One Great Hour of Sharing is one of the four special offerings of the United Church of Christ. It is usually received during Lent, and this year the offering falls on March 14.  Its focus is on disasters, refugee-immigration issues, and development ministries throughout the world. 

As we head into our second month of receiving profiles, our Conference Minister Search Committee has met once again to check in, ask questions, and prepare for the process of evaluating candidates and beginning interviews in April.

As we reach the anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kansas and Oklahoma, I'm reminded of the over 500,000 victims that have died nationally (nearly 10,000 in Kansas and Oklahoma,) and the countless caregivers, both at home and in our community settings - ministries, hospitals, and critical care facilities - who have struggled to ensure our loved ones are comforted and supported as they die.

Over the past few months we have been running a social justice focused book club. The wonderful members of our Federated Book Club have joined in the mission of KO to help bring racial justice to our world.

The question among Conference Ministers these days is how did your Conference giving fare in 2020? What was your OCWM (Our Church’s Wider Mission) giving? Well, the news for KO is GREAT!

The Conference is grateful for the work of Mark Van Dorn, who has served faithfully as Conference Treasurer and Chair of the Finance & Stewardship Committee. Mark made the decision to step back from his duties so that he could focus more readily on family and business obligations.

The opportunity to serve in leadership with the K-O Conference allows me to honor and pay a debt of gratitude to those who raised me – my parents, extended family, and my Fellowship Church family. While I understand that I’m steeped in the unearned privilege of my whiteness, I also find myself reflecting on the value of an upbringing surrounded by people who in mid-20th Century disavowed race prejudice.

Most of us have discovered over the past year that it is never too late to learn something new. Like other Conference pastors, I’ve learned to do worship and pastoral care in ways I was never taught in seminary or learned through nearly fifty years of parish ministry.

By now, many of us are Zoom meeting experts. The pandemic has made us quick studies of webinars and teleconferences, whether we like it or not. Every once and awhile, though, you attend a meeting that makes it all worthwhile. 

Each year, all UCC churches report to National Setting the current information about membership, attendance at congregational activities and finances. This is done by completing online forms on the UCC Data Hub.

“Churches in transition” is a bit of an understatement these days! It used to mean churches that were somewhere in what was the “typical” or “standard” search process of the UCC. It’s beginning to feel that the “standard search process,” at least in KO, is the exception rather than the rule!

Don Miller has ended his service as interim at Community United Church of Christ in Carbondale. Finishing his ministry at Carbondale ended a period of four years of ministry serving as interim in 3 different congregations.