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Transitions announced

Lon Rycraft retired from Normandy Park UCC in Seattle and is now living in Oregon.

Dennis Hollinger Lant is retiring from Wayside UCC in Federal Way.

Dan Berg retired from Deer Park UCC in the summer and now lives in North Spokane.

Amy Johnson was commissioned on Oct. 30., at Wayside UCC in Federal Way as a Minister for Sexuality Education with the national United Church of Christ.

Leah Atkinson Bilinski is being installed at 3 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 19, as the senior pastor of Fauntleroy UCC in Seattle.

Rebecca Zickur Withington was installed Oct. 9 as pastor at Pilgrim Congregational UCC in Anacortes.

New worship debuts Sundays

Kirkland Congregational UCC is debuting a new worship experience called The Table at 5:30 p.m., on third Sundays. The experience includes a supper, music, interactive liturgy, prayer and communion. Music includes a band led by Luke Kreikemeier, a guitarist and song leader at N-Sid-Sen.

For information call 425-822-2811 or visit kccucc.org.

St. Paul’s holds fire recovery event

St. Paul’s UCC, which had a fire the night after Easter, was back in its building for worship in the social hall in September. The upper level of the building will be unusable for a while. By Christmas they hope to use the whole building, including the sanctuary.

The church held a Fire Recovery Fund-raising Fiesta on Oct. 29 to celebrate use of part of the church with a dinner and raised funds through admissions, donations for “Fund-A-Need” and several auction items.

PNC retreat rescheduled

The Conference Annual Fall Retreat on “Moving through Grief and Loss,” scheduled for Nov. 11 to 13, will be held the first weekend in Lent, March 3 to 5.

The Clergy Retreat, scheduled Monday, Nov. 14 to Wednesday, Nov. 16, at Pilgrim Firs is still on.

Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, director of the UCC’s Center for Analytic, Research and Data, will use the theme, “Be the Church,” to look at how metric churches use can impact their vocations.

For 100 years, churches have used membership, worship attendance and budget numbers to determine their success. Clergy will look at what is the work of the church that is not recognized because it is unmeasured. She will use conversations and interactive exercises.

UCUCC hosts February event

The Worship and Music Ministry of University Congregational UCC will bring Marcia McFee to UCUCC the weekend of Feb. 10 to 12.

From 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, February 11, she will lead a workshop, “Creating Worship with Deep Soul,” on the craft of worship. She will introduce what she means by “M-M-Good” worship. Other sessions are on learning from filmmakers, on rhythms of liturgy, life and the politics of change, and on worship planning.

She will preach at UCUCC on Sunday, Feb. 12.

Drawing on a first career in professional dance and musical theater, and equipped with a master’s in theology and a PhD in liturgical studies, Marcia understands the role of any worship artist in the church as that of creating extraordinary portals through which communities journey with the Spirit. The task is both theological and artistic.

She has designed and led worship for regional, national and international gatherings of several denominations for the last 20 years. She is the creator and visionary of the Worship Design Studio (www.worshipdesignstudio.com), an online experience of coaching, education, inspiration and a design application. Her new book, Think Like a Filmmaker: Sensory-Rich Worship Design for Unforgettable Messages came out in June 2016.

Disabilities Ministries seeks nominees to serve on its board

The UCC Disabilities Ministries (UCCDM) seeks nominees for its board, which includes people with disabilities, professionals in the disability field and family members.

Kelli Parrish Lucas, chair of that board, said the mission is “to encourage our denomination to create worship and meeting places, programs and leadership that are accessible to all, welcoming and inclusive of all persons with disabilities.

Short term goals include increasing the number of accessible to all congregations in the UCC; providing guidance to associations, conferences, camps and other UCC settings about how they can live out their commitment to being accessible to all; creating a UCCDM presence at Synod 2017, and raising funds to support this ministry.

The board seeks UCC members who use email and can give 10 hours a month to this week, make a financial commitment and serve on a subcommittee. They seek to fill two terms that end in September 2017 with people would be eligible to be renewed, and two seats for the 2017 to 2023 term

Those interested visit the website at uccdm.org. Nominations are due Dec. 9.

Jim Spraker offers program

Jim Spraker has a program to share about his visit to South Korea last May with the Global Ministries Committee’s partnership with the East Seoul Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the Republic of Korea.

The focus of the trip was to learn about seeking peace on the Korean Peninsula, visiting people working for peace with push back from their government and threats from North Korean missile and nuclear tests. The group participated in a protests at a new naval base about its construction and at the Japanese Embassy about compensation for comfort women.

Jim’s presentation is 45 minutes of photos and stories. He is available to come to churches to share it now he is back from a fall trip to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

For information, call 206-935-3214 or email jim@spraker.net.

Men’s Retreat is Feb. 3-5

PNC Conference Minister Mike Denton will be the program speaker for the 26th Annual Men’s Retreat Friday to Sunday, Feb. 3 to 5 at Pilgrim Firs Camp and Conference Center. He will discuss eldering, sharing wisdom, speaking into a culture that yearns for wise thoughts and actions. There will be a Silent Day Thursday to Friday, Feb. 2 to 3.

For information, call 206-999-6968 or email myrtos@comcast.net or visit pilgrim-firs.org.

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