Evangelism, Mission and Justice Ministries

The Rev. Mr. Paul Nickerson
Associate Conference Minister for Evangelism, Mission and Justice Ministries
2005 Report

It continues to be a great pleasure to serve the more than 400 congregations in Massachusetts around issues of vitality, growth and mission. 2005 has been a good year of many congregations working together to go deeper in faith and to reach out in creative new ways. Below are some of the highlights.

Still Speaking Training
My colleague Tiffany Vail and I have continued to offer Still Speaking training to accompany the National advertising campaign. More than half of our churches have “opted-in” to this program. In 2005 courses were offered in the basics of Hospitality 101. We added a course (202) on how to read the neighborhood around the church and this fall 36 churches participated in Hospitality 301, a course with Dr. Richard Peace on “Holy Conversation.” The Still Speaking campaign is to continue through 2007 and our training will continue as well.

Vital Congregational Life
Vital Congregational Life is an ongoing program of helping congregations with visioning, small group ministry, outreach, core discipleship, etc. It is offered in Cluster Groups of churches and in 2005 there have been 7 Cluster Groups with a total of more than 50 congregations participating. Trained Vitality Coaches work with me in all these groups.

Timothy Project
Beginning in the fall of 2005, 10 congregations, (2 from each Area) are working intensely with Coaches to see if we can help those churches grow and reach out. You will hear more about this project in 2006.

New Church Starts
2005 has seen the growth of several new church starts. Hope Church in Jamaica Plain has celebrated its 3rd anniversary and that congregation is growing rapidly with well over 100 in worship attendance. The same can be said for the Hispanic Community Church of Boston which has added many new members. The Hispanic Community Church of Lowell has expanded greatly with wonderful music and great small groups. Fundraising is continuing for the Mashpee new church start and the goal is to have a pastor in place during 2006. And there are the beginnings of Hispanic ministries in Springfield, a city that has a huge influx of Hispanics.

New Mission Thread
Out of the church vitality listed above, there are burgeoning mission efforts going on in local churches and at the Conference level. Mass ReLeaf, part of our Environmental Task Force, is helping congregations plant trees in blighted urban areas. There are some 17 plantings scheduled for 2006.

Our Partnership with Chile continues to grow with a fantastic youth choir exchange concluding in 2005. Another youth delegation will travel to Chile in the spring of 2006 to work on the new Shalom Center.

Our new Partnership with the United Congregational Churches of South Africa, under the leadership of Jan and Ruthann Hall is expanding in 2006 to more than 20 congregations. Exchanges of faith, programs and encouragement are truly making a difference.

Other major strands of mission and justice work include:

• Additional congregations becoming Open and Affirming, bringing the total in MACUCC to almost 60. In April of 2006 we will celebrate 20 years of ONA.
• Continued great work by the Homelessness Task Force to help congregations do both hands-on and systemic work to stamp out homelessness.
• A polling of our congregations by the Mission and Justice Commission which will help to celebrate mission and foster networking and resourcing one another.
• A Fair Trade initiative by our Jubilee (Economic Justice) Task Force and another New England Economic Justice Conference in NH in the spring of 2006.
• A growing number of resources and training opportunities from the Race and Justice Task Force.
• A new Katrina Relief Task Force and the adoption of the Good Shepherd UCC church in Metarie, LA.

Through all of these efforts it is a delight to work with the staff of the Conference and to be in the presence of so many dedicated lay and clergy leaders. I am particularly indebted to my Administrative Assistant, Marlene Bryant, who keeps all of these various ministries on course. There is much more to do and the challenge to live out the Conference mission of “strengthening local church vitality and the covenant among our churches” is great. I look forward to serving with you in 2006.