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Transitions announced

Steve Jerbi was installed Oct. 24 as minister of worship and Christian formation at University Congregational UCC in Seattle. Visiting theologian Yolanda Norton preached at the service, Mike Denton was liturgist and Shelley Bryan Wee, bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was presider.

Help offered on insurance

The Insurance Assistance Fund Sub-committee of the Conference Stewardship Committee is responsible for allocating assistance to clergy and local churches needing help with the costs of health insurance premiums.

For help covering the costs of 2022 health insurance premiums, call Pacific Northwest Conference Treasurer, Martha Baldwin at 206-948-9799 or email mahtha@hotmail.com.

UCC starts ‘Join the Movement’

The Rev. Traci Blackmon, the national UCC associate general minister of justice and local church ministries, invites people to “Join the Movement toward Racial Justice” to help them imagine a church free of racism and a world where all people live without fear of violence or systems that harm God’s human creation.

Join the Movement is an effort to answer God’s call to be an anti-racist church by sharing stories and learning from one another to build a just world,” said Traci.

Information is at https://jointhemovementucc.org, which began in late 2021.

A video about it is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50t1TaP7oY&t=34s

Eastgate sells building

Karen Jones, a trustee at Eastgate Congregational UCC in Bellevue, said the church—”with love, hope and trust”—is selling its 60-year-old building. The church has items to give to an interested church.

For information, call 425-736-3211 or email karen_wholeself@yahoo.com.

COP 26 resource offered

Roberta Rominger, pastor at Mercer Island Congregational UCC, said Michael Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, recruited 24 people to attend COP26 virtually. They had online meetings with key players and shared in a webinar their COP26 experience.

“It was moving at many points,” said Roberta who was impressed with one man, Stephen Squire from the Episcopal Church in Paris. He told how COP26 was falling short, but was clear about his commitment to the cause and his message to churches to “keep on keeping on.”

Roberta messaged him in chat and asked if he would record a short video report for her church service. She shares the link to it in case anyone else would like to show it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yjobvnz56hv6r7g/Stephen%20Squire%20-%20Movie%20on%2013.11.21%20at%2010.22.mov?dl=0

For information, call 360-932-4562.

UCUCC teaches OWL

Margaret Swanson, director of children’s, youth and family ministries at University Congregational UCC, is offering an in person Our Whole Lives Sexuality and Our Faith class (OWL) for grades 10, 11 and 12 from January to April 2022. She welcomes friends to join in.

For information, call 206-524-2322 x3315 or 206-399-2213 or email mswanson@ucucc.org.

For an interest form CLICK HERE.

PNC helps on bookkeeping

The Conference has a team to address challenges small churches have in finding bookkeeping resources to enable them to carry out tasks required as an employer and nonprofit. The team has been gathering resource information from PNC churches on their bookkeeping set up, such as:

• Bookkeeping provided by a volunteer or outsourced to a third party;

• Third party payroll services that support unique aspects of clergy compensation;

• Accounting software that supports unique aspects of clergy compensation, church and nonprofit tax filings, and

• Resources and experiences churches can share or recommend.

With resources churches are sharing, the team is developing ways to share them.

One payroll service option is Paychex Partnership. The UCC Pension Boards partners with Paychex to benefit UCC-related employers by offering discounts on services to UCC-related organizations.

For information, contact Courtney Stange-Tregear, minister for church vitality, or Andrew Warren, conference accountant, at 206-725-8383.

Christmas Fund gifts needed

Martha Baldwin of the PNC Stewardship Committee said the UCC Christmas Fund is “near and dear to my heart as my father was a retired UCC pastor and my mother still receives a small pension.”

The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired UCC clergy and lay employees for more than 100 years, providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums and Christmas gift checks to lower-income retirees.

She invites individuals and congregations to give to the fund.

For information, call 206-948-9799 or email mahtha@hotmail.com.

Profile portal trainings online

December training sessions on the new Ministerial Profiles Portal were recorded and will be available on the ucc.org website and on the YouTube of Suran Systems, which built the website. The national UCC created a new platform for the Ministerial Profile and Snapshot. Changes do not include content revision to the Ministerial Profile, but there will be enhancements and the layout will be more user-friendly, said Arlene Hobson, executive administrator.

For information, call 206-725-8383.

Global ties are being built

The Global Ministries Committee of the PNC-UCC and Northern Lights Region, DOC, meets monthly by Zoom with their partners, the Rev. Martin Nates of Justapaz, and Pablo Morales of the Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council of Churches of Colombia, as well as with the new mission co-workers, Alex Maldonado-Lizardi and Xiomara Cintron-Garcia.

Alex and Xiomara arrived in Colombia this fall from Puerto Rico for a four year assignment. They are supported by gifts to Disciples Mission Fund, Our Church’s Wider Mission, Week of Compassion and special gifts. Information is at https://www.globalministries.org/mission-coworkers/.

Plans are underway to invite partners and Alex and Xiomara to the PNC Annual Meeting in April and the DOC Northern Lights Annual Assembly in May, said Rick Russell, co-chair of the Global Ministries Committee with Mary Olney-Loyd.

For information, call 206-999-6968 or email myrtos@comcast.net.

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