Northwest Word

Northwest Wisconsin Association

United Church of Christ

March 2023

Caldwell To Be Installed

April 29 in Amery

The Reverend Dana Caldwell will be installed as Pastor of the Amery Congregational United Church of Christ on Saturday, April 29. The Rev. Dr. Kevin Griffin, pastor of First Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina will preach at the 1:00 P.M. service. The church is located at 201 Harriman Avenue North in Amery. Clergy are encouraged to bring robes and red stoles for the procession.

A dessert bar will follow the service.

Rev. Caldwell began serving the Amery Church after several years as a chaplain at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond- du-Lac. An Illinois native and second career person, Caldwell was ordained on March 26, 2020 in the first virtual ordination in the United Church of Christ.

NWWA Annual Meeting April 22 in Merrill

The Northwest Wisconsin Association of the United Church of Christ will hold its Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 22, from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Planners are preparing a hybrid meeting available on Zoom, with in-person attendees gathering at St. Stephens UCC. located at 903 East Second Street in Merrill.

Fresh Understandings of Being the Church shapes the theme for the day's program. Jill Christopherson, a longtime Licensed Lay Minister in the Northwest Association, will moderate a panel discussion on innovative ways to be the church in the 21st century.

Registration for in-person attendees is $15.00. Planners encourage churches to bring their Confirmation students to the meeting, and fees for those stu-dents will be waived.

Registration forms will be published soon. Every church is welcome to seat two lay delegates, with larger churches eligible to seat one additional delegate for each additional 200 members or major fraction above the first 200.

Reports for the meeting will be sent out at a date closer to the meeting.

Stewardship Moments: The world asks, “What does a person own?” Christ asks, “How does they use it?”

A Letter from Michael Jones, Associate Conference Minister

One Great Hour of Sharing Offering

Offers Global Hope

by Terry Dukerschein

It will take place in most UCC churches on March, 19th, 2023. Each year for the past 4 years, I have tried to write something that lends either an Upper Midwest a personal touch to this offering we faithfully donate every March.  2022 saw the war in Ukraine continue and escalate, plus violent storms with record flooding, tornados, and hurricanes across the US and many other regions of the world. David Wallace Wells states clearly in his book, The Uninhabitalble Earth: Life After Warming, that current effects of Climate Change are now ahead of the schedule scientists originally pro-jected. I had to step away from this very informative and well-researched book at times to re-assemble my Hope.

We must never forget that Hope can come in small increments that are very meaningful to victims of chronic poverty or sudden disaster. Please take time to check this link:

https://www.ucc.org/what-we-do/wider-church-ministries/global-hope/ucc-global-hope-grants-2022/

Read the list of U.C.C. Global Hope Grants that were funded by our OGHS offerings last year and distributed throughout the U.S. and the world by the UCC and other partners. These

Thompson Nominated for

General Minister & President

A Search Committee appointed by the Board of Directors of the United Church of Christ has nominated the Reverend Doctor Karen Georgia Thompson as the UCC's next General Minister and President. Rev. Thompson's nomina-tion will be presented to delegates at General Synod, which will be held from June 30 to July 4 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Currently, Rev. Thompson serves as Associate General Minister and Vice President of Wider Church Ministries and Operations and Co-Executive for Global Ministries. If elected, Rev. Thompson would be the first woman, and the first woman of African descent, to lead the denomination. She would succeed the Rev. John Dorhauer, who announced in 2021 that he would not seek a third term.

The Search Committee announced its choice on February 27. The Rev. Emma Brewer-Wallin, who chaired the Com-mittee, writes that:

The committee was impressed by Rev. Thompson’s pastoral presence and theological depth; bold vision for a decolonized Christianity and the United Church of Christ as a home for people with multiple religious belonging; dedication to collaborative leadership and bridge-building; and skill as a manager and administrator. Rev. Thompson is Jamaican and immigrated to the United States as a teenager with her parents. Her identities as Jamaican, an immigrant, and part of the African diaspora are central to her sense of self and approach to ministry. 

The new General Minister and President's term will begin on August 1, 2023

grants fund rapid, on-the-scene-help to mobilize victims and volunteers when they need hope the most. Promptness is critical in the aftermath of severe flooding, tornados, and other disasters. Victims know others are thinking of them and money provides the practical items like cleanup or building materials needed for recovery. Many funded refugee resettlement, another traditional type of aid that OGHS funds. IN 2022 resettlement for Afghani’s and Ukrainians displaced by war, stood out but aid went to other war torn areas as well. For those of you who think OGHS offerings only help people very far away, please note that the list of domestic HOPE grants is far longer than the list of inter-national grants.

Let us not forget simple projects easily assembled in your home church, such as backpack kits for immigrants arriving in a new country or Clean-up buckets to help families get started in that challenging task after a disaster also bring hope in a tangible way when most needed. Check the OGHS Facebook page or website for how to get started.

Please be generous with you annual offering to One Great Hour of Sharing and help to spread hope!

Gentle Reminders

• NWWA Executive Committee, March 16
• NWWA Annual Meeting at St. Stephens UCC, Merrill, April 22
• Rev. Dana Caldwell installed as Pastor of Amery Congregational UCC, April 29
• Wisconsin Conference Annual Meeting, Green Lake Conference Center, June 9-11
• General Synod of the United Church of Christ, June 30-July 4, Indianapolis
• New UCC General Minister and President's Term begins, August 1

Stewardship Moments

To all earth's creatures God has given the broad earth, the springs, the rivers and the forests, giving the air to the birds, and the waters to those who live in water, giving abundantly to all the basic needs of life, not as a private possession, not restricted by law, not divided by boundaries, but as common to all, amply and in rich measure.

Gregory of Nazianzus

If it is more blessed to give than to receive, then most of us are content to let the other fellow have the greater blessing. Shailer Mathews

Got News for the NW Word?

Send your suggestions to the Pastor Bill Clyma, the NW Word's Editor at pastorbill111@outlook.com, or call him at 763-415-0779.