at the Wenatchee Convention Center. They were ordained clergy, commissioned ministers, and lay representatives of a bit more than half of the 82 churches of the Conference.

·       A love of God, openness to God’s grace, and openness to the workings of the Holy Spirit in new ways among us. You’d have heard a deep faith in the same God you know and love.

·       What radical welcome and acceptance look like. Most of us there were white, heterosexual, and clearly identified by our birth gender both physically and psychologically. There were also among us Black and Brown people (sadly not many, but a few), gay and lesbian people, bisexual people, and transgendered people. We take this diversity for granted, and no one even comments on it much anymore except when a few people publically expressed their thanks that the UCC accepted them when their former churches rejected them simply for being who God created them to be.

·       A commitment by the larger church to issues of social justice, including economic justice, environmental justice, and nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity.

·       Nervousness about the future but a growing openness to new ways of being church in a changed and changing world.

·       Some pretty tedious (but this year mercifully brief) business meetings concerning the Conference budget, election of officers and committee members, and an amendment to the Conference’s bylaws.

·       News from the Conference’s two wonderful church camps, camps we claim are the best church camps in the whole UCC. Our Conference Minister has told me that if any of you want to attend any activities at the camps you’ll be welcome. Ask me if you’re interested in knowing more about the camps.

·       Presentations by the Conference’s new Minister for Congregational Vitality about the work she will begin among us in September.

·       A presentation by the Rev. Mike Denton, our Conference Minister, including remarks  about how the world of the church is changing and how we need to change with it. Mike is a really good guy and a fine Conference Minister. We’re lucky to have him.

·       A regional church body having money problems and declining membership in the same way so many of the local churches are in all of the mainline denominations.  

·       An enthusiastic reception of a new Samoan church in Anchorage, Alaska, into the UCC. (In the UCC that’s done by a regional body like our Conference, not by the national bodies.) Wow, the folks from that Samoan church sure can sing!

·       An opportunity to participate in a broad range of workshops on issues important to the larger church and the local churches.

·       Worship experiences led in part by a visiting UCC clergy person who writes contemporary praise music with progressive, open and affirming theology. I must admit his music didn’t do a lot for me, but perhaps different music is one way we need to be open to our changing world.

·       A pretty pathetic excuse for a dinner served by the Convention Center. The lunch the next day was better.

·       An opportunity to sing in the choir put together for the closing worship service on Sunday morning. I’ve sung in that choir several times before, but this year I came home on Saturday evening to be with you Sunday morning, so I didn’t participate.

·       Me functioning as parliamentarian, mostly behind the scenes, with a Conference Moderator who is a delightful person but how has no clue about proper parliamentary procedure.

·       A chance to meet some really great people, both clergy and lay people, who make up the UCC in our area.

Plans for next year’s meeting have not been made yet because of some unusual and unfortunate circumstances in the planning process. Still, at some time next year I’ll have to go to another Conference Annual Meeting. Thank you for you cooperation in giving me that time away.