POTOMAC ASSOCIATION
UCC Ministry Institute
January 30, 2010 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Location:
Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ Offices
916 South Rolling Road
Baltimore, MD 21228

DRIVING DIRECTIONS

From North  Take I-95 through the Fort McHenry Tunnel.  Take Exit 47 B (Route 166 North Catonsville) and follow 166 North signs towards Rolling Road (Catonsville).  Bear right onto Rolling Road and look for St. John's church to your left at the traffic signal for Wilkens/Route 372. Turn left at the traffic light come to the top of the hill and make a right.

From South  Follow I-95 North.  Get off at Exit 47.  Take the ramp off to left marked "47-B" (166 North-Catonsville) and follow signs to Rolling Road.  Bear right, and look for St. John's church which will be on your left at the traffic signal for Wilkens Avenue/Route 372.

From East  Coming across the Bay Bridge follow Route 50 West to I-97 North.  Exit at 17B onto the Baltimore Beltway (Route 695) West toward Towson.  Exit the Beltway at 12-C West, Wilkens Avenue/Route 372.  Follow Wilkens Avenue until it ends at Rolling Road.  St. John's Church will be straight ahead through the traffic signal. Come up the hill and around to the right.

From West  Coming from Frederick, take Route 70 East to the Baltimore Beltway onto Route 372/Wilkens Avenue West.  Follow Wilkens Avenue until it ends at Rolling Road.  St. John's church will be straight ahead through the traffic signal. Come up the hill and around to the right.

Bring a lunch or snack, we will take very short breaks

This Institute is part of a sequence of four Institutes that will be offered each year in History, Polity, Theology and Ministry of the UCC by the Potomac Association, following the guidelines prepared by History, Theology and Polity teachers on the essentials of a basic one semester course. (see the Essentials list by clicking on UCC Institutes at right). They will normally meet from 10 am to 4 pm on a Saturday, with the exception of the Polity Institute which will meet on Friday from 10 am to 4 pm and require Saturday attendance at the CAC Annual meeting at the University of Delaware. The Institute format is designed to serve the needs of persons who cannot enroll in a regular semester length seminary course to cover this material.

Participants may start the cycle of four Institutes at any point in the cycle.

If a person needs formal evaluation in order to gain privilege of call or ordination, s/he is expected to do the reading and other types of assignments before coming to the Institute (resources posted here).  Observer participants (those not seeking evaluation) are strongly encouraged to do the advanced reading and assignments.

NEW IN 2010
There is a $25 evaluation fee for participants who plan to do the written assignments and participate in the evaluation conference telephone call. The evaluation cannot be scheduled or held until the fee has been paid. Please bring cash or a check made out to Potomac Association UCC.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Required reading assignments may be downloaded from this website or from other websites on the worldwide web.  In some cases practical field assignments are assigned before the Institute. These UCC Institutes are enrichment opportunities for all members of the UCC who want to learn more about the history, polity, theology and ministry of the UCC.

INSTRUCTORS:

Jon Heaslet, Pastor of St. John's UCC, Richmond, VA

Jeanette Salley, a recent graduate of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University preparing for ordained ministry in the UCC. 

Goals for the Ministry Institute: (from the Essentials document)
Ministry

* Forms of ministry?licensed, commissioned, ordained; ministerial partners (CC/DoC); emerging patterns for authorized ministry; ministry of all the baptized
* Structures and patterns of accountability?i.e., ordination, standing, discipline
* Ministerial ethics (Ordained Minister's Code, in MOM; other ethics documents)
* Understandings of ministry in the UCC: "embodiment" and "empowerment" models

Pre-Institute Assignments:

IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST INSTITUTE please go to http://ucc.org and click on 411 and "About Us." Read the complete "Short Course on the History of the UCC" for historical background.http://www.ucc.org/about-us/short-course/

BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THE ASSIGNMENTS PLEASE WRITE (no more than one single spaced page) answering the question:  If the 16th century Reformation rejected the clericalism of the medieval church by upholding the "priesthood of all believers" why do Protestants still have clergy?

INTERVIEW (by phone or in person) an ordained UCC clergyman/woman and ask them the same question. Continue your conversation asking them to tell you what ordination, or authorization for ministry in the UCC means to them? How do they understand ministerial authority? Where do they get it and how do they lose it?

BRIEFLY ASK three people under the age of 30 (churched or unchurched) what they think about clergy. Do they trust them? Do they think clergy are important? Could they imagine being clergy themselves?  Why?  Why not?

