Make Your Voice Heard in the UCC
Are you engaged? With the election cycle over and the season of wonder and hope underway, we’d like to announce an exciting new initiative that will assist in the discernment of the future of LGBTQ/SGL* ministry in the United Church of Christ.
The UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns and the UCC’s Office for Health and Wholeness Advocacy have launched The Churchwide Consultation on the Future of LGBT Ministry and Advocacy. Conversations have begun in various settings of the UCC as we seek to develop a common vision for programming, advocacy and strategic planning.
The project began with focus groups at the Coalition’s National Gathering at Elmhurst College in June and will conclude with a report to be presented at the 2013 General Synod in Long Beach, Calif. Conversations have already occurred with the Collegium, at some gatherins of Conference Ministers and in various Conference annual meetings.
Now is the time to schedule conversations in individual congregations. Our goal is to host 75 conversations, 2 congregations per conference. Our UCC seminaries are participating along with the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion.
Our diversity is our strength, which means we need to hear from you! We are interested in hearing from any and all churches regardless of ONA status and encourage as many as possible to participate. Racial/ethnic meetings, youth and young adult gatherings, clergy clusters and annual Conference/Association meetings are also excellent venues for this conversation.
Your participation will help us shape the future of LGBTQ/SGL ministries in the United Church of Christ. Your voice is vital to our visioning process.
Please contact the Rev. Tara Wilkins, Consultation Coordination, at [email protected]. She will be able to provide more information, schedule a focus group/listening session, help you learn about facilitator-training opportunities and answer any questions you may have.
* “SGL” (“Same-Gender-Loving”) is a term often used in the African American community as an alternative to “lesbian and gay.”