In a move intended to strengthen coordination among the United Church of Christ's publishing, marketing and communication efforts, the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, the denomination's director of communications, has been appointed acting director of The Pilgrim Press / United Church Press and the UCC's distribution service, United Church of Christ Resources.

Guess, a 10-year veteran of the UCC's national communication office in Cleveland, will lead a four-to-five month transition to bring together publishing and communications staff now housed in two separate national ministries.

"Our goal is to provide a more strategic approach to communications, one that would unite our products and services in shared staffing and leadership and provide, we think, greater opportunities for visioning and coordination," said the Rev. Stephen L. Sterner, executive minister of the UCC's Local Church Ministries (LCM), and Edith A. Guffey, the UCC's Associate General Minister, in a joint announcement on Feb. 12.

"LCM engaged a consultant last year to look at the operations of publications within Local Church Ministries, and one of the consultant's recommendations was to explore this kind of blending to enhance both efficiency and product," the two denominational officers said.

The Pilgrim Press, founded in 1640, is the oldest publisher in the United States.

"The Pilgrim Press is valued deeply in the United Church of Christ, in publishing and academic circles, and by many who have been shaped by our thoughtful and cutting-edge publishing work," Sterner and Guffey said. "This leadership transition is meant to position The Pilgrim Press for its future and to position its staff to have a greater role and impact in the overall communications strategy of the United Church of Christ."

Guess, 43, who has headed the UCC's communication office since 2007, is a former editor of United Church News and former communications minister for the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries. He also served 12 years as a local church pastor in Kentucky. He is a graduate of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism, Vanderbilt University Divinity School and the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Guess' appointment, which became effective March 1, follows the resignation of the Rev. Timothy Staveteig, who served The Pilgrim Press as an editor and publisher for 14 years. Staveteig will continue part-time with The Pilgrim Press for three months but has announced plans to leave the UCC to pursue other publishing work.

"Timothy has provided outstanding leadership for Pilgrim Press," said Sterner. "He has moved the publications operations of LCM through some significant and needed changes. His departure leaves us with a challenge and an opportunity."

Sterner and Guffey said that, for several months, they have been exploring how to better connect the work of the UCC's Proclamation, Identity, and Communication (PIC) Ministry with the work and mission of Pilgrim Press/United Church Press and UCC Resources.

"Over the next four to five months, we plan to introduce a newly configured PIC — Publishing, Identity and Communications — that will unite communications, marketing, editorial, production and electronic media staff now housed in OGM and LCM into a common department," the two said.

Guffey and Sterner said unified staffing has become an "emerging reality" as the denomination's national setting continues to discuss a streamlined governance structure that would bring together the UCC's five autonomous governing boards.