On the Council of Christian Churches

My congregation belongs to an organization called the "Council of Christian Churches within the UUA".  It is (not surprisingly) exactly what it sounds like.  The Council is a group of UU churches that--for whatever reason--identify themselves as part of the great Christian conversation.  Some churches (like mine) are affiliated with other denominations (usually, but not always, the UCC).  Others are solely UU-affiliated.   In some, the worship services (both traditional and non-traditional) "feel" Christian in some way.  In others not so much.

For its size, this is a pretty active group.   The Council has been helpful to us over the past few years as we built up our Religious Education program and--eventually--hired an Assistant Pastor for Religious Education.  RE Directors and Ministers of RE from the Council met with church leaders and helped us with curricula , organization and job descriptions.  Our experience runs counter to some of the stereotypes about these churches that I remember hearing not too long ago.  Our churches are filled with progressive, creative folks.  Many of our congregations are filled with young people  (hence the RE programs).  The future actually looks very bright in our little corner of Christendom.

Currently the Council is looking forward to its annual Convocation.  This year we will be hearing from Reverend Carl Scovel, who retired from an historic ministry at King's Chapel a decade ago and continues to be one of the great and fascinating figures of our movement.  His presentation is entitled "Amazing Grace: The Love of God in the Lives We Live".   Later on, I will participate in a workshop discussion with Reverend Mark Caggiano, minister of First Church in Chestnut Hill.  Our topic will be "Grace in the Church".

Convocation will be on June 5 at 1pm this year.  We will be meeting at First Parish (UU) in Weston. Everyone is invited!  Click here for our brochure with further information.