FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS 100% of all donations made for Haitian Relief through the UCC's One Great Hour of Sharing will be used to directly help the disaster victims. We are able to do this because of Our Church's Wider Mission Basic Support.
Write check payable to MACUCC and mark in the memo portion "OGHS – Haitian Relief". Mail to the Conference office: MACUCC, 1 Badger Road, Framingham, MA 01702.
HEALTH KITS Many of our churches have made or have plans to make hygiene kits. This is a project coordinated by our mission partner, Church World Service.
Church World Service asks for $2 per kit to cover the expense of receiving, sorting and sending the kits out. While many of our churches are able to do this, some are unable to.
Conference Minister & President Jim Antal has announced that the Friends of the Conference has made a $1000 contribution to Church World Service in order to cover the $2 expense for up to 500 kits assembled by MACUCC churches which cannot afford this additional expense. CWS has gladly accepted this donation, and will welcome receiving the kits you send to them, whether or not you include the $2 fee. If you are unable to include the fee, please include a note to CWS with your kits, indicating that the Mass. Conference Office covered your fees as part of the Conference’s $1,000 donation.
On Sunday morning, January 17, the beloved and historic West Cummington Congregational Church was destroyed by fire. The building was at least 170 years old.
This is a loss felt not only by the members of the church but by the wider community as well. This was evident in the Sunday afternoon service led by the church’s pastor, Steven Philbrick, in the congregation’s parish house.
The church members were joined by hundreds of others who shared memories of life’s transitional moments that took place in the church and the depth of loss they felt. But there was also a strong spirit of hope in the room and recognition that while the fire destroyed more than the building, the church was still alive and well.
In the future we will know more about specific ways we can support the West Cummington Church. In the mean time please hold them in your prayers.
Shalom Peter
The Rev. Peter A. Wells
Associate Conference Minister
Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ
Upcoming Conference Events:
Income Tax Seminar February 3, 2010 MACUCC Conference Center, Framingham, MA
A workshop for clergy, spouses, treasurers and trustees
Fitting it All Together: A Seminar Series on Church Administration Tuesday, March 16, 2010, Tuesday, April 13, 2010, Tuesday, May 11, 2010 MACUCC Conference Center, Framingham, MA A course for administrators, administrative assistants and other church leaders who want to develop and improve skills for getting this work done more efficiently.
More Members for Your Congregation March 27, 2010 Tewksbury Congregational Church UCC
How to Turn Members into Missionaries: A workshop for church teams
to learn again how to connect with the community around them.
210th Annual Meeting calls for action to reverse climate change
The 210th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference on Saturday passed an emergency resolution calling on local churches to take action to combat global warming.
The resolution calls on the Conference’s 390 congregations and 77,000 members to sign the Interfaith Call for 350.
The Interfaith Call for 350 is a call to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the current level of 390 parts per million to below 350 parts per million – the level which the resolution said is what is needed to “retain a world similar to what human beings have known for the past 10,000 years.”
Bert Marshall, ordained UCC minister with standing through the Berkshire Association and currently Director of the New England Regional Office of Church World Service, wrote a moving song based on his personal experience in Haiti. 
Income Tax Seminar
