Celebrating the wide-welcome of the UCC is the theme of this upcoming weekend for everyone in United Church of Christ congregations. The denomination's Friend-Raising Weekend promotes personal evangelism, and will be kicked off by a new Stillspeaking video message Friday morning. Members are asked to share the new ad while inviting friends, neighbors and family members to join them at church services on Sunday.

"We are asking churches to promote Nov. 7 as Stillspeaking Friend-Raising Sunday, a day set aside to be intentional about inviting our family, friends and neighbors to come to church with us," Carrion says. "Then, we want to hear how the day went, so we can announce a tally for the entire denomination."

After services on Nov. 7, all UCC churches will be invited to record their visitor tally online at <ucc.org/god-is-still-speaking/friendraising.html>. On Tuesday, Nov. 9, a national count of visitors will be announced in the UCC's weekly Keeping You e-Posted e-newsletter.

The congregations with the most visitors overall and most visitors per capita of membership will receive a new "God is Still Speaking" banner and a supply of red lapel pins and copies of the inaugural issues of StillSpeaking Magazine for every member of the congregation. Carrion is also offering to visit the winning churches to say thank you in person.

"We want to underscore the primary goal of the Stillspeaking Ministry, which is to grow the United Church of Christ in visibility, yes, but also numerically," Carrion says. "This will be a day to let our UCC light shine."

All Saints Sunday, the first weekend of November, has customarily been a day for promoting the UCC's God is Still Speaking message, Carrion says. Several resources have been compiled for use in services Sunday morning.

"What better way to celebrate Friend-Raising Weekend than with a viral launch on Friday followed up two days later with welcoming thousands of new visitors on Sunday?" Carrion says. "The joy will come when we see collectively, through the national tally, how our enthusiasm and invitation can have a big impact."

A special bundle of promotional items is being offered at a 50 percent discount to help prepare churches for the visitors that arrive. 

The new UCC video message makes its debut Friday morning, Nov. 5, with a special release to all subscribers of KYeP. It also will be posted on the UCC.org website. The ad, "Uniquely UCC," is designed to be shared.

Viewers who watch the "Uniquely UCC" can also link to another, longer video message to learn more about the distinctive witness of the United Church of Christ.