Synod 34 Reflections: Julia Gaughan

My first General Synod was in Milwaukee in 2019. I went as a visitor, knowing that I had been nominated to serve on the United Church of Christ Board of Directors (UCCB). As a visitor, though, I had a lot of freedom to explore what was going on around Synod as well as around downtown Milwaukee (great art museum!). 

My first General Synod as a member of the UCCB was our Special Edition General Synod, which was held online in the summer of 2021. Being online and spread out, everything felt very different from 2019. I had more responsibilities, but I also only had to click through to a meeting as opposed to trying to get somewhere across a convention center. 

So this year, returning in-person and as a UCCB member and delegate, gave me an entirely new experience and perspective. I might still be catching my breath!

I loved being together with our fellow UCC’ers from across the life of the UCC. Being with 2,000 other people all worshiping and discerning the business of the UCC together is a powerful experience. While I was the moderator at Plymouth Congregational UCC in Lawrence, I once said that there were more opinions than people in the sanctuary for a congregational meeting. This, too, is true at the denominational level. The passion, insight, disagreements, and convictions of our UCC demonstrate our denomination’s love of God, love of neighbor, desire for justice, and a willingness to really engage with what it means to be a Christian and to be church in this present time. 

This year at General Synod, we elected the first woman and first woman of African descent as our next General Minister and President, the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson. She officially takes office on August 1st. We were able to honor Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer’s time as General Minister and President as the church body. Rev. Traci Blackmon, our Associate General Minister for Justice and Local Church Ministries, facilitated some of the most meaningful special events, including a panel with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and a luncheon with Bryan Stevenson. We celebrated with all of our officers the incredible and expansive work that the UCC national setting does here in the U.S. and abroad. 

General Synod also took up proposed by-law amendments, changing the frequency of General Synod from every two years to every three years. This proposal brought a lot of debate, and passed the two-thirds majority requirement by one vote. As the new chair for the UCCB, I committed the UCCB to work on additional proposed amendments relating to the board member terms to be viewed at our next General Synod in 2025 (in Kansas City!), which will allow those changes - if accepted - to become effective in time for our first triennium. The General Synod to follow 2025 will be held in 2028. The dissenting group from the by-law vote passed a Minority Resolution further directing the UCCB to identify ways that the UCC might create opportunities for relationship-building given the longer period of time between General Synod meetings. I anticipate forming a Task Force in the next month or so that will begin this work. 

At General Synod, we debated a number of Resolutions - all of the business can be reviewed more fully here: https://www.ucc.org/general-synod-34-highlights/. The Resolution promoting plant-based consumption did not pass, but all of the remaining resolutions were adopted. The adopted resolutions help inform the work of the UCCB and the national setting.