National Association of Congregational Christian Churches:
Community Connections
Looking Forward:
New Goals for Your Leadership
Laura Hamby, Moderator,
Jim Waechter, Vice Moderator,
Varn Philbrook, President, Board of Governors
The NACCC Board of Directors and Foundation's Board of Governors met in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on October 20, 2016 for a joint meeting. The boards agreed to work with the Leadership Council, the Center for Congregational Leadership, the Nominating Committee, and the Annual Meeting & Conference Committee to focus this year on the following priorities:
Orientation and training of the new leadership elected each year by delegates at the Annual Meeting
Orientation for and the integration of new churches into NACCC membership
Development of youth participation in leadership of the NACCC
Development of a new NACCC website
Development of a NACCC "case for support" vital to fundraising for the Shared Ministries Fund
Revitalization of the "Ambassador's Program" for communicating with and visiting our 349 churches
Development of ministers for our churches
Development of a long-term plan for annual meeting workshops aimed at directly helping local churches
Responsibility for each of the above efforts was assigned to appropriate leadership and staff individuals and we will keep you updated on our progress.
University Congregational Church in Wichita, Kansas recently hosted a "Blessing of the Animals."
Board of Governors Highlights
Varn Philbrook, President
Looking forward, your Board of Governors has identified some key areas where we feel our skills can be used to improve and further secure the financial underpinnings of the Association. One area of focus will be on encouraging key Leadership to become more actively involved in reaching out to our member churches. Recent giving statistics presented at the Annual meeting showed that some member churches gave little or nothing to support `their' Association. Reasons for this are many, but one way we can help is by reaching out to our member churches in fellowship. Through our fellowship, we will share stories, compare experiences, discuss common chords and also discover ways to mutually increase our congregational unity. This Board is working on materials to help our leadership be more effective as they continue to reach out to churches.
Children at North Shore Congregational Church, in Fox Point, Wisconsin dressed up and went from trunk to trunk asking for candy and other goodies on October 22nd. It looks like the Trunk- R-Treat was a hit!
Members from the Congregational Church of the Chimes, in Sherman Oaks, California enjoyed games, pancakes, and food trucks at their Golden West Fair on October 15th.
First Congregational Church of Dalton, Wisconsin hosted a series about caring for people with Alzheimer's.
