UCC Institutes Sponsored by the Potomac Association
The Potomac Association's Church and Ministry Committee sponsors a sequence of four institutes a year in the History, Polity, Theology and Ministry of the United Church of Christ. These will follow the guidelines prepared by History, Theology and Polity teachers on the essentials of a basic one semester course (see below). The Saturday Institute format is designed to serve the needs of persons who cannot enroll in a regular semester-length seminary course to cover this material.
There are two kinds of participants in these Institutes (1) full participants seeking formal evaluation and (2) observer participants not seeking evaluation. Observer participants are lay leaders, clergy and the general public interested in knowing more about the UCC. Observer participants may do the advanced reading and assignments, or they may simply come and listen. Observer participants normally will not do reports during the Institute, or field assignments, or post Institute papers.
Each Saturday Institute syllabus and readings are available approximately one month prior to each Institute ONLINE. You do not need to purchase any resources, everything is on the webpages linked above. Most of the readings can also be found on a national website of "UCC Online Resources" http://www.ucc.org/education/polity/
Participants who have told the Potomac Association that they are seeking formal evaluation will be sent announcements, but anyone is welcome. Full participants seeking formal evaluation are expected to be more than observer participants - they do readings and prepare assignments before they come, they make reports and contribute actively during the six hours of the Institute, they submit written assignments after each Institute, and they participate in a conference telephone call evaluation.
Institute Schedule: (NOTE; by clicking on the four topics at the top of this page you can view past syllabii and all of the readings for each Institute online. An updated version for each upcoming Institute is available approximately one month before each Institute)
History Institute: April 4, 2009 10 am - 4 pm Bethel United Church of Christ 4347 Arlington Blvd Arlington, VA 22203
Polity Institute:June 12, 2009 Friday 10 am - 3 pm (in connection with the Central Atlantic Conference annual meeting, Newark, Delaware. See www.cacucc.org for details. )
Theology Institute: October 10, 2009 10 am - 4 pm Location TBA
Ministry Institute: January 30, 2010 10 am - 4pm Offices of the Central Atlantic Conference of the UCC 916 S. Rolling Road Baltimore, MD 21228-5350( (snow date February 6, 2009)
Please remember that there are no "make up sessions". If you miss one Saturday, you simply attend the next year when it comes around again. Anyone can begin the cycle at any point (this is a revolving door), but you need to do all four INSTITUTES in any order to be approved for "authorized ministry" in the UCC. In some instances authorization may be granted by the Church and Ministry Committee before all four INSTITUTES are completed on a case by case basis.
Each session will meet for six hours (usually 10 am to 4 pm on Saturdays), except for the POLITY INSTITUTE, which meets 10 am to 4 pm (Friday) before the CAC Annual meeting and requires attendance at all the business sessions of the CAC through Saturday, and the THEOLOGY INSTITUTE which meets after the fall meeting of the Potomac Association.
You do not need to pre-register to come. However, if you are doing this to be evaluated for ministry in the UCC please let the Potomac Association know your intent, and visit the related websites for each institute before coming. REMEMBER all of the readings are available online, either at public websites, or in pdf files linked to each INSTITUTE web page. Updated web pages will be posted approximately one month before each INSTITUTE.
Lay and clergy "participant observers" in the INSTITUTES are welcome to come and sit in, and do as much of the reading as they can. Obviously those who do some of the pre-INSTITUTE reading will get more out of the experience.
*Everyone must bring a lunch.* We will not break for more than 20 minutes for lunch (not long enough to run out to get fast food). Each session is six hours of intensive work and time is short
Click on the links at the top of this page to access more detailed information about each institute.
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Essential Elements in a (one term) United Church of Christ Polity Class
History
* Origins, development, significant documents, major events, important persons in the four primary constituent traditions (Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, Reformed) * Selected other traditions and/or groups within the United Church of Christ (especially, but not necessarily limited to, African American, American Indian, Pacific Islander/Asian American, Hispanic) * Founding of the United Church of Christ * Developments in the United Church of Christ from 1957 to the present
Theology
* Theological documents and texts (e.g. Statement of Faith, Basis of Union, Prism articles, various working papers of the national setting, ecumenical documents, pronouncements of General Synod, etc. * Worship (including Book of Worship, New Century and other hymnals) * Ecclesiology (the nature of the church) * Creeds and confessions ("testimonies, not tests" of what is commonly held among us)
Polity
* Constituent parts of the United Church of Christ?i.e., local church, conferences and associations, national setting, General Synod (Constitution and Bylaws) * Past and present structure of the United Church of Christ ("covenantal polity") * Patterns of accountability and autonomy in the various settings of the church
Ministry (Manual on 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
The Ethos of the UCC
* Diversity: commitment to be a multi-racial, multi-cultural church * Justice and witness concerns * Ecumenical commitments and partnerships (esp. partnership with Christian Church/Disciples of Christ * Mission
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