We are part of a special project in 2012 designed to enrich our life as a congregation. It’s called “The Church Renewal Program: Five Practices” and it is put on by the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ. We have a team of 12 people spending time exploring the five practices and looking at ways to engage the wider congregation in how we strengthen our church’s essential ministries. (Here's a link to some reflections by Pastor Phil as we begin this process.)

We have set up five meeting times to work with our facilitator, Laura Crow, director of Faith Formation at Middleton Community United Church of Christ. Each session will explore a different one of the practices. Anyone is welcome to attend these sessions. Here is the schedule and when notes are posted from each session, they will be linked from this list.

Wed,, Feb. 8 - Gather for dinner at 5:45, start discussion at 6, end at 8:30. Topic: Radical Hospitality
Wed., Feb. 29 - 6:30 to 9 (no dinner) Topic: Intentional Faith Development
Sat., Mar. 10 - 9:30 to noon. Topic: Risk-taking Mission and Service
Wed. Mar 21 - 6:30 to 9. Topic: Extravagant Generosity
Wed., April 11 - 6:30 to 9. Topic: Passionate Worship
Sat., May 12 - 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in DeForest - large group session
Sometime in early June - Core team finalizes plan for future.

So just what are the “five practices” and why do they matter to us at Memorial?

Here’s the way author Robert Schnase describes them in his book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, which is the textbook for this program:

•    Radical hospitality - Congregations offer the gracious invitation, welcome and hospitality of Christ so that people experience a sense of belonging;
•    Passionate worship - God shapes souls and changes minds through worship, creating a desire to grow closer to Christ;
•    Intentional faith development – God’s spirit nurtures people and matures faith through learning in community;
•    Risk-taking mission and service - With increased spiritual maturity, people discern God’s call to help others through mission and service;
•    Extravagant generosity - God inspires people to give generously of themselves so that others can receive the grace they have known.

When people hear the words “church renewal,” they often think of them as something that applies to congregations that are struggling and need something to salvage their future. Memorial is certainly not a congregation that is struggling. We are a vibrant community filled with generous and engaged people. But as Daniel Smith and Mary K. Sellon point out in their book Pathway to Renewal, the work of renewal is done best when a congregation is going well rather than when it is in decline. Too often, though, congregations think everything is doing well, so why bother with the effort of renewal.

Rather than coast along until we suddenly realize that things are not going so well, Memorial has chosen to get engaged in the renewal process now. The program the state UCC is presenting is designed precisely for congregations like ours.

Our team includes Sonjia Short, our Council president; Wendy Proctor, who chairs our Membership Committee; Jan Klawitter, who chairs our Worship Committee and serves on our Outreach Committee; Kelly Planton, who serves on our Children’s Programming Committee; Susan Webb, who chairs our Stewardship Committee; along with Dean and Nancy Baumgardner, Jacy Boldebuck, Joanna Beilman-Dulin, Larry Fruit, Pastor Leah and Pastor Phil. They spent Saturday, Jan. 21, at the state UCC offices with members of other congregations for the kick-off of this program.

Please hold our renewal team in your prayers in the months ahead and join them in their efforts to keep our congregation on a vital path.