NW Word September 2022

NorthWest Word September 2022

Upcoming events

Sunday September 18, 3 pm Installation Rev. John Cofield, Pittsville (Pittsville and Marshfield)

October 2-4, Pastors' Retreat, Moon Beach

Sunday October 9, 3 pm Installation Micah Schlobohm, Peace UCC Stevens Point (Peace UCC and Hancock UCC)

Sunday October 16, 3 pm Organ Recital, First Congregational UCC, Rhinelander

Monday, October 17, virtual boundary training for retired clergy.

Man with glasses mustache and beard wearing clerical collar

The Reverend John B. Cofield will be installed as pastor of the United Church of Christ in Pittsville and St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Marshfield on Sunday, September 18. Members of both congregations invite Northwest Association people to the 3:00 P.M. service, which will be held at the Pittsville church, located at 8229 Jackson Street in Pittsville. Refreshments and fellowship will follow the service.

Cofield began his ministry in July of 2021, after serving as Pastor of Christ Church in LaTrobe, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in Business Administration, and earned an MBA from Michigan State University. After graduating from Chicago Theological Seminary, he was ordained in 2009.

2 church buildings one brick one white painted

Hancock UCC, Hancock, and Peace UCC, Stevens Point, invite you to the installation of Rev. Micah Schlobohm

Sunday, October 9th, 2022 at 3 pm at Peace UCC, Stevens Point, 1756 Dixon Street Stevens Point WI 54481.

Refreshments and fellowship will follow.

Clergy are welcome to participate. Please arrive 30 minutes early and wear red or rainbow stoles.

Schlobohm has a Masters of Religion and Theology from United Theological Seminary and has been an Intentional Interim in the Wisconsin Conference for 20 years serving UCC churches in Stevens Point, Stratford, Portage, Wild Rose, Delevan, Wisconsin Rapids, Nekoosa, and Sparta.

His hobbies are basketry, knitting, and sewing. Claude and Micah have been together 32 years.

Finding Hope in uncertain times, both among clergy and in our church communities, shapes the theme of this year's Pastors' Retreat at Moon Beach Camp. The October 2-4 event will feature the Reverend Robert Ullman as keynote speaker, assisted by members of the Wisconsin Conference's Supportive Ministries Team. Jacob Nault will provide musical leadership for the event.

Planners invite UCC clergy in the Northwest and Northeast Wisconsin Associations to take part in the retreat, which begins at 4:30 P.M. on Sunday, October 2 and ends at lunchtime on Tuesday, October 4. Moon Beach Camp is located near St. Germain in Vilas County. The cost is $175.00 per person, and the Northwest Association invites its first year pastors, retired clergy with standing in the Northwest Association, and Members-in-Discernment to attend for free.

Ullman will focus his remarks on the concepts of hope, inspired by the work of Steve Garnaas-Holmes. Hope, the retreat planners tell us, has to start with love and build up on love. Hope is only as big as our lament. Hope springs up, and doesn't trickle down. This retreat will provide times for renewal, reflecting and reconnecting as participants discover and nurture hope in these uncertain times together.

Other members of the Supportive Ministries Team will join Ullman in leading the retreat. The team includes Tim Perkins, Bonnie Anders, Lisa Hart and Cathy Wille.

First Congregational UCC in Rhinelander invites all pipe organ fans to an October 16 recital featuring its twenty rank, two manual Casavant organ built in 1979. The 3:00 P.M. event will be led by Brian De Young, Director of Music at Olivet Congregational United Church of Christ in Saint Paul, Minnesota. De Young's one-hour program or fantasias and reveries will include works by Bach, Buxtehude, and Franck. The event also includes rousing settings of beloved hymn tunes.

Brian De Young is an accomplished chamber musician of broad skills and interests ranging from Renaissance and Baroque to tango and new classical music. An accomplished organist, pianist, and bass-baritone singer, De Young has become known for his sub-specialty in Tango Music. He has taught widely, plays in several music ensembles, and teaches private voice and piano lessons. He and Alena, his wife, live in Minneapolis and are the parents of five year old Elizabeth and two year old Nina.

The Ministerial Excellence, Support & Authorization (MESA) team is offering virtual boundary training for retired clergy on Monday, October 17, 5-7 pm CDT.

Please contact Rob MacDougall (rmacdougall@wcucc.org) or the Conference office (staylor@wcucc.org) for more information.

Transitions

The Conference welcomes the Rev. Rachel Bauman, who has been called to serve as the Associate Conference Minister in the Southwest Association and half of the Southeast Association. Rachel and her partner, Joe Scarry, have relocated from Madeline Island to Madison. Rachel is a blessing to us!

