Call to Care
Call to Care: Rooted, Rising and Showing Up
Click on photo or HERE for larger image
by Rev. Belinda Sledge
From Raleigh to Franklinton Center, from Western North Carolina to a Sunday morning wrapped in pink, last week was a powerful reminder that the Southern Conference’s Call to Care is lived out by showing up, listening, celebrating and making room for one another.
The journey began at the Antoinette Brown Society Clergywomen Leadership Gathering in Raleigh, where women from across the United Church of Christ gathered for worship, learning and connection. We were joined by UCC executive leadership: General Minister and President Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson (D.Min.); Rev. Shari Prestemon, Associate General Minister and Co-Executive of Global Ministries; and Rev. Jennifer Sowell, recently elected Associate General Minister. The Southern Conference celebrated our own Rev. Anne Holmes, honored as an Antoinette Brown Society Trailblazing Elder—a reminder that trailblazers widen the path for those coming behind them.
From Raleigh, the journey continued to Franklinton Center at Bricks for the African American Women in Ministry (AAWIM) Retreat, where women came from the Southern Conference and conferences across the UCC. AAWIM was founded in the 1980s by Rev. Yvonne Delk (D.Min.) and Rev. Bernice Powell Jackson (D.Min.). Today, they serve as elders, offering wisdom and guidance to new generations. Our own Rev. Patrice Smallwood co-chaired the retreat. Important conversation centered on intentional mentorship for ministers in discernment and the challenges African American women continue to face in the Search and Call process. Walking the grounds together, different generations, conferences and ministry settings became one worshiping community: different journeys, different stories, one faith, one church, one God.
The Call to Care then moved west to the Western North Carolina Association Annual Meeting, enriched by guest speaker Vergel L. Lattimore III (D.Min. & Ph.D.), President and Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling at Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, N.C. The gathering challenged us to strengthen covenant, nurture faithful leadership and remember that our clergy, laity and young people are not simply the future of the church—they are the church right now.
Sunday brought another expression of care through the Patricia Lucas Simmons Foundation’s “Power in Pink: Awareness to Action” service at Mt. Zion Progressive Primitive Baptist Church. Laura Leach (Ed.D.), a member of Victory Christian United Church of Christ in Chester, Virginia, where Rev. Rose Wright-Scott is pastor, shared her breast cancer survivor story. Her testimony reminded us that behind every pink ribbon is a person, a family and a story of courage, faith and hope.
Although I could not be everywhere, I made it a point to be somewhere. We also extend heartfelt congratulations to Rev. Virginia Mattocks on her fourth pastoral anniversary at Broad Creek United Church of Christ. Distance may separate us geographically, but her gifts and faithful service keep her close to the life of the Eastern North Carolina Association and Southern Conference.
Church realizes someone needs its "Rainy Day Fund" NOW
by Rev. Sarah Parker, Pastor
High Country United Church of Christ
At a Church Council Retreat of High Country United Church of Christ this past February, we started to think about our financial stewardship in the community. Our church has been through ups and downs in finances. As a young church–24 years old this September–we have known the stress of wondering if we could pay the bills and spending hours cutting already lean budgets. We have also seen the generosity of mortgage payoff campaigns and calls for a need to rethink staff compensation. The last few years have been stable in our finances, and we developed some savings that we hadn’t seen before.
An idea first came from our Treasurer, Kathleen: “When this CD investment comes to maturity in July, why don’t we just give it away?” We all sat in stunned silence, especially our Financial Secretary. That CD, friends, had a balance of $50,000. Our entire budget for the year is only $150,000.
By July, the shock of the initial idea started to wear off. We began to think deeply about the line between stepping out in faith and being practical, fiscally responsible leaders. We began to dream about what our generosity could do for our community. We asked for grant proposals from local organizations. We prayed that the whole congregation would see our passion for this project.
When talking to one of our nonprofit community partners, I was asked why we decided to do this. My response was, “Well, these savings have been a ‘rainy day fund’ for us for a little while, and I think we might have just realized that it’s raining somewhere else. Someone else needs it right now, and we have the ability to share it.”
In the end, our Council recommended that we give away $40,000 of our savings to community organizations. At the Congregational Meeting where members voted to approve this spending, an anonymous donor offered another $10,000 to be added to this lump sum. We ended up funding 5 different community groups. One will provide scholarships for a daycare program that supports children from non-English speaking households to get ready for Kindergarten. Another will be able to start a brand new, free clinic to serve trans and nonbinary folks who need gender affirming care. All of them will be able to do something they would not have been able to without this funding.
The Gospel of John tells us the story of a little boy offering his own fishes and loaves to feed a crowd of people. Inspired by Jesus’s messages of love, hospitality, and justice, the crowd present there helped multiply that food to be enough to feed the 5,000 gathered. We are reminded through that story that when we give out of our abundance, we start a wave of generosity. We hope that, with this project, High Country UCC has started a wave of generosity that will spread.