By Pastor Phil
June 2010

When delegates gather from United Church of Christ congregations across Wisconsin on June 11-13, a major item before them will be a plan to restructure as of July 1, 2011 how our churches are served by statewide and regional staff.  While these changes may seem somewhat remote to us at Memorial, they will have an impact on our life as a congregation. So here’s a quick guide to what is likely to happen.

Right now, the state UCC has a central office in De Forest (called the Wisconsin Conference) and four regional Associations (we are in the Southwest Association). Each Association has a full-time association minister (ours has been Rev. Robert Mutton) and a part-time secretary located in an association office.

The Wisconsin Conference has a conference minister (Rev. David Moyer); a minister for congregational nurture and Christian life (Rev. Gail O’Neal); a minister for Christian mission, stewardship and church renewal (Rev. Joanne Thomson) and a coordinator for youth ministry (Lisa Hart) plus financial and clerical support staff.

Under the new plan, the Associations will continue to exist as the regional entities closest to individual congregations, but there will not be association ministers, clerical staff or association offices. Instead, there will be two new staff positions at the state level with the responsibility for helping the four associations in searching and calling pastors, dealing with congregational conflicts and providing technical expertise to congregations. There will be clerical position in De Forest dedicated to all four Associations and all financial matters for the Associations would be handled by the financial staff in De Forest, but only at the direction of the treasurer for each Association.

The biggest thing those of us in this area will notice will be the loss of Bob Mutton. He has done extraordinary work in shaping the life of churches in southwest Wisconsin. But no matter what staffing structure emerges, he will retire in December 2011.

It will be up to each Association to decide for itself how it would like to help the congregations in its area work together on common projects. The Southwest Association, for instance, has put on a confirmation retreat each fall, has offered enrichment opportunities for Sunday school teachers and has coordinated responses to social concerns.

What all this means for us at Memorial is that it will be up to us, in conjunction with our colleagues at other UCC churches in this area, to decide in what ways we want to work together in the future.

I would be happy to talk about all this in more detail with anyone who is interested. For now, please hold our delegates in your prayers as they ponder these issues and please bring your creativity to thinking about the ways we connect with the broader church.