Dear Members and Friends of the Hills Church,
This past month has been one of surprise and sorrow for our church as we come to terms with Reverend Matt Wooster’s decision to accept a call to ministry at Plymouth Church in Ohio. While we wish Matt and Betsy the best as they move closer to their family and embark upon this new chapter in their lives, we mourn their impending departure. Nonetheless, our experience as Moderators has impressed upon us the resiliency of our congregation and the strength of our community. We are also blessed with our Associate Ministers, Reverend Judy Swahnberg and Reverend Anne Marie Holloway, who will care for our spiritual and pastoral needs during this transition. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we have confidence in our future life as a church. It is with this assurance that we report upon our April 13th Church Council meeting.
Matt began our time together by sharing with Council his sadness at leaving the church and his excitement about the future both for himself and the Hills Church. He expressed gratitude for the time he has spent at WHCC, and confidence that “God will provide” as we start upon the next steps in our congregational future. He will schedule multiple opportunities to meet with members of the congregation over the next two months to talk and visit.
CLERGY REPORT
Reverends Matt Wooster, Judy Swahnberg, and Anne Marie Holloway were all busy this past month preparing for Good Friday, Holy Week, and Easter services. In addition to the moving worship experiences and glorious music, highlights this year included the prayer walk and heart display in front of the church that was decorated for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter. The church also hosted a socially distanced egg hunt, a Palm pick-up drive-thru, and in-person, socially-distanced contemplative prayer in Wallace Chapel on Good Friday.
The ministers also held a service to reflect upon the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, led book discussions on Michael Curry’s Love is the Way, continued to host their rich array of monthly programs, and provided pastoral services to the congregation. This past month they officiated at funeral services for Dick Hartley, Tim Lowe, Greta Sarginson, and Daniel Colanton (son of Patricia Burzinski Colanton Frisone who grew up in the church). The work of the Racial Justice Working Group continues.
Matt has been working “behind the scenes” to develop a plan of priorities and goals to prepare for the relational and administrative closure of his ministry in a way that strengthens the congregation for the future.
Among other things, Judy has continued her work with the Welcoming Task Force and how the church can be made more welcoming through signage or other options. She thanked Tia Pinney for her presentation at the Spring Tea Party on “The Birds and the Bees” and “The Flowers and the Trees.”
Anne Marie is busy planning for Confirmation Sunday on May 23rd (new date) and will meet with a young family later this month about a baptism inquiry.
DELEGATE REPORT
Included in the consent agenda were reports submitted by WHCC Delegates to the SNEUCC March Super Saturday Conference: Mary Hill Canavan, Jennifer Cassettari, Jennifer Rossetti, and Betsy Wooster. Between them, they attended workshops exploring spiritual practices for everyday life, developing strategies for the creation of new ministries, improving stewardship efforts, recognizing the importance of climate change, improving mental health ministries, and building upon congregational strengths.
SUPPORT BOARD REPORTS
The Faith Formation Support Board has begun meeting monthly. They are enthusiastically following up on recommendations by the Church Governance Task Force.
The Spiritual Care Support Board is working with the Office of the Moderator and our UCC Conference Minister, Reverend Patty Kogut, to plan for the search for the Interim Minister. Also, it is seeking feedback by May 1st about what signage the church should adopt to communicate its Open and Affirming status.
The Christian Service Support Board has identified liaisons to each of the church’s outreach ministry teams. It continues its book collection drive and Mission Moment planning for upcoming church services.
FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW
John Dooley reported that the church will receive a non-budgeted $108,000 employee tax credit which will reduce our future payroll tax liabilities. He is working with the auditors to prepare the church’s financial statements.
STRATEGIC VISIONING TEAM (SVT)
Kristen Toffer and Mary Hill Canavan reported on the work of the Strategic Visioning Task Force. This group was created by Church Council in 2019 and charged with making specific programming recommendations to enliven the ministry of the church that could be implemented in the next 3 -5 years. It began by asking the congregation to reflect upon why people choose to associate with the WHCC. This resulted in a word cloud that portrays visually the words most frequently expressed in the congregation’s written responses. Their findings might be summarized in the statement, “God and service, intersecting with community by way of faith and love.” These results were shared with the congregation during a church service on September 22, 2019.
The team then asked the congregation how we can further live out the purpose, values, and beliefs captured in the word cloud. In other words, how and what can we do to live out why we exist as a church. Analysis of these responses caused the SVT to recommend not developing a new set of programs but instead sharing the strengths of our church with renewed energy and a new focus. Through the work of the SVT, our congregation affirmed these church strengths:
- Worship services with excellent music and preaching
- Opportunities for hands-on service
- Opportunities for adult faith formation
- Opportunities for community building
The SVT recommended the following goals to build upon these strengths.
1) Enhance our culture of engagement to increase participation in existing service, adult education, and community-building church ministries. How might these programs be more invitational, better communicated, or better scheduled to involve more and new people? How might we become better at incorporating newcomers into our congregation, more effectively using the internet/social media, and engaging in evangelism and outreach to new people?
2) Provide video streaming of Sunday worship services. This will allow people to feel connected while they are away and will permit prospective visitors to learn more about us before an initial visit.
3) Develop additional worship opportunities beyond the weekly Sunday 10 am service and periodic lay-led services. Could this possibly include partnering with a Boston area church with a different racial profile for joint services at a time other than Sunday morning?
Members of Church Council thanked the SVT for the terrific work that they have done and observed how many of the same themes have emerged from their work and that of other groups within the church (i.e., the Strengthening Governance & Financial Governance Task Forces and the Racial Justice Working Group). The importance of community for our congregation continues to resonate throughout all their findings, perhaps even more so during COVID-19. Our challenge will be to weave together these themes into a multi-faceted implementation plan. Plans will be made to share the findings of the SVT with the congregation.
RACIAL JUSTICE WORKING GROUP UPDATE
Anne Marie Holloway reported that with the help of diversity, equity, and inclusion consultants from Wayside Youth and Family Support Network, the church hosted three workshops on racial justice that were attended by approximately 40 people and conducted a youth anti-racism leadership training session. To familiarize the greater congregation with the work of this group, over Lent they shared weekly devotionals in the newsletter with links to the Racial Justice tab on our website (https://hillschurch.org/?s=Racial+justice). Discussions continue about how to continue to build upon this momentum and to create an implementation plan.
STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Doug Eisenhart reported that a group has been assembled to work upon implementing many of the suggestions made by the Strengthening Governance Task Force and endorsed by Church Council. Included in this group are Doug Eisenhart and Laurie Otten as Co-Chairs, Sarah Pedersen, Rich Sweeting, Becky Williams, and possibly others. Their first task will be to develop church governance procedural guidelines which they anticipate sharing widely to solicit feedback.
TRANSITION PLANNING UPDATE
Planning is already underway to ensure that our church services can continue to be streamed after Matt’s departure and to transition banking-related responsibilities. Regular meetings between the Office of the Moderator, Senior Deacons, and UCC Conference Minister will be held to coordinate the church’s transition preparations.
