United Church of Christ New York Metropolitan and Suffolk Associations
      Metro 2005 Annual Meeting
 
   

Congregational Development and Standing Committee Spring 2005 Report


The purpose of this committee is to:
  • Seek and development new churches
  • Strengthen existing churches and their ministries
  • Reach churches who are looking for a spiritual and larger church connection
We began our fall season with 12 members, including the chair who is a member of the Association's Board of Directors. Our meetings were held at the Church in the Gardens in Forest Hills , however, in December 2004, we changed locations, currently holding meetings at the Bowne Street Church in Flushing.

Some of the major tasks we have been working on since Fall are:
  1. Following up on the God Is Still Speaking E-VENT to maximize the effectiveness of GISS by helping members of the Association use the tools received at the kick-off. We hope to have a 2005 E-vent with workshops on how to be a welcoming church through images, communication, youth outreach, welcome packets, music and creating a list of the “do's and don'ts in the welcoming experience. This E-Vent will track responses via the internet, allowing our churches to record results over a period of time.
  2. We set a goal to track down 16 of our Inactive Churches and have begun the process to determine their standing.
  3. A large percentage of our work thus far, has been devoted to helping the Congregation of La Palabra and Pastor Winston Pena strengthen their ministry by guiding them through their new ministry initiative to develop a worshipping missional community in the Corona Queens area. This has been a very ambitious challenge requiring extensive dialogue among the La Palabra congregation, the Corona Congregational church (in order to provide La Palabra a nesting situation as exists between St. Mark's UCC and Safe Haven UCC), the Association, NY Conference, UCC National, and building contractors. A detailed proposal, including a financial analysis of each phase of the project has been presented to the Metro Association's Board of Directors for review. We hope to reach a resolution, enabling La Palabra to continue on their progressive path of growth, by June.
  4. At the end of 2004, our committee member, Cruz Echevarria , serving also as Coordinator for Hispanic Church Development , accepted a pastorate in Puerto Rico and resigned from the committee as well as relinquished his position as Hispanic Coordinator. With his departure, we are currently looking for a qualified individual who can and will fill this position which responsibilities include (but not limited to):
    • Assisting local congregations in revitalization or new church starts
    • Recommending Hispanic Leadership
    • Developing evangelistic and congregational models appropriate to Hispanic ministry but can also serve as a model for the UCC
    • Acting as liaison between the Council for Hispanic Ministry, Latino Connection, and our local Hispanic UCC Leadership.
A copy of his report, dated 12/2/04, outlines his activities and accomplishments, as well as projects to continue and complete, follows this report.


Your Co-Laborer for the Cause of Christ,

Ruby Wilson
Chair