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Posts from the ‘Community’ Category

Dec 12

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“Moving from Polity to Purpose”

I had the privilege of witnessing a profound conversation with my colleagues in the Pacific Western Region.  They were talking about what it would take to really shift our culture away from holding on to “this is mine” to “we are called to serve a larger vision.”  They named it powerfully as “moving from polity to purpose.”

What excites me most about our move toward regionalization is not so much that we can create new and interesting structures, but that this transition helps us uncover a deeper charge of culture change that asks us to claim a larger purpose of serving the larger world, not just “ourselves.” Read more

Dec 2

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Membership or Connection?

On Sunday I sat next to a friend of mine in church.  She’s a young adult (late twenties, perhaps) and extremely active in the congregation.  She volunteers in the church school, sits on committees, volunteers for different events and pledges money.  And she’s not a “member” of the church.  She said to me, “I don’t know what difference it makes to have my name on a piece of paper – how much more committed could I be?”

She also attends a UCC church on Sunday evenings.  The two services bookend her week in a powerful way that she would not want to give up.  They connect her to meaning and community and give her space for spiritual reflection. Read more

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