God's Extravagant Welcome
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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 - October 2009Interim Executive Director Inquiries Being Accepted NowThe UCC Coalition Board of Directors is currently working on the Interim Executive Director job description and will begin reviewing resumes shortly. Persons with a desire to be considered should submit a one-page resume and a cover letter stating their availability for part-time and/or full-time, as well as their ability to spend some time in Cleveland, OH. Resumes may be submitted to board moderator Kathy Church at flcoalition@bellsouth.net. Special Membership Meeting PostponedThe special membership meeting to elect an executive director search committee is postponed indefinitely, while we work to obtain a sufficient number of candidates. We would like to have 7 people willing to serve so that we can have a diverse committee representing the diversity of our organization. We currently have one person who has stepped forward and one board member who has agreed to serve. The application remains available on the website. The Board is contacting individuals who could serve, but we need everyone's assistance. If you know someone, who should be on this committee, please contact them and ask them to fill out an application. The UCC Coalition board of directors invites your nominations for the board of directors, executive director search committee, and 2010 national gathering planning committee. An online nomination form is available. For more information, please review the full announcement. Nominations: www.ucccoalition.org/about/board/nomination/ Full Announcement: www.ucccoalition.org/news/ripples/special_alert_nomination_are_open/ Volunteers Needed for UCC Regional Youth Events2010 is the year of regional youth events in the United Church of Christ, and there are six of them! The Youth and Young Adult Program is starting to recruit volunteers to assist with staffing the events. Our wonderful group of 10 volunteers at last year's National Youth Event were incredibly helpful, and enabled us to increase our capacity greatly so that 484 participants took a workshop at that one gathering. We are hoping for volunteer support with these events as well. The youth events will range in size from around 100 to 450 participants.
Some possible workshop topics:
Per UCC Coalition board policy, all volunteers and staff who work with youth/young adults on behalf of the organization must be properly vetted through our process with background checks, reference letters, covenants, and ethics statements. UCC Transgender Collective Is Forming"Transgender education" is easy in 2009, with new resources nationally available, LGBT-inclusion precedents common, and occasional spokespeople not hard to find. But, let's not stop there! Building power within the transgender community is the next step. It need not to be so hard for UCC transgender people to find each other, as it has been for decades. In this cybernetic age, two online group spaces are now available for transgender people in the United Church of Christ to connect, share experiences, and build vision and hope. Please help get the word out so that these sites can serve a purpose as true networking sites: 1) The UCC Trans Collective meets virtually on a myucc.org group page, hosted by Monica Cross, Malcolm Himschoot, and Ben Files. http://community.ucc.org/Groups/UCC_Transgender_Collective The UCC Trans Collective has as its mission "to support, educate, advocate and pray for our transgender community—including those who are church members, those who are ministers, and those who are attending seminary. It is dedicated to the development of the full potential of transgender people in the UCC. Further, it is a place for the transgender voice of the United Church of Christ to be heard so as to move the church forward into the calling of Christ." 2) The UCC Trans Collective can also be found as a part of a larger ecumenical family conversation at network.transfaithonline.org, hosted by TransFaith Online. These pages include the Transgender Religious Leaders Network, which transgender UCC clergy and seminarians helped to begin this past spring. The TransFaith Network "serves as a multi-faceted social networking community with an emphasis on exploring transgender spirituality...
If you are trans-identified in some way, including genderqueer, take this as your invitation to register and develop your own profile at each site. Please reach out and make the connection! November Planning RemindersTransgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual event (every November 20) that raises awareness about hate crimes against transgender people, publicly mourns and honors the lives of those who might otherwise be forgotten, and allows transgender people and our allies to come together. General TDOR observances occur in many communities and may welcome churches to serve as host or provide liturgical support. Your church may also want to consider making TDOR an annual observance.
World AIDS Day arrives every December 1 and offers an important occasion for building awareness and joining our spirits in response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. In addition to considering a World AIDS Day observance, this season is a good one for considering how your congregation might better educate on another about HIV and AIDS, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases.
NEW RESOURCE: Acting Out Loud—A Resource for Deepening Commitment to LGBT ConcernsActing Out Loud is a free, online guide for clergy and religious leaders who want to move beyond welcome toward a wider embrace and deeper involvement of LGBT persons and their families in congregational life. The guide (www.actingoutloudguide.org) provides background on the diversity of the LGBT population; links to resources across a range of Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist traditions; and ideas and approaches recommended by leading clergy, theologians, and advocates. Printed, full-color copies of the accompanying brochure to Acting Out Loud also are available. This is a new resource from the Religious Institute (http://religiousinstitute.org/). Full lectionary "Out in Scripture" is completeThe Human Rights Campaign's Religion & Faith Program recently released the completed “Out In Scripture” collection. For the past three years, week-by-week, the program provided conversations on Bible passages from more than 100 scholars and pastors representing 11 denominations. These conversations are now available in a complete collection online at www.hrc.org/Scripture. New ONA SettingsWelcome and congratulations to these recently declared ONA settings! The up-to-date list can be found here: http://www.ucccoalition.org/programs/ona/who/list/ Total active ONA congregations: 814 Note: We need your help to update our list of ONA churches to include website links. If your web link is missing, please contact communications@ucccoalition.org with updated information. Thank you! News, Events and Job AnnouncementsPlease refer to our website for current listings of Newsbits, events and job announcements. |
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