Part Two of Our UCC Church Structure

Dear Friends,

This is part two of my explanation of our UCC church structure. Last month, I wrote mostly of the national structure. Hope it didn’t put you to sleep too much! This month, I will “bring it home”. . .here it goes: The United Church of Christ (UCC) is broken into mostly geographical areas called Conferences. We are in Illinois Conference. Quiz: How many conferences are in IL? If you answer 2, you are right. Illinois Conference and Southern Illinois Conference. We are somewhat close to the southern border (Decatur across to Quincy) of Illinois Conference. Two Conferences: Illinois Conference and Southern Illinois Conference. We are in Illinois Conference which southernmost churches are Decatur to Springfield to Quincy. The rest of our Conference uses the state border. We do have one church in Dyer, Indiana because it’s so close to the border. Each Conference has a “Conference Minister” and usually “Associate Conference Ministers” plus support staff. Rev. Dr. Justo Gonzales is our Interim Conference Minister. There is a search underway to find a “settled” (permanent) Conference Minister. The Conference offices are in Westchester, near Chicago. The offices are on part of a floor of a small office building. There are two meeting rooms and then regular offices.

Our Conference is divided again into “Associations”. There are five: Chicago Metro Association, commonly called “CMA”. Fox Valley Association surrounds CMA. . .I think of this Association as the suburbs of Chicago. Prairie Association is the northwest corner of Illinois, encompassing Rockford, DeKalb, etc. Then, think of the rest of the Conference, and divide it by half. There is Eastern Association that goes from about Kankakee and Lockport down to Decatur. Bloomington/Normal is also in Eastern Association. We are in Western Association. Our Association includes the quad cities down to Quincy. It includes Peoria and north to Lacon, and then over to us, Minier and Springfield. I’m naming the bigger cities, but Prairie, Western and Eastern Associations really include a lot of small towns and small churches in-between those cities. Each Association has a “main” Associate Conference Minister assigned to be the overseer of the pastors and congregations. They are the pastor to the pastors, trouble shoot conflicts and problems, and provide guidance and resources especially when a church is in the search process for a new pastor.

Our Conference staff is funded by OCWM offerings in the conference, (Our Church’s Wider Mission). Because OCWM (Our Church’s Wider Mission) funds are low, our Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Kathy Lawes, serves both Western and Prairie Associations. Rev. Kim Wood serves Eastern and Fox Valley. Since CMA has the most churches, they have their own Associate Conference Minister. We also have another Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Michelle Hughes who serves as “Church Vitality and Stewardship” and serves the whole conference. 

Each Association also has an “Association Council”, who are equal number of lay people and ordained ministers from churches all over the Association. Likewise, there is a “Committee on Ministry”, made up the same way. Committee on Ministry oversees people who want to go to seminary and keeps tabs on the health of the congregations and pastors, helping when they can. Each ordained minister has “standing” in an Association, so my standing is in Western Association. If I would move into another geographical area, I’d have to change my “standing”, and my church membership, of course. Currently, I serve on Association Council and Sandy Meinershagen serves on Committee on Ministry. We also have some other committees of our Association and Conference, and they are always looking for volunteers to serve. If you are interested, please let me know.

The Conference meets once each year in early June. This year, it will meet at Augustana College in Rock Island. The Association typically meets twice each year, once in the spring and once in the fall. Sometimes, we meet jointly with other Associations. Last fall, we met in Decatur with Eastern Association. We send delegates from our church to these meetings. Our nominating committee will be putting forth the names at our Annual Meeting on January 26th for election to those positions.

I hope this gives you an overview of the denomination that I love. Next time, I will give you more of the beliefs, processes, and overall ethos of who we are. But it helps to know the structure first.

Peace,
Pastor Laurie