The Reverend Doris Ruben, a daughter of the Northwest Wisconsin Association, retired on August 7, 2022 after 36 years of ministry. She has settled in Winona, Minnesota, close to where she grew up in Fountain City, Wisconsin, to enjoy her retirement.

Ruben grew up in St. John's UCC in Fountain City. The third person and the first woman to be called to pastoral ministry from St. John's, she was ordained there on October 26, 1986.

After graduating from Cochrane-Fountain City High School in 1974, Ruben earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at Winona State University in 1978. Her early working life found her serving as the church secretary at St. John's UCC, and also working in a number of factories in the area. At one factory, she made Pom-Poms for sporting events!

After graduating from United Theological Seminary in 1986, she served as Associate Pastor at First Congregational UCC in Rapid City, South Dakota. Her second call brought her back to her home state as the Associate Pastor of First Congregational UCC in Wisconsin Rapids. Later, she served as solo pastor for UCC congregations in Iowa and Minnesota, returning to Wisconsin in 2014 to provide pastoral leadership for Peace United Church of Christ in Dorchester. A couple of years later, she added the pastoral duties of Ebenezer United Church of Christ in Stratford to her work.

ACM search update

Several viable candidates have applied to serve as the Associate Conference Minister for the Northwest Association since the opening was listed in June, according to Rev. Franz Rigert, Wisconsin Conference Minister. The search was made necessary by the impending retirement of Rev. Rob MacDougall, who has served in the position for eight years.

Rigert leads the search Committee, which includes Erin Webster, Teri Hansen, Rev. Don Baumann, Rev. Betsy Miller Rubin, and Rev. Phil Milam. The group is conducting Zoom interviews with candidates before inviting two or three candidates for in-person interviews. Rigert hopes that the Committee can make a recommendation and an announcement in late September or early October to minimize the interim time between MacDougall's departure and the beginning of the new Associate Conference Minister's work in 2023.

Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)

Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining"!

With many younger people no longer staying in rural Wisconsin for their working years, participation began to decline, a trend which the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated. Both the Men's Club and the Women's group dissolved earlier this year. Average worship attendance, about 25-30 people a decade ago, slid to single digits and teens in recent years. Fund-raising events, once such a joy to the church, came to an end when COVID made large gatherings impossible.

The decision to close was prompted by the planned retirement of their final called pastor, Rev. Doris Ruben, who shepherded the small flock until August 7. Declining participation in the church's life, the lack of church musicians, and fewer seminary students preparing for ordained ministry made it seem like an appropriate time to make the painful decision.

Membership records and other historical documents will now be housed at First United Church of Christ in Colby. The Northwest Wisconsin Association praises God for Peace UCC's 124 years of faithful service to Christ and his church.

NEIGHBORS IN NEED 2022

CHANGE THE WORLD ON YOUR STREET

Neighbors in Need’s main objective is to tackle any home repairs that degrade the quality of life for the homeowner or devalues the home. Our other objective is to provide resources and expertise to help seniors protect their assets (which in most cases the largest is their home)

The goals of Neighbors in Need are simple. Through our efforts we strive to:

Ensure the safety and health of our residents
Enable seniors to age in place
Preserve families’ economic stability

Helping your neighbor is more important than ever. Rents are going up 40% in some cities. Purchasing power decreased by 7.87% in 2022 compared to 2021.

The world is full of people today who are in desperate need of a good neighbor. A donation to this special mission offering will help NIN to give funding to projects whose goal is to help our neighbors and their communities. Neighbors in Need is 100% volunteer run so all donations go directly into action for our neighbors.

1/3 of NIN funds supports the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM)
2/3 of this offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants.

Need grants are awarded to UCC churches and organizations doing justice work in their communities. These grants fund projects whose work ranges from direct service to community organizing and advocacy to address systemic injustice. For more information, to donate, or to apply for NIN grants online visit www.ucc.org/neighbors-in-need-special-mission-offering/

Most UCC congregations will receive the Neighbors in Need (NIN) offering on October 2, 2022

THANK YOU

Prepared by Diane Stoffregen

The Damascus Project exists to nurture vitality within the body of Christ by transforming the people of God through theological study and equipping them for effective leadership within their congregations and communities. We are a community of lifelong learners committed to walking together and participating in transformative conversations in the life of faith and leadership. We learn together so that we are better equipped to love each other, nurture the body of Christ and transform the world.

For more information visit their website at The Damascus Project (the-damascus-project.org)

Pulpit Supply List

Find the edited list at Northwest Association - Wisconsin Conference UCC (wcucc.org)