God's Extravagant Welcome
2592 West 14th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113
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God's Extravagant Welcome
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2592 West 14th Street, Cleveland, OH 44113 |
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Get the Latest Updates in YOUR Email Inbox! Ripples - March 2009Is Growing BOLD on your schedule?!Registration is now open for our 2009 National Gathering, Growing BOLD. It will be a celebration of Open and Affirming, an exploration of what ONA can be in its fullest expression, and an opportunity for worship, fellowship, celebration, and engagement. A preliminary schedule for the conference is now available to aid your planning efforts: www.ucccoalition.org/programs/gathering/ Join us June 22–25, 2009, in Grand Rapids, MI, to kick-off the week of General Synod. Many more details are available online, including registration (online or by mail) and hotel/accommodations: www.ucccoalition.org/programs/gathering/ Please spread the word about this event! Growing Bold program is coming together...The Growing Bold planning committee is hard at work. In addition to a keynote by Hector Lopez, presenters will include:
Workshop: Is the media your friend or your enemy?Here are details on one of our Growing BOLD workshops! When CNN announced that African Americans had voted overwhelmingly in support of Proposition 8 in California, the media controlled the message—it was framed as Blacks against gays and the damage was done. GLAAD’s media workshop offers strategies for impacting media rather than getting run over by it. Whether you are an expert or a beginner, this workshop will help you think through your own media strategies as you work for LGBT equality in churches and the world. In a world of spin, blogging, infotainment, and viral communication, it is tempting to run and hide—but another option is to learn about media and run with it! Come and get tools to use media to change the world! Ann Craig is the first director of religion, faith, and values at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where she works with about 20 groups in diverse faith traditions to empower them to engage the media effectively as they work for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Honoring John ThomasAt Growing Bold, we will honor UCC President and General Minister, John Thomas, for his service to the UCC and in particular for his advocacy for LGBT people—both within the UCC and with members of a wide range of interfaith traditions. New Resource: ¿Qué dice la Biblia de ser homosexual o lesbiana?The Rev. Paula M. Jackson, PhD., offers a careful examination of the Hebrew and Greek texts of scripture in their historical and literary contexts. She reveals that none of the "prooftexts" cited by anti-gay preachers is actually referring to lgbt people. This work is available in English in a detailed manuscript approaching 100 pages and also an abridged version of about 25 pages. The abridged version is now also available in Spanish: ¿Qué dice la Biblia de ser homosexual o lesbiana?—¡probablemente no lo que has oído! The works are available to anyone who wants to read them, and may be shared with anyone who might find them helpful, free of charge. Contact the author for transmission as electronic files at pjackson@fuse.net or mtr.paula@gmail.com. New Blog: Tongues Untied
Under the leadership of the Rev. Irene Monroe, the new Coordinator of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLGS) African-American Roundtable (AART), CLGS has launched a new blogging space for the work of the Roundtable to share views, exchange opinions, network, strategize, and build community. You can visit it at www.clgs.org/aart-blog-tongues-untied. Coalition is Seeking Communications VolunteersOver the last 12 months, the UCC Coalition has been migrating over from static web pages to a content-management system. The new system will enable us to delegate discrete communications roles to volunteers all over the world. If you are interested in helping us keep the Coalition website up to date, please let us know. Basic internet access is required (i.e., computer, standard browser, and internet connection), but knowledge of HTML, CSS, and the rest of the great mysteries of the internet is not! Opportunities include news editor, resources editor, news reporter, and social-networking advocates. Please contact the UCC Coalition national office (1-800-653-0799 or office@ucccoalition.org) to inquire about these volunteer positions. ONA in the Bayou StateCongratulations to Freedom Fellowship Ministries (3900 Tulane Ave., New Orleans, LA 70119, 504-251-0465) on becoming our first ONA congregation in the state of Louisiana. While we have ONA congregations in every UCC Conference, we are only in 47 states and the District of Columbia. We are still looking for our first ONA congregations in Alaska, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Cleveland Famlies FirstOn December 8, the Cleveland City Council passed legislation to establish a domestic-partner registry, to take effect April 1, 2009. Since then, opposition groups in the area have launched an effort to repeal the ordinance. Cleveland Families Count is campaigning to preserve the registry. Help this effort by signing on to the petition at: www.clevelandfamiliescount.org Upcoming Coalition EventsMore Staff AppearancesOn the Road with Gwen
On the Road with Tim
Ecumenical ONA TrainingsThe Believe Out Loud Power Summit is an advanced training for leaders in the Welcoming Church Movement. Programming will include concrete skills-building in key areas of organizing and movement building, action-planning within our denominations and in partnership with local and state-wide secular efforts, dynamic worship, and visioning about the world we want to leave for our children. The Summit is scheduled for October 9–11, 2010, in Orlando, FL. Registration is free, but you are responsible for your own travel, lodging, and meals. To learn more, visit http://www.welcomingresources.org/BelieveOutLoud.htm. BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE CHURCH TRAININGS
