A New Thing

On August 1, I started in the roles of Associate General Minister for Wider Church Ministries and Operations and Co-Executive for Global Ministries. After the purchase of a home, a drive from New York to Cleveland, and receiving a moving truck, I am adjusting to being back in Ohio and working out of the National Setting.

Among my first tasks is the hiring of a new Team Leader for the Humanitarian and Development Team. This team covers disasters, refugees and asylum-seekers, migration, sustainable development, components of our volunteer ministries, and the One Great Hour of Sharing special offering. These ministries position the UCC to be actively at work in the world, providing opportunities for members of the UCC to be in partnership with communities that are in need. These are local and global engagements.

The work that we do in the UCC is, after all, glocal. We carry a global perspective while being locally rooted and engaged. The challenges and opportunities present for us in local communities have global implications—and the reverse is also true. Through these areas of ministry, our commitment to justice for all connects directly to people’s needs and narratives.

Issues of migration, refugees, and asylum continue to travel with the broader advocacy for humanitarian immigration policies, and yet, raise their own specific challenges and need to be addressed independently. The work of equipping our churches to be at work with the world is among the priorities the staff carries.

As I start on this new journey in ministry, I am looking forward to engaging the church around these issues and the many that are located with the broad programmatic portfolio I manage. I ask your prayers for our staff during this time of transit. And, I pray that we all will continue to find ways to be involved in the ministries of the wider church.