Fifteen members of St. Anthony Park UCC (St. Paul) spent eight days in October in the Deep South as part of a Civil Rights-intensive trip.
As I enter my last month of service as your Conference Minister, the days are marked increasingly by “last things”…These are days when even the most routine moments and interactions are filled with extra meaning and poignancy. These are days for remembering, and for reflecting on all that has been over these ten amazing years.
The Minnesota Conference Board of Directors invites you to a celebration December 9 in honor of Rev. Shari Prestemon’s decade of service as our Conference Minister.
The Conference celebrates the formation of the new St. Croix United Church, the chosen name of the congregation formed from the merger of People’s Congregational Church in Bayport and St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Stillwater.
Since October 7, we have watched in horror as violence has been heaped upon violence in Israel and Gaza, killing and injuring thousands of Israelis and Palestinians … But today, in this space, I want to concentrate instead on how our Christian faith informs us in this moment and should shape our response.
Applications are now being accepted from congregations for “Re-Imagination Grants” to support faithful, creative work to re-imagine what it looks like to ‘be Church’ in this historical moment.
This past summer, during the plenary session at the UCC’s General Synod, Rev. John Dorhauer apologized for the denomination’s failure to acknowledge the Afro-Christian Convention as its “fifth stream.”
As I contemplate my coming departure as your Conference Minister, and reflect on all the things for which I am grateful in these ten years of ministry with you, one thanksgiving I lift is most certainly for our clergy in the Minnesota Conference UCC.
Rev. Prestemon shares news about her appointment as Acting Associate General Minister of Wider Church Ministries (UCC) and Co-Executive of Global Ministries (UCC and Disciples of Christ). Her ministry here in Minnesota will end on December 29.
Do you know what the purpose of your congregation is? What’s your reason for being? What’s your why? Read this month’s COMMANTs from the Conference Minister.