Category: Faith Development

Post Sabbatical Visioning Session & Lunch

10/17/2016

Dear Covenant Partners and Friends of McFarland UCC,

It was great to see so many of you at worship on September 18 to participate in the transition from Kristin Gorton, our Interim Pastor, back to Pastor Kerri Parker, who returned from a three-month sabbatical. Many thanks and blessings to Pastor Kris for the wonderful work she did in Pastor Kerri's absence!

While things are back to a "routine", our sabbatical work is not done! It is time for us to reflect on what we learned - Pastor Kerri as a pastor and we as a congregation - during the sabbatical. You are invited to a

Post-Sabbatical Visioning Session following worship on Sunday, November 6.
We expect this session to last 2-3 hours. Lunch will be provided,
and we will be done in plenty of time for you to make the Packer’s 3:25 kickoff!

The purpose of this session is to share what we have all learned during the sabbatical time and consider how we will use what we've learned to help us become the church we want to be. The session will be facilitated by Cathleen Wille, a consultant in clergy and congregational care.

Please mark your calendar for Sunday, November 6 and plan to attend! In preparation for this session, please think about the activities in which we engaged over the summer and how we, along with Pastor Kerri, reflected on rest, relationships, and balance. We hope to see you there!

The Sabbatical Planning Team,
Carolyn Bell
Joan Jacobsen
Tom Ludwig

Faith Foundations

8/17/2016

This fall Pastor Kerri will be offering cross+generational, 5-session modules designed to help you learn, understand and discuss the Christian faith and what it all means to you. You can participate in any 5-session module OR take part in all three if you are wanting to pursue Confirmation or Adult Baptism. All are welcome but these sessions are best suited for ages 13 and up.

Check out each module below and if you have questions please call Melissa in the office 608-838-9322.

BIBLE BOOT CAMP - A field guide to your Bible with overviews of geography, timelines, and key stories of the Old & New Testiments. How to take the Bible seriously but not literally - claiming the Bible as a progressive Christian. CLICK HERE to signup.

BELIEFS & BELONGING (5 two-hour sessions) - We will explore the Faith Family Tree: World Religions & Christianity. What do we belive about God, Church, and Promises? Construct a statement of faith.

FAITH PRACTICES (5 two-hour sessions) - Dive into the many ways we practice our faith: Individual Spirituality (forms of prayer & personal devotional practices), Community Practices (worship, hospitality, witness), the Christian Life in the World (stewardship, mission & service), the Practice of Discernemnt and choosing the faith practices that make sense for you.

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT - After all modules are completed, you will have the opportunity to develop your own project that gives expression to what you believe about God, Church, Promises and what it means to be a Christian. The project is developed in consultation with the pastor, can be in a form that best suits you and is shareable with the community of faith.

CLICK HERE to SignUp!

Taking Faith Home: Sacred Places

5/24/2016

Taking Faith Home wherever you may be...

“…The Lord is in this place, and I didn’t even know it” Gen 28:10-22

Sacred spaces can find us in the most unexpected places. At the ocean side. On a mountaintop. By a river. In the desert. At Sundaes on Thursday. In a song that gets stuck in our head.

Summer is often a time of travel. Of busyness in new places. In the midst of going do you find time to pause and see God? This summer, we invite you to find God in the unexpected as we Take Faith Home. We are a church of hearts and hands. Where do YOU find sacred places? Is it a tree, a bluff, a beach? Or do you find sacred in art? Music? Food? Movement? Take your hands, make a heart, and share YOUR sacred space! Snap a picture. Build a sculpture. Be creative! Then bring YOUR heart and hands to church – in person, via email, the church’s FaceBook page, via Instagram – as we build community through the summer in unexpected places. Just...

Pause. Recognize the Sacred.
Form a heart. With your hands. With a friend. With a child. With flowers. Rocks. Leaves. Dough. Chocolate. A sunset. However you can form a heart…and include your hands.
Find a way to share the sacred with the church. Take a picture. Write a message. Compose a song. Create a 3-D figure.
Over the summer we will be collecting everyone’s hearts and hands at church. God is in this place!

