It’s Time To Register for Annual Meeting (Especially Authorized Ministers!)

Written by Edith Guffey,
Conference Minister

Registration for Annual Meeting closes on October 4th, so after today you will only hear from me TWO MORE TIMES encouraging you to register! Only TWO MORE Times! Can you believe it?  

Do you wonder why I always push annual meeting attendance? There are a couple of reasons. I know that I first “met” the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference at an Annual Meeting. Without the experience of the Conference Annual Meeting, I would have never known that there was a United Church of Christ beyond Plymouth Church in Lawrence, Kansas. And honestly at that time Plymouth wasn’t very tuned in to the United Church of Christ. It was the Conference and the Conference Minister that gave me a glimpse of the wider church and helped me understand that I was connected to something way bigger than just one local church.

I want others to have that same opportunity. But they won’t have access to that experience if you don’t extend the invitation; someone had to at least TELL me about the Conference for me to attend Annual Meeting. I had no way of knowing about it until I was invited/encouraged to attend as a lay delegate from Plymouth. I could have attended and said, nope; this isn’t for me. And that would have been fine. It’s not for everyone. But it was for me; I wouldn’t have known that if I had not at least been given the invitation and had the opportunity to experience it.

So, pastors: you know who might be particularly interested in the wider church, encourage them to attend! Let your congregation know about Annual Meeting and encourage their participation. It’s a great year to try it out – we have a solid, compact program with good speakers, and workshops. And as an added bonus, after you and your voting delegates register it’s free for any visitors. They don’t even have to travel! Now is the perfect time to experience annual meeting for the first time!   

Another reason to attend is that presence at annual meeting is an embodiment of our covenant. I take that very seriously. I honestly believe we are in this together. We depend on each other, we support each other, we care for each other, and we show up for each other. In KO, we don’t have Associations, while there was a special meeting this year, and we are working to have more programmed opportunities, the ONLY time we gather as a Conference is the Annual Meeting. Once a year we come together for worship, business, workshops, and celebrations. Just once a year. Yes, we would prefer that we be in person for the one time that we gather but just as local churches continue their ministry during the pandemic, so do we as a Conference. and so we gather virtually again for Annual Meeting. This is it the one annual meeting that is the expression of our covenantal life together.

In the UCC, many like to think that we don’t have rules, and we can do what we like. That’s true for our local congregations, we operate on covenant. But that is not true for authorized ministers. Like any profession, there are rules, and like it or not all authorized ministers have expectations that they have to adhere to if they wish to maintain their ministerial standing.  In KO, in addition to the ministerial code of ethics and the requirements found in the Manual on Ministry, there are three expectations: completing boundary training every three years, completing 12 hours of continuing education every year, and attendance at annual meeting. These requirements are not new, they have been in place for several years. Letters were sent to Authorized Minsters notifying those who are due for boundary training so it’s time to get registered. Click here to reach our donation page and select “Boundary Training” at the drop-down.  And if you have not registered for Annual Meeting, you can do so right now.

Generally, authorized ministers have continuing education dollars to assist in registration costs for annual meeting or  boundary training. These costs are less given that annual meeting and boundary training does not require travel or hotel costs this year. However, there are always circumstances where financial assistance may be needed. Please let me or a Chair of the COM know if you need help. Financial circumstances should never be a barrier to your full participation in Annual Meeting.

I look forward to seeing you soon on the ZOOM screen!