NEWS
An Update on the Wider United Church of Christ
The Black Hills Association meeting was hosted by our church, and it was a great event. We had two different associate conference ministers join us for Sunday morning’s worship service and for the afternoon meeting. At that meeting, First Congregational Church of Chadron requested to join the Black Hills Association and was accepted. It was decided that on Saturday, October 5th, I would lead a retreat to help the association develop a clearer sense of mission and brainstorm new ministries. Dee Anderson became the association moderator and our own Paul Nettinga is set to become the vice-moderator.
Through our two mission workshops, the South Dakota Conference board came up with the following mission statement: “To live into God’s extravagant welcome and advocate for justice so that all know love, safety, belonging and dignity.” There will be more information about the new mission statement and the process that was used to craft it at the annual meeting.
Speaking of which, the annual meeting will be June 14th, 15th, and 16th in Omaha. Our church’s delegates are Hunter Rice, Vachel Rice, and Martha Schilling. And, of course, I will be attending as your pastor and as a member of the conference board of directors.
In fact, I will be gone from the 12th through the 27th in order to attend both the annual conference meeting in Omaha as well as the General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Milwaukee. And not just me – Hunter Rice and my wife, Pam, are also General Synod delegates for the South Dakota conference.
You can read more about Hunter’s participation in the wider church at:
http://www.ucciaconf.org/11827/sdyouth
Blessings,
Pastor Dustin