#takingfaithhome #churchwithheart

Capital Campaign

3/21/2016

Sunday, April 3 at 11:15 am, you are invited to a special lunch where we will provide an update about MUCC's capital campaign - Building for God's Future.

For almost two years, the church’s leaders have been studying building needs and ministry possibilities. In concept meetings, we developed a list of values and priorities.

At the 2016 Annual Meeting, the church approved a fundraising campaign. Based on campaign results, we will work with an architect to develop a proposal that makes best use of pledged funds.

Welcoming is at the core of being ‘A Church With Heart’ – we want to convey a sense of hospitality and compassion. The building exterior, entries and spaces within should be inviting and approachable, warm, and light.

Visionary We want to go beyond ‘new and improved’ to look to the future. How can we convey the new, bold spirit in this place? What big ideas will equip us for the next stage in our ministry? What technology shifts do we need to consider?

Faith-Filled We want our facilities and our ministry to be faith-filled. We hope for an enriching environment that helps the congregation and the community grow in faith.

Community-Building Our ministry is for the congregation and for the community. We hope to build community within the church and with our neighbors. The project should help us reach out and reach in, in ways that are fully inclusive. We want to create a place for conversations.

Functional Whatever we create should be versatile and flexible. We are an informal congregation. This implies special attention to creating inviting spaces to be at ease, materials that are child-friendly and mess-friendly, and adequate, well-organized
storage.

With multiple generations at the core of our ministry, we need an environment that is both accessible and safe. We want spaces that are well-lit, acoustically and visually pleasing, but also designed to be used.

The guiding values for the project are also who we are as a church.
Invest in our shared ministry!

You can choose the best way for you to give!
Funds can be pledged over up to a 5 year timeframe.

Using Our Voices in Worship

3/2/2016

In worship, we both Remember God’s Story, and bring our own stories before God. The strange churchy word for this is liturgy – which means, ‘the work of the people.’ This is a ministry that all of us can share. We invite you to take a turn in leading one of these worship elements.

Remembering God’s Story takes place early in worship, after announcements and our gathering song. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. It can be done in your own words, as a call-and-response that asks the congregation to contribute to telling the story. The big movements of the story to date are Creation, Separation, Promise, and God-With-Us. Working together, it takes about 3 minutes to tell. As the year goes on, we’ll be adding Death-to-Life, and The Church. This way of breaking down the Christian story comes to us from a book called Shaped by The Story, by Michael Novelli. Pastor Kerri is willing to go over this with you in advance if you’d find it helpful. Click here to sign up for leading this part of worship.

Testimony is a time when we bring our own stories before God. Every one of us has a God-story somewhere in our lives. This is probably the most affirming audience you will ever have. The guidelines are simple:

1) It has to be your own personal story or experience, not a story about something about happened to someone else. Think about a time when God felt especially close, or especially far away. Consider things that have happened in your life that helped you realize something about God. Which leads us to guideline #2…

2) God must be a character in your story.

3) Write your God-story down and share it with Pastor Kerri at least a week before your turn to offer testimony. No fancy words required. If God is not explicitly a character in your story, we will work together to refine it until we find where God is.

Don’t think you have a God-story, or yours doesn’t measure up? Perhaps this is a word of hope for you: Your story is not competing in the Supernatural Activity Olympics nor for Tragedy-of-the-Week. You don’t have to believe or say the right things about God according to any creed or authority. You are not going to get kicked out of the church for saying the wrong thing. You don’t have to write the Great American Novel …you’re just sharing a glimpse of sacred truth you have come to see through your own experience.

4) It should take no more than 3-5 minutes to tell. If it’s longer, you may not have found the core of your story yet (or maybe it’s a sermon in the works). We can take time to refine it.

Click here to sign up to offer your own Testimony.

Strange Churchy Words

2/2/2016

Mark your calendar now for Faith Talks, our dinner & conversation series in Lent. It will be held on Wednesday evenings, February 10 through March 16.

Last year, Faith Talk in Lent was one of our most popular faith development offerings, six weeks of meeting around the dinner table for caring conversation and a chance to explore ‘God-talk’ together.

