The Wisconsin Foundation UCC, through the Calvary Memorial Fund, donated more than $100,000 to St. Ben’s Community Meal Program in Milwaukee. The meal program offers on-site food on Wednesdays and delivers food on other days to shelters and group homes. The gift was funded from the assets Calvary Memorial, a UCC congregation in Wauwatosa that closed on 2019. Calvary members were longtime volunteers at St. Ben’s. In the photo, the Rev. Andrew Warner, Conference director of development, presents the grant to Brother Robert Wotypka, director of Capuchin Community Services.

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More than 20 U.S. states from the South to the Northeast are reeling from the impact of Hurricane Ida and its sizeable remnants with catastrophic water and wind damage, including significant power outages.

Treasurers, please note: There is a new address for sending contributions to the national UCC office:

If you have an idea for a project your congregation and community might experiment with together in the coming year, and where a financial grant (of up to $5,000) can help bring it to life, consider applying for a Catalyst Grant.

How do Catalyst Grants Impact Congregations? Read more here

The United Church of Christ is hosting a webinar for congregations interested in supporting Afghan refugees who will be arriving in U.S. communities in the coming months. The webinar will take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Central time, Saturday, Sept. 11. For more information and to register, go to https://tinyurl.com/supportforafghans. Want to learn more? Contact Irene Hassan, UCC minister for refugee and migration services.

Are you interested in a week-long mission trip to serve at one of our beloved UCC partners through the Council for Health and Human Services Ministries? Conference Minister Franz Rigert will lead a delegation of up to 20 to join in the ministry of Back Bay Mission – strengthening neighborhoods, seeking justice and transforming lives. Among its many initiatives, Back Bay Mission meets urgent and essential needs in the wider Biloxi community, working alongside those in the journey out of poverty.

Messy Church is a way of being church for families and others. It is Christ-centered, for all ages, based on creativity, hospitality, and celebration. In the words of Lucy Moore, Messy Church founder, “Messy Church is fundamentally about people coming in all their mess, with their messy lives and their messy families, just coming to God as they are and seeing what a Christian community is all about.” To learn more about Messy Church, click here.

Messy Church USA invites you and your church to attend a Messy Day of Training on Oct. 23. We will meet in person at Northfield Community Church in Northfield, Ill., just north of Chicago. Messy Church USA trainers will share the building blocks for creating or restarting your local Messy Church. Training is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes foundation training, “how to” suggestions, a full Messy session, an opportunity to work with a Messy Church USA trainer, and lunch and morning coffee. Registration cost is $100 for an individual, $200 for a team of 2-4, and $25 per additional team members. Registration is limited so register soon at this link. Questions: contact Ronda Bower at Northfield Community Church.

More information about these retreats will be available soon.

Learn how to design effective meeting practices, nurture your creativity as a leader, or explore fresh perspectives on Advent texts with the Damascus fall learning opportunities.

Two upcoming courses still have room:

For more information on either course, click here

Webinar - Don’t Beg: Rethinking the Stewardship Sermon. This is a Bible Study for pastors as we think through options for sermons on Stewardship for a fall pledge campaign. We will be guided by Henri Nouwen’s observation, “Fundraising is precisely the opposite of begging. Rather, we are declaring, ‘We have a vision that is amazing and exciting.’”

Oct. 6, 4:00p.m.  Registration

Would you like to learn more about how the immigration actions and policies of the Biden Administration stack up against Joe Biden's ambitious and progressive immigration policy agenda, nine months into his first year as president? Have you been wondering about how your congregation (or your community) could get more involved in immigration justice work, including sponsoring an asylum-seeking family, right here in Wisconsin? Join the Wisconsin Conference Immigration Working Group (IWG) for a Zoom workshop, "Immigration Justice Update," on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 6:30-8:00p.m. (Register now to hold your place!) Presenters will include Katie Adams, Policy Advocate for Domestic Issues in the UCC’s Washington, D.C. office, and IWG members who will share work being done on immigration justice in their congregations and/or communities.

Can fundraising be ministry? Can stewardship be spiritual? The Cultivating Generous Congregations Seminar this fall offers an opportunity for pastors and lay leaders to explore faithful, practical, and tested ways to promote generosity in our congregations. We will draw on current research, seek guidance from the wisdom of scripture, and discuss the best practices in church-based fundraising. Pastors and leaders participating in this program will be equipped to lead an effective stewardship campaign and, more broadly, help their congregations reclaim generosity as a spiritual practice. The seminar meetings will be held on Tuesdays – Sept. 21, Oct. 5 and 19, and Nov. 2, 16, and 30. Seminars run from 5:30p.m. to 7:00p.m. Central time. There will be readings, videos, and reflections to complete between seminar meetings. The program costs $300 for a team of two leaders (additional participants $150 each). Learn more and register by Sept. 14

Churches throughout our state are experiencing transitions in modes of ministry, in congregational demographics, and in clergy leadership. The Interim Ministry Training Institute makes the techniques and tools of transitional leadership available for clergy, both settled and ready to be intentionally interim. The class meets over Zoom once a month for eight months with reading materials and application exercises, lecture, discussion, video and small group work to bring the information directly to the settings and concerns of the students. The first class is Oct. 14. Cost is $995, payable in full or in two or more installments. Registration is preferred by Sept. 16, but flexibility and adaptability are key skills in ministry and in life.

Questions? Email the Rev. Marlea Gilbert

Bob worked as a professor and served for 12 years as the Dean of the Business School at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He was a remarkable person of faith and a kind and generous man. Please find a full obituary here.

To see all searching churches, click here.

The Conference Transitions feature appears monthly in the Wisconsin Conference Life. Please share your transition information, including church anniversaries, with the newsletter editor by emailing Nola.

The Kairos Call to Action Newsletter was created to support the efforts of congregations, families and individuals who want to be a part of the UCC’s Kairos Call to Action. Through this newsletter the Conference Creation Care Team will provide resources for study and worship, encourage advocacy on behalf of climate justice, and help congregations find and connect with partners who share this common concern and commitment.

Sign up for this newsletter here, and check out the latest issue here. 

This month's Parish Paper is "Hospitality: Offering a Third Place to Gather." Access this issue and archived issues here!

The Wisconsin Conference UCC is an Open and Affirming Conference, and an Immigrant Welcoming Conference.