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Pacific Northwest Conference UCC News Briefs

Transitions announced

The Rev. Cindy Bauleke, minister of Lummi Island UCC for nearly seven years, retires in January. After she retired from First Congregational UCC in Bellingham, she served Lummi Island UCC part-time.

The Rev. Donald Schmidt has been called as the new associate conference minister for the Hawaii Conference. His last day at Admiral UCC is Dec. 29.

The Rev. Ernst Sprenger, who served churches in Selby, S.D., Longmont, Colo., Middle Haddam, Conn., and Philadelphia Congregational and Zion Churches in Ritzville, died in October. He retired in 1986 in Ritzville.

Stewardship Committee seeks interest in financial training

Cheri Lovell, who has developed educational programs for the UCC Cornerstone Fund, will lead a training on “Money in the Church: Talking, Raising and Managing Money for God’s Work in the World” from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.,Saturday, Feb. 1, at Plymouth Church, 1217 6th Ave. in Seattle.

While people of faith bring a variety of financial and other skills to their church leadership roles, management of church finances differs from business and nonprofits. This seminar will help participants learn about the spiritual context to thinking about money, how church numbers differ, church-friendly financial statements, narrative budgets, and policies and procedures.

To register, call 206-725-8383.

Festival of Preaching planned

The 2014 Festival of Preaching Northwest, sponsored by Congregational Leadership Northwest, will be held Monday, April 28 to Thursday, May 1, at First United Methodist Church of Seattle, 180 Denny Way, Seattle.

It is a day longer than in the past. The festival welcomes 12 preachers and speakers, twice as many as in the past. The theme is “Preaching in a Post-Modern World.”

Featured speakers are Debbie Blue from the House of Mercy, Anna Carter Florence of Columbia Seminary; Scott Kisker from Wesleyan Seminary; independent theologian Tony Jones; young Disciples of Christ leader Jose Morales; Heidi Neumark, Lutheran pastor and author; Rodger Nishioka from Columbia Seminary; Fleming Rutledge, Episcopal teacher and author; Melissa Skelton, head of the Congregation for Congregational Development and Pastor of St. Paul’s Episcopal in Seattle; Will Willimon of Duke, and Jim Forbes, pastor emeritus of The Riverside Church in New York City.

Festival director Anthony Robinson said that there will be four pre-festival workshops, scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Monday with Willimon or Carter Florence on the craft of preaching, and from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., with Nishioka or Skelton on the “post-modern” landscape and its implication for the church.

UCC co-sponsors include Plymouth and University Congregational UCC churches in Seattle.

For information, visit http://www.festivalofpreachingnw.org.

UCC Ministerial Profile changes

The United Church of Christ Ministerial Profile is changing. It will have the same purpose,but new technology was developed this year to better meet the needs of authorized ministers, conferences and calling bodies.

The new profiles portal goes live on January 31, 2014. It is already praised for being responsive, timely, strategic and user-friendly. Approved ministerial profiles as of January 31, 2014—now known as a vintage profile—will continue to be honored until the criminal background check expires. Anyone with a current criminal background check may choose to incorporate it into a new profile.

Authorized ministers may add information as a searchable “Snapshot” in the profiles portal during the first quarter of 2014.

For more information, visit http://www.ucc.org/ministers/profile/.

Our Whole Lives training set

Our Whole Lives (OWL) trainers Amy Johnson and Anil Oommen will lead an OWL facilitator training from grades K-6 May 16 to 18 at the Hillsdale Community Church, 6948 SW Capitol Hwy., in Portland, Ore.

They will provide sexuality education information for parents, teachers and pastors to use in churches.

For information, call 503-246-5474, email pastor@hillsdaleucc.org or visit http://www.hillsdaleucc.org.

Conference News editor attends 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches

Pacific Northwest Conference UCC News editor Mary Stamp attended the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches Oct. 27 to Nov. 9 in Busan, South Korea.

Attending as accredited press for The Fig Tree, which she also edits, she participated with 4,000 Christians from around the world as the WCC delegates voted to embark on a “pilgrimage for justice and peace” and committed to move together into the future. They called for Christians to “engage their God-given gifts in transforming actions” and churches “to be communities of healing and compassion.”

Mary wrote several articles for the national UCC News:

• One on a Disciples/Reformed communion service involving UCC leadership is at http://www.ucc.org/news/WCC-Communion-11062013.html.

• A second article on restoration of the hula in worship services in Hawaii is at http://www.ucc.org/news/WCC-Hawaiian-hula-11072013.html.

• A third is the story of Louis Blue Coat, a lay UCC minister from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, who is involved with WCC indigenous work. It is at http://www.ucc.org/news/wcc-2013-louis-blue-coat-11272013.html.

Articles Mary wrote for The Fig Tree are online at http://www.thefigtree.org. They include an overview of the Assembly; a story from the pre-assembly on the community of women and men with women sharing stories of gender injustice; the opening prayer expressing cries and hopes from around the world; a story on a woman in North India who empowers women and men to challenge domestic violence and human trafficking, and a report on the 2011 agreement of the WCC, the World Evangelical Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church on mission and evangelism.

“Global friends give us new eyes to see what is happening here and elsewhere, and new ears to hear perspectives here and around the globe. These ties help us see that consistency in faith and life are possible and we need to be in solidarity with each other to make that happen,” she said.

For information, call 509-535-1813 or email editor@pncuccnews.org.

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