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The following information was sent via email to the congregation by our church moderator, Brad Hoff. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greetings to you, Much has happened and will be happening in our congregation. This e-mail is an attempt to keep us all on the same page. It will cover:
On Sunday, October 31, at 11:15 a.m. a special congregational meeting will be held after the service to elect the Pastoral Search and Call Committee and to receive updates concerning the life and work of First UCC. We are pleased to report that the slate of nominees for the Search and Call Committee is [...] Stewardship Moment on Sunday, September 26, 2010, at First UCC, Northfield, MN, by Douglas Kriesel E.M. Forster, an early 20th century English novelist, wrote a short story entitled “The Point of It”. After some of his Bloomsbury friends read the story, they asked him “What is the point of it?” Forster replied to them [...] Northfield, Minnesota September 26, 2010 Clyde Steckel, Guest Preacher. The Rev. Dr. Clyde J. Steckel is Emeritus Professor of Theology with United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and has also served as Interim Conference Minister of the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ. In the New Year he will again take a turn in servant leadership with the Minnesota UCC during the sabbatical leave of the current Conference Minister, Rev. Karen Smith Sellers. Dr. Steckel’s thinking, scholarship and leadership is widely respected and in 2009 Pilgrim Press published his latest book, “New Ecclesiology and Polity – The United Church of Christ”, available via Lessons : Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 Luke 16:19-31
“WHAT IS A CHURCH FOR?”
What is a church for? That’s bad grammar, poor style, ending with a preposition. But I put it that way in order to emphasize that word, for. I am asking you today to think with me about what the church is for in two ways: What is the use-value, the functional or utilitarian value of a church, this church? And, secondly, what does the church, this church, advocate? What does it believe? What does it try to accomplish? Last Sunday in our morning worship Shawn Nuebel offered a heartfelt personal reflection on his sense of giving to the local ministry of First UCC. We thank Shawn for that witness and offer an additional thought piece to our member testimonies as we approach our 10-10-10 Stewardship Sunday. ____________________________________________________________ I am First UCC member [...] Greetings from your Stewardship Committee! Thank you for joining with us in this Stewardship season. Please look for your 2011 pledge materials in your mailbox within the next week. Pledge materials are also available in the church office, and in the wooden display rack next to the main office door. You may also pledge [...] I am Sarah Entenmann and I have been a member of First UCC for thirteen years. Soon it will be time for me to decide how much I want to give to the local ministry of First UCC. Because UCC’s needs are great this year, due in part to a nasty flood and a [...] I am First UCC member Carol Rutz, and in my work with college students I find that some of them are confused about the political spectrum: what are the characteristics of “right” vs. “left” points of view? One quick (and necessarily incomplete) definition goes like this. Those on the right think of government [...] First UCC is happy to announce it has finalized an agreement with the Reverend Jeff Barton to be the interim minister. He will be with the church for at least one year, starting August 22. Jeff is committed to helping the church create a vision for the future and to restructure the church and programs accordingly. Jeff Barton [...] First UCC Northfield is now accepting applications for interim minister. Interested parties may apply for the position by clicking on the following link: http://www.uccmn.org/Employment%20Opportunities/First%20UCC%20Northfield%20Interim.pdf. Please follow the submission instructions on the bottom of this document. Questions about the application process should be directed to Rev. Elena Larssen at the Minnesota Conference, [...] First UCC is currently accepting nominations for the Permanent Call Search Committee. Click here for a printable version of the nominations form as outlined below: 1. Nominee must be a full or associate member of the Congregation. 2. Nominee should possess the following qualities: ·a passionate commitment to the church; ·a positive attitude; ·a capacity to [...] First UCC is blessed with an active congregation that finds many ways to pursue our Christian work. The same people you share the pews with also play vital roles in their families, workplaces and in other volunteer organizations. Our current governance structure calls for more than 110 committee positions to be drawn from the approximately 200 people who worship at First UCC each Sunday. After reviewing our minister’s reports for the last 40 years, each minister has identified the need to change. We are not unique. As society has changed and more families have two partners working outside the home, churches across the country have been feeling the strain of traditional governance structures. Council leadership, in consultation with Pastor Sandy, have been exploring different ways that we might organize our governance so that we can spend more time “being the church” instead of running the church. The Interim Selection Committee responsible for securing an Interim Minister has met with the Associate Conference Minister and is drafting a job description that will be posted locally and nationally. The Committee is made up of David Beimers, Brad Hoff, Beth Kallestad, Jerry Mohrig and Kathleen Pender. The Committee’s goal is to have an [...] |
Rev. Cindy Mueller and Rev. Dr. Bob Griggs
Click here to make a monetary donation to First UCC.
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