By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Black Wealth Builders Congregation Designation Pilot Program

Have You Heard?, Have You Heard?, Home Page, Racial Justice
At the 2023 NCNC UCC Annual Gathering, the collected body passed the Black Wealth Builders Resolution. The resolution is based on a project launched by Arlington Community Church, United Church of Christ, in 2021, which provides zero-interest loans to first-time Black homebuyers for down payment assistance. The resolution “...encourages the local churches within the conference to live out a faith-based belief in racial justice and to take intentional steps to put those beliefs into action by becoming a Black Wealth Builders congregation.” Similar to the Open and Affirming Congregation Designation, the Black Wealth Builders designation is one where the individual…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Can You Do Something About ….

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Can you do something about___________? Whether it comes through an email or voicemail, or simply implied after reading the day’s news, ministry is in part the work of answering this question. This question and whether or how we choose to answer, has rippling consequences. Including for the minister themselves. To have a pastor’s heart means that it will be filled to over-flowing and broken or broken open, often in the same day. You know this to be true. And what happens after, how do you tend to your heart after tending to others? In a conversation with a colleague a…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Affordable Housing on Faith Lands: Do Good and Do Well

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Did you know that an exciting piece of legislation has just passed the California state legislature that would both fast-track lots of new affordable housing projects WHILE earning revenue for our churches? It’s headed for Governor Newsom’s desk next and needs your support to become law! SB4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, will allow faith communities and nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their land by-right: without submitting to the arduous and often expensive process to get local approval. Building affordable housing on our church campuses–on parking lots, repurposing or replacing unused or underutilized buildings–is an elegant…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard: The NCNC Has Two New Trained Community of Practice Facilitators!

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“Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern about a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” -- Etienne Wenger The purpose of Communities of Practice (COP) is to bring seasoned clergy, new clergy, AND lay people together focusing on strengthening your ministry. The participants share a common interest in their commitment to ongoing development of competence in ministry (in various settings). In COP knowledge within the group is developed and is tested through the member’s actual practice of…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? DELIVERANCE

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Grace is a supple movement through tense passages. It blindsides vengeance. This is a lesson taught to me most dramatically through events that occurred at this time of year, over the course of six decades. Every year, as August mellows into September, the memories return. Seasonal reminders of powerful events and teachings. AUGUST 1993 On Monday, August 23, 1993, I was in Gugulethu, outside of Cape Town. It was a time of turbulence in South Africa—politically, socially, racially. Laws that had held apartheid in place were gone, but free elections were still 8 months in the future, and no one…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Community Safety: What If Our Congregation Is Targeted?

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With the rise of authoritarianism in the US, attacks on queer and trans beloveds both through legislation and right-wing protesters at drag shows, anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric, as well as the censoring of books and school curricula, we are seeing an increase in the targeting of sacred spaces for violence.  Across religious traditions, we are seeing online threats, pride and Black Lives Matter banners torn down, hate speech graffiti-ed on synagogues, violent actors appearing at sanctuaries and disrupting services, and more. So, how can congregations be prepared?  Why is this violence escalating, and what community safety practices can we engage in now that…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Hawaii Wildfires

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Rev. David K. Popham, the Hawaii Conference Minister, shared this information in the Hawaii Conference newsletter: WildfiresNo doubt, like me, you watched in horror the newscasts and read news stories as the fires spread across Maui and Hawai'i Islands. Most heartrending at this time are the images of Lahaina on fire. Due to limited phone access, we are still seeking firm information regarding people and church properties directly affected.     We do know the following limited information: Waiola Church fellowship hall burned in the fire, we do not have word on their sanctuary. We know the Campbell House and adjacent park…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Black Women Leaders and the Glass Cliff

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by Associate Conference Minister Rev. Dr. Celestine Fields I was blessed to have a conversation with Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear who wrote the UCC article, "How the UCC can avoid ‘glass cliff’ after electing first woman as GMP." We talked about the glass cliff from the perspective of Black women leaders. The UCC, like other denominations and secular organizations, are calling Black women to top leadership positions. Rev. Dr. Stange-Tregear wrote, "...a very common occurrence for women in leadership, especially those who represent the “first” in their role. The phenomenon of “first woman” leaders being branded with the decline of…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Your Conference Staff Sees You!

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Luke 24:13-35 Writer Elaine Wainwright shared this text something like this, and it spoke to me. The story’s beginning “immediately grounds the people in the material of the road, the distance and immediacy of all that has just happened.” Two of Jesus’ disciples are walking together on the road from Jerusalem to the nearby village of Emmaus. The evangelist does not initially name the two disciples so that they could be any disciple, male or female. We can all enter this story in the corporeality of our bodily experience. Then another traveler joins the two disciples on their Emmaus journey,…
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