UCC, Disciples form new partnership in Montana-Northern Wyoming region

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

UCC, Disciples form new partnership in Montana-Northern Wyoming region

> Written by Jeff Woodard
> November 24, 2010

In a collaborative effort to equip transformational leaders, encourage
sharing of resources and call UCC and Christian Churches (Disciples of
Christ) in Montana and Northern Wyoming to grow spiritually, the two
churches voted Nov. 6 to form a partnership team to be phased in over
the next two years.

The implementation process will begin Jan. 1 with the intent of
creating a unified witness for the UCC Conference and Disciples Region
in Montana. It provides each of the executive ministers a colleague
with whom to perform ministry; allows for meetings closer to home for
congregational members; and greatly reduces duplicating efforts.

Meeting in a neutral space hosted by First Presbyterian Church, about
135 local-church delegates from the UCC's Montana Northern Wyoming
Conference and Montana Disciples gathered in Bozeman, Mont., to
worship, discern, discuss and vote on the proposal.

Eighty-one percent of UCC delegates and 93 percent of Disciples voted
in favor of the partnership.

?We think it models stepping outside the box for the rest of the UCC
and the Disciples,? says the Rev. Randy Hyvonen, UCC Conference
minister of the Montana-Northern Wyoming Conference.

?We don't expect it to change much at all at the local-church level ?
at least not in the near future. But as we do educational events and
share more retreats, we might expect more of a sense of shared 
community. ?

The partnership staff, to be financed by a common Partnership Fund,
will include one Regional Minister and one Conference Minister; each
will be considered three-quarters (36 hours) time. A full-time
administrative assistant, part-time bookkeeper and part-time
communications director will round out the staff.

The partnership calls for both churches to retain autonomy and
separate denominational identity. The UCC Conference is expected to
save more than $40,000 on its proposed 2011 budget; the Disciples
Region, nearly $60,000.

?We will all need to work together to make this partnership effective
for all of our 50 congregations,? says Hyvonen, noting that the seeds
for the proposal were planted in February 2008 in a joint clergy
retreat made possible by the UCC Brown Grant.

?The retreat was attended by about 26 UCC and Disciples clergy and
nine spouses,? says Hyvonen. ?More than one pastor expressed the
desire for our two denominations to do more together. In May of that
year, we shared our Annual Meting and Regional Assembly.?

A few months later, the UCC Board held its own retreat and decided to
explore with the Disciples the forming of a joint task force to
discuss a mutual future.

?The joint task force began meeting in March 2009 and held nearly
monthly meetings and joint retreats thereafter,? says Hyvonen. ?In
September and the beginning of October, numerous hearings on the
partnership proposal were held all over Montana, and the partnership
document was revised.?

Comprising four UCC and four Disciples members, the dynamic of the
task force ? with the help of the Rev. Dr. Ruth Fletcher ? was the key
behind the proposal, says Hyvonen.

?The task force included a Disciples minister who had served a UCC
congregation in Nebraska, and our immediate past moderator was on the
task force during her final year serving a UCC congregation,? says
Hyvonen. ?Some years back she had served a DOC congregation in
Montana. And I served a Disciples congregation in Shaker Heights,
Ohio, in the mid-?70s.?

The partnership is the most recent in a long line of UCC-Disciples
collaborations.

?The UCC and Disciples have worked in partnership since the 1960s,?
says Jan Aerie, executive for Mission Education and Interpretation in
the UCC's Wider Church and Global Ministries. ?The two denominations,
similar in polity and theology, find much more ministry and mission
can be done together than separately.

Global Ministries, a joint ministry of both churches, sends 125
missionaries into 70 countries while maintaining relationships with
more than 260 partner churches and organizations around the world.

Hyvonen says he is willing to stay on to help ?pour the foundation?
for the partnership, but plans to retire at the end of 2011.

?I wish to leave before the concrete hardens,? he says.

For more information on the Montana Northern Wyoming Conference, log 
on to

> www.mnwc-ucc.org/current/