Making All Things New

Attending the 34th General Synod of the United Church of Christ was such a joy! This was my third time at Synod, and, as always, I was deeply moved by the full expression of the wider UCC in worship, service, and faith.

In the past, I’ve been a delegate for the Southeast Conference. However, this time I attended in my capacity as the Vice-Chair of the General Synod Nominating Committee. Most folks don’t know our group exists! But we work diligently to solicit, review, and select the final candidates to serve as members of the Board of Directors and as Moderator/Assistant-Moderator of General Synod. This past year was particularly difficult for our work, due to a significant decrease in laypersons applying for open positions. And on that note, we need your help.

Aside from the business part of Synod(more on that at the end), I enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with friends, old and new, from across the church, particularly friends who I met when we were students. We’re all now ordained and serving as ministers at the local and conference levels.

I know the vast majority of people in the UCC will never have the opportunity to attend Synod, so I hope that you believe me when I write that it is a moving, joyful experience to bear witness to the ministries of this church around the country and the world; to worship alongside people from every region, race, class, and background; and, to see all the ways that we are discerning and living out God’s call for the world.

I am deeply appreciative of Central and its support for its minister’s continuing education and participation in church gatherings. I felt this appreciation most acutely in conversation with ministers who shared that their congregations were not as generous in their support of these endeavors.

Below you’ll find a few things that I think everyone should know about what happened at Synod:

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson was overwhelmingly confirmed as the first woman and first Black woman to serve as General Minister and President(GMP). Rev. Thompson has served in several roles in the national setting, most recently as Associate General Minister for Wider Church Ministries and Co-Executive of Global Ministries. Her four-year term will begin on August 1st.
In selecting Rev. Thompson as the next GMP, we all said “thank you” to John Dorhauer for his eight years of service as GMP.
Most UCCers have learned that the UCC is a union of “four traditions:” Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, and Reformed. However, the Afro-Christian Convention has always been present in the UCC, but often ignored. Last fall, the UCC Historical Council formally, and finally, recognized the Afro-Christian Convention as the fifth tradition that formed the denomination. This culminated in an official apology from the Office of the General Minister “on behalf of the United Church of Christ, and to the leaders active in and descended from the Afro-Christian stream of our beloved faith, and in recognition of the sin of centering whiteness, I hereby issue an apology for my and our complicity in and with the manifestations of white privilege that motivated some us to set this table without you.” Read more…
And, finally, by one vote, Synod approved a decision to change the meeting pattern of future Synods. After 2025, Synod will meet every three years.

If you’d like the full rundown, you can read more from the General Synod Newsroom at this link.

-Rev. Thomas