1. READ about the historical understandings of ministry in the various churches that came together in 1957 to form the UCC.

READ Hist and Theological Perspectives MOM 1977 Manual on Ministry (1977)

READ Steckel "Ordination in the UCC: Biblical Foundations and Traditions" (1987) LTH VII:44 Steckel on Ordination

READ Steckel "Authorizing Ministry in the UCC: Sloughing Towards Order" (1996) Steckel Sloughing

READ Zikmund Empowerment and Embodiment: Understandings of Ministry in the UCC" in Johnson, Daniel and Charles Hambrick-Stowe, eds. Theology and Identity

READ Nevin on the Reformed Pastor A very high church view of clergy in the Reformed Mercersberg tradition.

READ a recent CHRISTIAN CENTURY article on the status of clergy in American history CC Article on Clergy Status

2. READ about concepts and understandings of ministry and oversight in the UCC.  

READ the relevant parts of the UCC Constitution Article VI "The Ministry" and the Bylaws of the UCC Article I "The Ministry"  The UCC Constitution is at http://www.ucc.org/about-us/constitution-of-the-ucc.html

READ about the concept of "covenant".  How does it shape UCC understandings of ministry.http://www.ucc.org/education/polity/pdf-folder/walker-on-covenant-community.pdf

READ "Partners in Ministry" and "Ordained Ministry" in The UCC Manual on Ministry http://www.ucc.org/ministers/manual/index.html  What is a three way covenant and what is a four way covenant?

READ "Ordination," "Ministry," "Pastor" and "Power and Authority" in the UCC Leader's Box. Go to http://www.ucc.org/ministers/leaders-box/ Consult the "Perspectives" drop down menu to find these entries (and others)

READ Walker on Episcope LTH VII:46

3. READ about ordination, placement (search and call), and clergy ethics in the UCC

READ Order for Ordination to the Ministry and Order for Installation of a Pastor in UCC Book of Worship

READ a Charge to a Church (1976) LTH VII:42

VISIT the UCC website for preparing "ministerial profiles." Bring any questions you have to the Institute. http://profiles.ucc.org/ 

READ "The Ordained Minister's Code" 

READ about Safe Church policies and the Background Check requirement. 

4. READ about the 2005 Pronouncement on "Ministry Issues" and recent thinking aobut how to implement this vote. How will preparation for authorized ministry in the UCC change?

READ GS25 Pronouncement "Ministry Issues: Forming and Preparing Pastoral Leaders for God's Church"

READ/Skim (this is very long) Implementation report on the Ministry Issues Pronouncement (October 2008 draft)  Note especially the "Marks of Faithful and Effective Authorized Ministries in the UCC."
Look at a one page guide to Draft 3 Ministry Issues Map-for-Draft 3

READ a recent article Jonathan New Prism article on Ministry Issues (2008)

5. READ about how the UCC participates in ecumenical discussions about ministry .

READ the UCC Response to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (noting UCC concerns related to ministry) http://www.ucc.org/assets/pdfs/85-uccresponse-bem.pdf

READ about the UCC Partnership Agreement with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) regarding ministry, especially the 1989 commitment to Partnership.  http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/ucc-disciples-ecumenical.html and http://www.ucc.org/assets/pdfs/89-gs-disciples.pdf

READ about the Formula of Agreement between ELCA, PC(USA), RCA and UCC. What does it mean for ministry?  http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/lutheranreformed-formula-of.html

SUMMARY OF PRE-INSTITUTE ASSIGNMENTS:

1. READ the Short History of the UCC at http:www.ucc.org "about us"
2. WRITE A PAGE about why you think Protestants still have clergy. 3. INTERVIEW an ordained UCC person.
4. ASK three people under 30 years of age what they think of clergy and why.
5. READ various understandings of ministry/ordination in the historical traditions of the UCC. (embodiment, empowerment, higher calling, covenant)
6. REVIEW the Orders of Service for Ordination and Installation.
7. VISIT the UCC website dealing with the search and call process/profiles.
8. READ the procedures and ethics of ministry in the Manual on Ministry
9. READ the "Ministry Issues Pronouncement" passed at GS25. Note the recent efforts to implement this vote. Read an analysis of these decisions in Prism.
10. READ ecumenical debates about ministry that emerge because of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, the UCC partnership with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the Formula of Agreement.