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A special worship bulletin insert project of the Connecticut Conference in celebration of the golden anniversary of the United Church of Christ.
The Connecticut Conference has produced a series of 37 worship bulletin inserts for the use of its congreations in the weeks leading up to the the 50th Anniversary General Synod being held in Hartford. These reflections address the UCC's history and heritage, our theological roots, our mission and ministry legacy and the unique polity of the United Church of Christ.
The inserts bring opportunities for congregational discussion and celebration of who we are today and what our witness stands for, in light of the gifts shared by our predecessor sisters and brothers in faith. They may also be used in confirmation, new member, and adult education classes on UCC history, activity, and governance.
Masters suitable for printing and photocopying are available here for download in Adobe Portable Document Format. Adobe Reader software is a free download from Adobe Systems.
The text of each insert is also available in Rich Text Format (RTF), which can be opened by nearly every available word processing program.
| Recommended Date | Title | Description | RTF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/15/2006 | Let It Shine: The UCC at 50 Years | An introduction to the insert series | RTF | |
| 10/22/2006 | The Missionary Society of Connecticut: Our Heritage and History | An account of how Connecticut's churches organized themselves for mission and the authorization of ministry | RTF | |
| 10/29/2006 | Silver Lake Conference Center | A description of the special outdoor ministry carried on by the Conference's camp and retreat center in Sharon | RTF | |
| 11/5/2006 | Celebrating the 1957 Union | A reflection on the faith-filled, prayerful and humble manner with which the UCC's founders greeted their new denomination | RTF | |
| 11/12/2006 | Theological Foundations in the UCC: The Preamble | An exposition of the Preamble to the UCC Consitution, which describes the grounding theology of the United Church of Christ | RTF | |
| 11/19/2006 | The Path to Global Mission and Ecumenism | An account of how the ecumenical approach to international mission has changed in the UCC's 50 years. | RTF | |
| 11/26/2006 | Puritans and Pilgrims | A review of the historical groups known as Puritans and Pilgrims, who are among our ancestors in the United Church of Christ. | RTF | |
| 12/3/2006 | The Sacraments: Baptism and Communion | A reflection on the meaning of the rites of initiation and renewal practiced in the UCC. | RTF | |
| 12/10/2006 | Courage in the Struggle for Peace and Justice | A review of UCC members' commitment to justice issues since its founding. | RTF | |
| 12/17/2006 | The Word in Scripture | A reflection on the authoritative role of Holy Scripture in the life of the UCC | RTF | |
| 12/24/2006 | "And the Word Became Flesh..." | A Christmas meditation on the special blessing that is the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ | RTF | |
| 12/31/2006 | Ancient Creeds and Reformers | We in the United Church of Christ claim the whole hostory of the Christian Faith, from the ancient creeds through the Protestant Reformers and beyond. | RTF | |
| 1/7/2007 | Jonathan Edwards | The 18th century New England pastor has been called America's most significant religious figure, meriting a place in the pantheon of great Christian thinkers. | RTF | |
| 1/14/2007 | Becoming the Multiracial, Multicultural Church | History tells us that the UCC has been on the journey to become a multi-racial, multi-cultural church since our very beginnings. | RTF | |
| 1/21/2007 | The Haystack Prayer Meeting and its Legacy | Sheltering from a summer thunderstorm beneath a haystack in 1806, five college students' concern for people overseas led to the American foreign missions movement. | RTF | |
| 1/28/2007 | Horace Bushnell: Christian Education and Nurture | A brief account of the life and influence of the 19th century Hartford pastor, theologian, and civic leader. | RTF | |
| 2/4/2007 | Public Education: A Justice and Witness Ministry | Connecticut's churches have been leaders in the effort to provide equitable, quality education to the state's young people for three hundred years. | RTF | |
| 2/11/2007 | The "Sweet Communion" of the Local Church | As members of local churches, we rejoice in "sweet communion," both the Lord's Supper and the community of believers we find at worship, mission, meetings, and companionship, week in and week out. | RTF | |
