Preparations are beginning for the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Conference UCC, and we’d like your help: We’re seeking people who are passionate about the Conference and the wider church to join the Annual Meeting Planning Committee. Annual Meeting 2025 is scheduled for June 5-8 at Green Lake Conference Center.

Committee members will have the opportunity to help determine the content, theme and logistics of the Annual Meeting, ensuring a meaningful experience for all attendees. The Planning Committee will meet virtually once a month from September through February. Each meeting will last about an hour and will be scheduled at a time that fits into committee members’ schedules.



If you are interested in joining the committee or have questions, please email Annual Meeting coordinator Jaime Craig by Sept. 5.

The Wisconsin Conference Creation Care Team has assembled a short list of faith-based and other organizations working to get out the vote in November and, beyond that, sustain our creation justice ministries. The list is an important reminder that one of the most important ways we make a difference in a democratic society is through the ballot box, where we can vote for policies aimed at weaning us from the fossil fuels that cause global warming or that point us toward a more sustainable future.



EcoAmerica, a UCC partner, provides information about voting, evaluates candidates and policies, and organizes around environmental issues.

Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign helps congregations become more engaged around voting, though not exclusively around creation care issues. 

Faith in Place (formerly Interfaith Power and Light in Wisconsin) works in our state, Illinois and Indiana to educate and advocate around issues of environmental sustainability.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, for electing pro-conservation candidates, and for holding them accountable.

Wisconsin’s Green Fire promotes science-based practices and long-term vision in environmental protection and natural resources management.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is an international grass-roots organization that trains volunteers to develop relationships with elected officials in order to address climate policy at the local level.

Sierra Club is one of the largest and most effective organizations in the nation addressing local and global policies to protect land, air and water, and endangered species, and to combat climate change.

RENEW Wisconsin is a nonprofit that works on policies and programs that expand solar power, wind power, renewable fuels, local hydropower, building electrification, energy storage and electric vehicles. Its “Solar for Good” program has helped many of our churches install solar power systems on their properties. 

Among the resources recommended by the Palestine Justice Working Group for churches studying the issue of a just peace in the Middle East is a film. “The Law and the Prophets,” available on YouTube, examines the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – think of it as Conflict 101 – as well as what daily life is like for Palestinians in Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The film includes interviews with Palestinians and Israelis whom filmmaker Joshua Vis considers modern-day prophets.

Vis holds a doctorate in Old Testament from Duke University and a master of arts from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He works as church engagement facilitator for Israel and Palestine for the Reformed Church in America and leads immersion tours of Israel and Palestine.

At the June Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Conference, delegates voted to launch a year of study by local congregations of the issue of a just peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. If 30 percent of congregations engage the issue, the 2025 Annual Meeting will vote whether to adopt the Declaration for a Just Peace Between Israel and Palestine adopted at the UCC’s 2021 General Synod. The Conference’s Palestine Justice Working Group is available to provide study resources to local congregations and other groups. To reach the working group, email Lisa Hart, associate conference minister for faith formation and justice ministries.

Access study resources here

The Wisconsin Conference ONA team will host a one-day training event for individuals and groups from our churches interested in helping other congregations pursuing Open and Affirming status. The training is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 19 at First Congregational UCC in Watertown.

Participants will learn about ONA resources, techniques for helping churches that are in process, and potential challenges. The day will include a chance to watch “1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture,” a documentary that tells the story of researchers who traced the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a mistranslation of the Bible in 1946.

Cost for the event is $25 for individuals or $20 per person for congregations that send four or more people. The fee for the movie only is $10. Register now.



Questions? Email Lisa Hart, associate conference minister for faith formation and justice ministries.

The Damascus Project’s online confirmation curriculum, Living Faith: Confirming Your Beliefs and Walking in Community, will launch next month. The program, for youths in eighth grade and up, is designed especially for congregations with just one or two young people of confirmation age and for churches that don’t have a resident pastor or lay leader available to teach confirmation. Learn more and register.

Registration is now open for Community of Practice groups starting in September.

Communities of Practice clergy groups provide the sustenance that your ministry needs in order to be effective well into the future. COP groups are designed to be peer learning groups, focused both on the practice of ministry and your growth in your role as a pastoral minister.

Note: Previous COP participants need to register again each year to continue in a group.

More information

Register for a clergy COP group

The Christian Education/Faith Formation Commission of the Wisconsin Conference offers a Communities of Practice program for educators similar to the successful COP program for pastors. Lay volunteers or paid staff involved in Sunday school, youth group, or other education or faith formation ministries are supported and enriched by involvement in a COP with others ministering in similar ways.

If you would appreciate the support of a network of peers, register today. COP groups for 2023-2024 will start in September. The cost for the year is $250. For more information, read the webpage or contact Lisa Hart.

Note: Previous COP participants need to register each year to continue in a group.

Sermon Talk

Join Associate Conference Minister Michael Jones for a Zoom discussion of biblical texts and sermon ideas, with the focus on topics for the month ahead. Whether you use the Revised Common Lectionary or the Narrative Lectionary or choose your own texts, this discussion is for you. Sessions take place at noon on the first Tuesday of each month.

Time: Noon

Date: Sept. 3

Register now

September Ministry Roundtable: Licensing Manual

The newly updated Wisconsin Conference Manual on Licensed Ministry will be the topic of September’s Ministry Roundtable. Although licensed ministers especially are encouraged to attend, everyone is welcome – clergy, laypeople and anyone with an interest in the topic. Read the updated manual.

Time: 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Date: Sept. 4

Register now

Suicide prevention in faith communities

The Conference WISE Team, which encourages congregations to welcome and support individuals dealing with mental health challenges, will host a daylong workshop on faith communities’ role in suicide prevention. The event coincides with World Suicide Prevention Day. Early-bird rate is available through Aug. 23.

Time: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Date: Sept. 10

Place: Daycholah Center 

Learn more and register

Local Church Profile system training

Following the launch this spring of the digital local church profile portal, MESA continues to offer monthly general orientations to the new system for search committees. Church staff members are welcome to attend trainings, too. Email the Rev. Jeff Nelson, minister for ministerial calls and transitions with questions. The training schedule for the rest of the year:

6 to 7 p.m. Sept 11. Register now.

6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 9. Register now.

6 to 7 p.m. Nov. 6. Register now.

Palestine Justice Working Group

The Wisconsin Conference work group educates UCC members about the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations and advocates for justice for all Palestinians. The group meets by Zoom on the fourth Monday of each month. Meetings are open to all.

Time: 7 p.m.

Date: Aug. 26

Register now

Save the date

Youth events:  The Wisconsin Conference and United Church Camps Inc. will host five youth retreats at Daycholah Center in the coming program year. Registration will open in August.

Oct. 11-13: Knock Knock Retreat for middle schoolers (grades 6-8)

Nov. 8-10: Youth Faith Formation Retreat I (grades 6-12)

Jan. 24-26: Winter Soulstice Retreat for high schoolers (grades 9-12)

Feb. 21-23: Youth Faith Formation Retreat II (grades 6-12)

Feb 28-Mar 2: Youth Faith Formation Retreat III (grades 6-12)

This newsletter is made possible by contributions to Our Church's Wider Mission Basic Support.

Voting image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, Uploaded work by {{Creator:Terri Sewell}}.

The Wisconsin Conference UCC is an Open and Affirming Conference, and an Immigrant Welcoming Conference.

Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ

W1000 Spring Grove Road, Ripon, WI 54971

mail@wcucc.org

www.wcucc.org