This year’s series is themed around ‘Strange Churchy Words.’ Each week we’ll discuss something that’s a part of Christian faith and practice – but probably strikes you as weird if you take a minute to think about it. Some requested words so far have been: Lent, Synod, atonement, and Maundy, just to name a few. Any question about these topics is fair game!

This is a cross+generational event, and we welcome people of all ages. The conversations are most likely to be engaging for people 3rd grade through adult, but younger children are welcome to attend with their families.

A simple dinner will be served each week. We invite you to arrive anytime 5:45 – 6 pm to get your meal and join us around the tables. At 6 pm, our pastor will introduce the topic for the evening. From about 6:15 – 7:00 pm, there will be time to engage the topic in large group and small group conversation.

Your reservation on SignupGenius will help us plan for dinner CLICK HERE to register.

Christmas Specials!

11/20/2015

Every Wednesday in December 5:45-7:00 PM we will be gathering for a simple dinner, a Christmas Special on the BIG screen and faith talks. This will be a wonderful time filled with great conversations and church family time.

Signup is not required but encouraged so we can prepare enough food. Click Here to RSVP online!

Our first Wednesday, December 2nd will feature the classic...

Talk about 'Strange Churchy Stuff' beginning 2/18

2/10/2015

Mark your calendar now for Faith Talk, our popular Wednesday dinner & conversation series in Lent. It will be held on Wednesday evenings, February 18 through March 25, and wrap up on a Thursday, April 2nd (during Holy Week).

Last year, Faith Talk in Lent was one of our most popular faith development offerings, six weeks of meeting around the dinner table for caring conversation and a chance to explore ‘God-talk’ together.

This is a cross+generational event, and we welcome people of all ages. The conversations are most likely to be engaging for people 3rd grade through adult, but younger children are welcome to attend with their families.

A simple dinner will be served each week. We invite you to arrive anytime 5:45 – 6 pm to get your meal and join us around the tables. At 6 pm, our pastor will introduce the topic for the evening. From about 6:15 – 7 pm, there will be time to engage the topic in large group and small group conversation.

This year’s series is themed around ‘Strange Churchy Things.’ Each week we’ll discuss something that’s a part of Christian faith and practice – but probably strikes you as weird if you take a minute to think about it. Our preliminary topic list is: anointing, sabbath, prayer, testimony, tithing, and sacraments. Any question about these topics is fair game!

Your reservation on SignupGenius will help us plan for dinner. Follow this link to register: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d48aea72ea64-faith

We are also looking for people to share a meal component each week. If you can provide a main course, side, dessert, or beverages (once or more than once), please let us know when you sign up.

*We have had several people ask whether they could just come to the program (because they were not interested in dinner). So much of Jesus’ ministry was organized around table fellowship, and the Heavenly Banquet is an important metaphor for the realm of God. We’ve chosen to intertwine meal and teaching. If you have dietary restrictions that make it awkward or uncomfortable for you to share a meal with us, please speak with the pastor.

Are you thinking about church camp yet?

12/29/2014

The Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ has two gems available for you to enjoy. Pilgrim Center (on Green Lake) and Moon Beach (near St. Germain) offer camp programs for everyone. Whether it's a week of youth camp, family camp, or adults-only retreats, there's sure to be something to refresh you, and maybe set your soul on fire!

We have many experienced campers in our church. If you want to know more, ask, and we'll connect you with someone who can answer your questions! *

Registration for the 2015 camping season begins on Friday, January 2.

Post by United Church Camps, Inc.

*We are able to provide some financial assistance if money is a barrier, and the camps ALSO have scholarship programs. Don't let the cost stop you from exploring this possibility.

December Events

12/18/2014

McFarland UCC has a December calendar of events that's all about building relationships inside and outside the building.

Christmas Caroling

Some church members tuned up their voices and sang Christmas carols to shut-ins Dec. 13. Tom Ludwig said the shut-ins are long-time members of MUCC located in a number of locations in the Madison area, including Monona, Fitchburg and Stoughton. Many of them are not able to attend services due to chronic health conditions.

“I think being a church with heart means much more than what goes on inside the walls,” he said. “These people have had a long-time connection, and it’s important to maintain those connections by reaching out to them when they can’t come and be inside our walls with us.”

Click through for photos!

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