wfn.org | UCC news briefs from General Synod July 3, 1999

[George Conklin <gconklin@wfn.org>]

United Church of Christ
Office of Communication
700 Prospect Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44115
contact: Barbara Powell
phone: 216-736-2222
email: powellb@ucc.org
http://www.ucc.org

Providence - July 3, 1999 News Briefs

Coalition forms People of Color Institute
Lots of mostly-white groups within the UCC talk about racism in their midst,
but at its gathering this week at Brown University one UCC group decided to do
something about it.

The People of Color Institute arose from a challenge to the UCC Coalition for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns that the Coalition doesn’t
readily share power, responsibility and leadership with people of color and
doesn’t offer partnership in every facet of its structure, leadership,
activities and program.

The Coalition’s response?  It added $10,000 to its budget for the People of
Color Institute and pledged to address racism, both personal and institutional,
every time the Coalition meets.

Among other activities, the Institute plans a leadership forum for the year
2000 for all lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender people of color within the UCC.

Spokesperson for the People of Color Institute is the Rev. Margarita Suarez of
Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Oak Park, Ill.

Restructure Soundings
        Between 100 and 150 people attended an 80-minute Soundings session on
restructure and the officer search process.  The session was mostly
non-confrontational, with the questions seemingly answered to the satisfaction
of those asking them.
        The Rev. Robert Witham, who is coordinating the transition into the new
structure, pointed out that both now and in the future, according to the
process adopted, officers will be selected through the search/call process
similar to that of a local church, and then voted either up or down by the
Synod, acting as a congregation.  Just as there are no pastoral nominations
from the floor when a congregation votes on whether to call a pastor, so there
will be none from the floor of Synod.

Quotable Quotes

“Eventually, we had to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit work.”
— Linda Jaramillo, member of the GMP search committee from the Central Pacific
Conference, responding to a question at the July 1 Soundings on the UCC
restructure and officer search process.

“Churches are most faithful when they give members the opportunity to
participate in all offerings, and let members decide [which ones to give].”
— Earl Miller, executive director, Stewardship Council, at the July 1 Soundings
on “Creating Four Special Mission Offerings”

“As a local church pastor, it [four all-church offerings instead of six] will
make promotion easier.”
— the Rev. Steven Wardwell, pastor of St. Luke’s UCC, Lititz, Pa., and a
program coordinator for the Penn Central Conference

“The women’s soccer team may be in line for winning the World Cup.”
“We can no longer allow African American/Latino men to be the profit margin for
American prisons.”
-- The state of the country according to the Rev. Hector Lopez, conference
minister of the Central Pacific Conference, preaching at the opening worship
service of General Synod 22