Dear Siblings,

This email is a quick recap of my time at General Synod 35 in Kansas City! General Synod is a biannual (tri-annual beginning in 2028) gathering of people all across the UCC who come together as delegates, visitors, and guests to discern the call of some of our work in the world. Synod is also a sort of family reunion. This was my fourth Synod! I was glad to spend time with my colleagues in the Next Generation Leadership Initiative, catch up with Harvard Divinity alumni, spend time with my youth pastor(now a conference minister in Colorado), and visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. The museum was very surprising. I learned that there were four teams owned by women, and there was an all-white team composed of members of the House of David religious group. Kansas City also has a fairly nice public transit system… perhaps MARTA’s next leaders will take a few cues from them.

Back to Synod:

As a matter of the United Church of Christ’s polity(governing structure), Synod speaks for the national setting of the UCC (our General and Associate General Ministers, national staff, etc). Synod speaks to the conference, association, and local church settings. There is indeed a difference between for and to! Curious about what that means for the UCC? Ask me!

If you do nothing else with this email, please please please make time for these two things:

• Watch our General Minister & President’s State of the Church Address (40 minutes)
• Watch my dear friend, Rev. Tony Coleman’s, sermon that was delivered during our closing worship. (20 minutes)

News From Synod

New Associate General Minister

Rev. Shari Prestemon was elected as the Associate General Minister for Love of Neighbor and Co-Executive of Global Ministries. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the convention hall who received more applause and love than Shari did. Read More about her historic election…

Rev. Thomas appointed Chair of the General Synod Nominating Committee

As Vice Chair, I presented part of the General Synod Nominating Committee’s report alongside our Chair, Rev. June Boutwell. I will now serve as the Chair of this committee through General Synod 36! And, we have our work cut out for us to solicit, interview, and nominate the slate of folks who will be elected to the UCC Board of Directors and lead General Synod 37.

State of the Church Address

Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson delivered her first State of the Church Address. Among many highlights was a call for churches to “stop counting empty pews as though their emptiness illustrates the full breadth of your congregation’s vitality.” She instead invited us to consider how we might all more clearly and boldly craft the narrative of our work. She also issued a clear rebuke of Christian Nationalism, calling it an “oxymoron” while also noting the ways that it harms the church. Watch the State of the Church address here.

Closing Worship Sermon

Rev. Tony Coleman, Pastor of First Congregational Church in Memphis, delivered a powerful sermon during closing worship. He called all of us into a space of wonder and curiosity about the how and why we do things in our churches. The real invitation: an invitation not to do more work, but instead to do radically less. And he did this with a very creative metaphor about lawns, turf grass, and sweetgrass! Watch Rev. Tony’s sermon here.

Other News & Events

Bylaw Changes

Synod voted down a motion from the Board to amend the UCC bylaws and Constitution that would have shifted the positions of Associate General Minister from a called position of Synod to a hired position by the General Minister. The UCC and Unified Governance

Resolutions

Synod approved several resolutions of witness addressing:

• The ongoing Palestinian genocide
• Restoring funding for USAID and Voice of America
• Affirming the UCC’s commitment to justice for immigrants, migrants, and refugees
• Addressing human rights in India and the Philippines

Full Communion

The UCC moved forward in establishing full communion with two more denominations:

• The Iglesia Evangélica Unida de Puerto Rico
• The Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland 

What’s full communion?

And More!

And finally, we celebrated 25 years of the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program; affirmed our goals of faithfully responding to the evolving language of mental health; and, approved the formation of the Keystone Conference.