No sooner had Darlene Collins helped set the wheels in motion for the Stillspeaking Voices campaign than she heard God speaking to her – about five times faster than usual.

"I was prepared to ship about 200 packets that first weekend," says Collins, marketing and online associate for the UCC's Stillspeaking Ministry. Her eyes grow wide as she adds, "I opened the spreadsheet of registrations the next Monday and found 1,000 people had registered."

Launched in April, the campaign now includes more than 1,800 members and is amping up its sequential-messaging efforts. "We'll be linked into more activities and more tuned into what people are involved in," says the Rev. Felix Carrion, Stillspeaking Ministry coordinator. "A Stillspeaking Voice openly shares the church of Jesus Christ with all, especially those who have yet to find in the church a spiritual home."

Those who sign up receive a welcome packet to the campaign that includes a newly-designed pin proclaiming "I am a Stillspeaking Voice" along with three traditional comma pins to share and other inspirational materials.

Carrion says the campaign is "firmly rooted in the belief that God is loving, welcoming and inclusive. Stillspeaking Voices promise to deepen that faith and extend an extravagant welcome to others to support the Stillspeaking ministry." Participants sign up at the Stillspeaking web site, responding to "10 commitments" in an interactive form. The welcome packet includes a 24-page booklet outlining the commitments.

Among those taking notice of Voices is Jesse McLaughlin, a 16-year-old from Mitchell (S.D.) Congregational UCC who recently joined a half-dozen others from his church for a visit to the UCC's national setting in Cleveland. Included on the agenda was a Wednesday morning worship in Amistad Chapel. "I don't think I've ever worshiped like that before," said McLaughlin. "I felt really welcome in the church. Our whole group was really into it. We were really listening."

McLaughlin's mother, the Rev. Kristi McLaughlin, is pastor of his small rural church, said Stillspeaking Voices comes at just the right time for him. "Before this trip, I went to church every Sunday, and I went to youth group, but I wasn't really into everything that was going on. When we got back, I made an announcement that that this was one of the best trips I've ever had." He said his mother agrees. "She's noticed a difference in me. She says I'm more alert, I'm paying attention, I'm understanding more now."

The Rev. Shirley Malzer – former pastor at several Midwest UCC churches and currently a contributor among the laity of the Federated Church UCC in Chagrin Falls, Ohio – says acknowledging the swift pace of world change is crucial to hearing Stillspeaking voices. "Change has been so extreme around the world, and I'm sure it's going to keep changing. The church has changed, too, but we haven't really kept up," says Malzer, a member of Federated's pastoral care team.

"God is still trying to communicate with us," Malzer continues. "Some people are hearing, but not everybody. People need a sense of community – not just in the way that the church provides community, but in an openness to God and what [God] would have us do in today's world, witnessing to the acts and values of being Christian."

For other Stillspeaking Voices, the acceptance accented in the campaign is proving powerful. "The UCC's Stillspeaking Ministry makes it possible for those who have felt excluded and unloved by God and/or God's people to know that God and God's people love them and accept them – no matter what," writes one woman in signing up for Voices.

Adds Jon Wallace of Denver, "It means friends who love me and show God's love for me just as I am. I give thanks to God for friends who encouraged me to join."

For more information and to become a Stillspeaking Voice, please visit <ucc.org/god-is-still-speaking/>.