Cohorts Church Moderators & Treasurers

Greetings Siblings in Christ,

Last year The Illinois Conference collaborated with Keith Clark-Hoyos to launch a lay leader focused initiative to increase "Operational Efficiency" within our local churches. This initiative proved to be very informative, generative and provides critical and specified training for church leaders and participants in targeted areas of daily church operation. 

We have decided to expand the training by offering two different courses each week, along with offering the training all year long in 2024.

This initiative provides "cohort training" specifically targeted for lay leadership, in key areas of Church operation: church governance, church finances, church budgets, church taxes and church human resources. Each cohort consecutive weeks. The modality is Zoom format. 

The cost to participate in each one of these cohorts/sessions is $125. Each cohort will be capped at 14 participants.

The course schedule will be set up as follows: Winter Cohorts: "Now That You're The Moderator" and "Now That You're The Treasurer." Spring Cohorts: "Budgets That Inspire Giving" and "Church & Taxes." Summer Cohorts: "Good Governance" and Pastors and Church Finance." Fall Cohorts: "Employees, Independent Contractors and Payroll" and "Building Financial Policies and Procedures." 

Registration for the Winter Cohorts is now open and will close on January 12th. The first two cohorts will begin in mid-January. "Now That You're a Moderator" will begin on Tuesday, January 16th and "Now That You're a Treasurer" will begin on Wednesday, January 17th. You can find more information about each cohort and register online by clicking on the corresponding buttons below.

Brown Endowment Scholarship

Since its inception, the Brown Endowment, designated to support pastoral ministry in the United Church of Christ (UCC), has provided over $5 million in funding for scholarships and continuing education, supporting the ministries of more than 5,000 individuals. United Church Funds is honored to serve as trustee for the Brown Endowment, managing both investment of the endowed funds and allocation of over $300,000 each year for individual scholarships and sponsorships to UCC conferences, seminaries and global partners.

A major portion of the Brown Endowment provides scholarship funds for Members in Discernment (MIDs) — those who are preparing for authorized ministry in the UCC — to support a course of study. Potential Brown Scholars must have official MID status with a Committee on Ministry, demonstrate at least a year of active membership in a local UCC church, and maintain a minimum GPA of 3 .0. Applicants with strong leadership skills and involvement beyond their local church will be given strong preference. The Brown Endowment also supports MIDs attending regional theological education programs. Please note that doctoral candidates (D.Min., D.Div., STD, Ph.D., etc.) are not eligible for a Brown Scholarship.

The application for the Brown Endowment is on the UCC website of scholarships. The application portal for 2024 opened December 1, 2023 and will close at midnight March 1, 2024 EST. Please forward questions to Rev. Gwendolyn V. Kirkland at brownendowment@gmail.com.

Damascus Project

Check out these upcoming course offerings from Damascus Project in 2024!

• Beginning Jan. 11, the Rev. Dr. Elena Larssen of the UCC’s Office of Philanthropy, Technology, Identity and Communication will lead a four-week course in our Leadership Skills track called “The Pandemic Pivot: What We Learned That Will Lead Us Forward.” The course, designed for clergy and lay leaders, will invite participants to assess the ways they can best lead in this moment. Learn more and register.
• Wisconsin Associate Conference Minister Michael Jones will teach “UCC History and Polity,” a course for clergy and lay people on the Faith Foundations track. History and Polity will meet on Thursday evenings from Feb. 22 through April 18. Learn more and register.
• In the spring, Professor Trish Zimmerman of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, will teach a Faith Foundations course called “Theology and Ecology” that should be of interest to anyone working in the area of climate justice. Trish is a lay member of First UCC in Northfield. Course dates and details will be available this winter.

PLEASE NOTE:

The Conference Office will be closed December 25th-26th for Christmas and January 1st for New Years. The next newsletter will be the full January newsletter in the new year. Merry Christmas!

Annual Christmas Fund Offering

The Christmas Fund for the Veterans of the Cross is an annual UCC offering that expresses thanks to retired and active UCC pastors and lay church workers and their families, providing direct assistance to supplement pensions, medical insurance costs, and funds to meet emergency needs. This year’s Christmas Fund theme is “Grace upon grace,” from John 1:16: “From Christ’s fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” Join with others in the United Church of Christ to return “grace upon grace” to those who have given so much to each of us and to our churches.

Abolition Advent Calendar

Join the Movement toward Racial Justice is thrilled to offer our second annual Abolition Advent Calendar. This year, our theme is “Freedom for All Bodies.” Every day we are seeing more and more dehumanizing efforts to limit embodiments of liberation. Enslaving paradigms are being deployed in new and all-too-familiar ways to exert violence and control over bodies that some deem undeserving of freedom. In this season we are called not only to recognize the strategies and tactics of enslavement as they manifest among us, but also to witness the way they call us anew to the sacred work of abolition.

We are Hiring!

The Illinois Conference is currently looking for a full-time support staff position in the Westchester office. This position was created to support the new Lilly Grant (see the press release and information below) and will work closely with the Associate Conference Minister for Pastoral Transitions. Please share this posting with anyone you think might be a good fit for this position. Resumes and Cover Letters are due to Rev. Molly Carlson (mollycarlson@ilucc.org) by Friday, January 5th, 2024.

We Were in the UCC News!

The Illinois Conference was one of three UCC organizations to receive a Lilly Grant. The Damascus Project and the Church Building & Loan Fund are the other two organizations. Together, the grants total $3 million. You can read the article recently published by UCC News below to learn more.

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FAITHFUL FRIDAYS is published by the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ, 1840 Westchester Blvd, Suite 200, Westchester, IL 60154. The Rev. Molly Carlson, Conference Minister; Sarah Lohrbach, Editor. Copy may be sent to: SarahLohrbach@ilucc.org.