| 2/18/2007 | OCWM: Our Covenant with One Another | Through Our Church's Wider Mission (OCWM), the gifts our churches present to fund the national and international ministries of the UCC, we live our faith, as the local church connects with Christians around the globe. In a real way, OCWM is the embodiment of our theology of covenant. | RTF | |
| 2/25/2007 | Confirmation: Faith Affirmed and Strengthened | A recent confirmand describes the value of the Confirmation process at his local church. | RTF | |
| 3/4/2007 | The Association: Bound in Covenant Community | The Association is the covenant community of neighboring congregations and authorized ministers which is “the tie that binds” autonomous local congregations together. | RTF | |
| This version of "The Association" changes some Connecticut-specific references to be more useful for churches outside the Connecticut Conference. | RTF | |||
| 3/11/2007 | Forming Leaders From and For the Church | UCC leadership emerges from the cooperative efforts of local church leaders and members, educators, and Association representatives commitment to discern the call of God. | RTF | |
| 3/18/2007 | Called As Partners in Christ's Service: The Conferences | The 39 Conferences of the United Church of Christ are another setting in which the children of God are responding to the summons to discipleship and service. | RTF | |
| 3/25/2007 | National Ministries of the United Church of Christ | The National Setting of the UCC carries on ministries which support and extend the work of the local church in mission and resource production, and enhance a unified identity for the denomination. | RTF | |
| 4/1/2007 | Stewardship: It All Belongs to God | We know, deep down inside, that anything that can make us, our community and our world better, deserves our full and wholehearted support, and just as important, deserves the best we can give of our financial resources. | RTF | |
| 4/8/2007 | Easter: Resurrection Passion and Power | For us in the United Church of Christ, the resurrection is the faith foundation of our proclamation that God Is Still Speaking. | RTF | |
| 4/15/2007 | Connected in Christ | The "Christian Connection" movement, one of the four predecessor bodies of the UCC, based the unity of the church on Christian spirit and character, and affirmed the unity of all Christ's followers in behalf of the world. | RTF | |
| 4/22/2007 | Our Stewardship of God's Creation | Our United Church of Christ has not been silent or inactive about the abuse, misuse and overuse of the environment as a whole. | RTF | |
| 4/29/2007 | The General Synod | The national UCC gathers every two years as a General Synod to worship, to take up issues, and to address pressing concerns for peace and justice. | RTF | |
| 5/6/2007 | The Gospel and Our Economic Life | Economic justice is an important mission of the UCC. Like Jesus, we are anointed to bring good news to the poor and to let the oppressed go free. | RTF | |
| 5/13/2007 | The Mission and Ministry of Women | The mission and ministry of women has been part of the life of the United Church of Christ in its predecessors from the earliest Cent Societies and the organized Guilds and Fellowships, through the evolving of formal structures since the 1957 union that created the UCC. | RTF | |
| 5/20/2007 | The Role of the Laity | The laity are the living, breathing members of the Church, the body of Christ. | RTF | |
| 5/27/2007 | The Covenant We Live In | Since our earliest days in New England, covenant has been the bond, the spiritual glue that has informed and sustained our congregational life. | RTF | |
| 6/3/2007 | Marriage Equality | Same-gender couples seek both the civil protections and the embrace of a Christian community that values them and thir relationships. | RTF | |
| 6/10/2007 | Progressive Revelation: H. Richard Niebuhr | One of the significant theologians in the history of the United Church of Christ is H. Richard Niebuhr, whose thought significantly informed the UCC's Statement of Faith. | RTF | |
| 6/17/2007 | Polity in the United Church of Christ | The UCC understanding of order and identity can remain at once inspiring and vulnerable and revisited again and again. | RTF | |
| 6/24/2007 | Gathering Principles | Six guiding principles provided a vision for the forming of the United Church of Christ 50 years ago. This solid foundation has allowed the UCC to build for the future on these principles, and to develop new principles, since God is “still speaking”! | RTF |
