UCC General Synod – Friday, June 26

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  That’s how a Southern Conference colleague summarized his impression of how Geoffrey Black answered questions in an open forum Friday afternoon.  Rev. Black is the candidate for General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.  He will be elected and installed at this meeting.  More on Rev. Black in a moment.

FWC is up and running in Grand Rapids.  For the most part, the past 24 hours have been nuts and bolts.  Linda and I arrived yesterday, checked in our hotel, unloaded our “Faithful and Welcoming Churches” through the back door, set up the booth in the exhibit hall, and met some other board members (John and Jami Roberts, Bill and Nancy McFadden) for dinner in the evening.

Grand Rapids is beautiful.  The convention center and hotel overlook the Grad River, which, as a southerner I never knew was the reason this city is called “Grand Rapids.”  Years ago, before dams and levees added depth to the river, the rapids were a prominent enough feature to name the city.  The sunset last night was breathtaking, painting the sky orange and red well past 10:00.  I also couldn’t help but note the Carolina blue sky this morning. 

As I write, we are watching video and still photography as we hear the Genesis 1 account of creation.  I didn’t expect a UCC synod to read the Creation narrative with appreciation.  It is a creative, visual presentation of Scripture that would be as at home in Corinth or any other ECOT church as it was here.  The presentation segues into a song of praise and prayer to the Spirit of God, using the Hebrew word for spirit/breath, ruach. 

The theme of this synod is “Immerse Yourself” – the image of water, wading, dunking, swimming, jumping, diving into the watery adventure of life.  It refers both to a baptismal imagery (Is the UCC becoming a baptistic denomination?  Not likely!) but also immersing oneself into the calling of the church.

Rev. Geoffrey Black will soon immerse himself into the most visible leadership role in the UCC.  We are not a top-down denomination, and his position carries only the power of influence through initiative and persuasion.  But I was still interested to know what he might say in a Q&A session that was one of several options for hearings during the opening hour of Synod. (Click here for my notes on the Q&A session with Geoffrey Black.)

If given the opportunity, I wanted to ask him how he would address the presence and concerns of ECOTs (see previous blogs for an explanation)  in his administration.  I didn’t have to.

One question asked early of the presidential candidate: “What role do you see for evangelicals as pastors in the UCC?”  In response, Rev. Black said he understands the American evangelical tradition, and his own faith was nurtured in it.  If evangelicals are those “overtly proclaiming the gospel with the goal of transforming lives,” he continued, the UCC already has many evangelical pastors, and our future will include pastors and members who come from many traditions including Pentecostals and Roman Catholics who bring a more evangelical or conservative perspective.

A follow up question voiced my thoughts.  “Do you have a plan to bring those of us who classify ourselves as evangelicals from the margin into the mainstream?”  This questioner noted that he knows Rev. Black personally, and he has been a person of welcome to those more conservative than he.

As for having a plan, he answered, “No, initially.”  Then he added, “The people who have the passion about that need to begin to make it happen.  My agenda would be, as that surfaces, to urge that there is an openness and to be supportive of those who want to make that happen.”  He went on to note that new church starts, especially those that succeed,  reach out to and include people with an evangelical bent.  And he implied that liberal-conservative separatism is SO last century.

I was encouraged.  Early on, Rev. Black (and those present in the hearing) heard that ECOTs are still here.

I greeted Rev. Black following the Q&A session, and had my picture taken with him in the exhibit hall.  I look forward to sitting down with him in person after he takes office, perhaps when our FWC board meets in Cleveland next January.

But my Southern Conference friend (whom I will not name because I didn’t ask permission) is right.  What we heard from Geoffrey Black is that if we ECOTs want to be heard and valued, we need to take initiative, make a plan, and step out.  We will.

I thanked Rev. Black for his remarks and told him I look forward to working with him about acceptance of ECOTs in the UCC.