See also http://www.welcomingresources.org/trainings.htm. Upcoming UCC eventsIn September, 2010, we have a great opportunity to take our National Gathering 2010 theme, Any Body, Everybody, Christ's Body, deeper. We can join the UCC Mental Illness Network and UCC Disabilities Ministries for Widening the Welcome: Inclusion for All, in St. Louis, MO, September 23–26, 2010. At least one out of four families in your congregation is affected by a mental illness/brain disorder or disability. What a great time to continue the conversation begun in San Diego, CA! You can learn more about this opportunity at http://www.moredomainsforless.com/wideningthewelcome/index.htm. The Association of United Church Educators (http://www.auce-educators.org) will be hosting their regional gatherings:
The UCC New Church Leadership Institute offers resources for UCC church planters, re-developers, and conference staff. Watch for a variety of training opportunities relating to church growth at growtheucc.memberlodge.org/Default.aspx. Upcoming event topics include:
Also:
The next General Synod of the UCC will be held July 1-5, 2011, in Tampa, FL. For more opportunities, watch the UCC calendar at www.ucc.org/calendar/. More Upcoming EventsThe first annual FamilyFest event will be held at the Paris Resort and Casino, in the heart of the world-famous Las Vegas strip, August 6–8, 2010. Under the theme of “A Celebration of Life," we will come to celebrate our style, challenge our minds, restore our bodies, and encourage our spirits. FamilyFest will conclude with a gospel brunch on Sunday, August 8, 2010, with gospel music and a keynote by Bishop Yvette Flunder. For more information, visit www.familyfestlasvegas.com. PFLAG Northeast Iowa will be hosting a multi-state, multi-organizational event on the campus of Luther College in Decorah, IA. Achieving Marriage Equality in the Heartland: Lessons from Iowa will be held August 13–14, 2010. The conference will bring Midwestern PFLAG and allied organizations, faith-based groups, legislative leaders and policy makers together to explore how to expand marriage equality to our neighboring states, how to preserve marriage equality in Iowa, and ways to build alliances and support for achieving marriage equality throughout the heartland. For further information, contact Bill Musser at billmusser@hotmail.com. Sisters in a Strange Land: A Retreat for Christian Lesbians will be held at the Leaven Center in Lyons, MI, August 20–22, 2010. If you have been longing to connect with sisters who claim both their lesbian and their Christian identities, Sisters in a Strange Land is the place for you! To learn more, visit www.leaven.org/upcoming.htm. Sisterly Conversations 2010: Honoring Our Diversities will be led by Virginia R. Mollenkott and Mary E. Hunt, September 10–12, 2010, at the Kirkridge Retreat Center in Bangor, PA. Each year we gather at Kirkridge as lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender women and our allies. This year we will focus on honoring our community's great diversities of gender identities, lifestyles, political outlooks, religious and spiritual practices, races/colors, health issues, levels of "outness," etc. Our plenary and small-group conversations will be stimulated by presentations by Mary Hunt ("Bridging Women's Cultural Differences") and by Virginia Mollenkott ("Biblical Insights about the Otherness within Our Oneness"). For more information, please visit http://www.kirkridge.org/programs/current-programs/9/10-to-9/12/2010---sisterly-conversations---mollenkott-and-hunt-294-137.html. Families in the Desert, sponsored by the Family Equality Council, will be held in Palm Desert, CA, October 8–10, 2010. LGBT families from all over the country will come together for a weekend of community-building and relaxing by the pool. For more details, visit www.familyequality.org/desert. Regional Fellowship Meetings hosted by The Fellowship's Regional Administrators and local host pastors will be coming in Fall 2010. Watch for more details at www.radicallyinclusive.com.
The Human Rights Campaign will organize Clergy Call 2011 in Washington, DC, May 22–24, 2011. Check back for more details at www.hrc.org/issues/religion/9194.htm as the dates draw near. The Fellowship's 2011 Annual Convocation will be held in Las Vegas, NV, July 6–10, 2011. Save the dates! The 2011 conference of the Evangelical Network will be held in Austin, TX, July 7–10, 2011. Watch www.theevangelicalnetwork.net for more details. The Equality Federation calendar is another great place you might look for local events. Visit that calendar at http://www.equalityfederation.org/template.aspx?id=801. Job AnnouncementsSeeking Music DirectorFirst Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC, is looking for a part-time Director of Music. Must be willing to expand our repertoire to include multicultural music and to work with the ministerial staff to include the children & youth more fully in the music program of the church. Full description at www.fccuccdc.org. Equality Federation Job AnnouncementsThe Equality Federation keeps an up-to-date list of openings in state-based lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy organizations. Please refer to http://www.equalityfederation.org/template.aspx?id=15. Scholarship ListingsThe Human Rights Campaign maintains a database of scholarship opportunities for LGBT and allied students. Review it yourself at www.hrc.org/issues/youth_and_campus_activism/8644.htm. |
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