General Synod schedule includes 24 workshops

Eager to learn tried-and-true ways to expand models of Hispanic/Latino/Latina ministry in your local congregation? Perhaps your church is considering Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education in youth ministry. If there’s a topic about better ways to “be the church,” the United Church of Christ’s 30th General Synod likely is offering a workshop about it.

Next summer, delegates and visitors attending General Synod 2015, June 26-30 in Cleveland, can learn about those topics, and dozens more, through the biennial event’s 24 different workshops.

Lee Foley, UCC chief administrative officer and General Synod administrator, said, “I think people will be really pleased with the lineup. There’s something for everybody here, something for everybody to take home with them, a real learning opportunity for anybody who gets involved in the workshop program next summer.”

All the workshops, 75 minutes in length, will be offered on Saturday, June 27, once in the early afternoon and again in the late afternoon.

A complete list of all workshops is available on the General Synod 2015 website.

“The people on the selection committee went to great length to select workshops that would educate and inform our delegates and guests,” Foley said.

The workshop presenters are a diverse group, representative of the wider church. They include members of UCC national staff, staff of affiliated ministries, local church pastors, lay leaders and authors.

The number of workshops offered during General Synod 2015 is fewer than before (with 39 workshops scheduled at General Synod 2013 in Long Beach, Calif). But that was an intentional decision by the event’s planners, who took into account the number of other activities that will be offered to Synod attendees that Saturday.

In addition to the workshops on June 27, the Cleveland Pride Parade (12-2 p.m.) is scheduled, with the parade route passing right by the Cleveland Convention Center. The planning committee wanted to ensure that UCC delegates and visitors could participate. There is also a literacy-inspired service project that afternoon to coincide with the UCC’s ongoing Reading Changes Lives literacy campaign.

Other issues that will be touched on in the workshops chosen by the selection committee include congregational growth and redevelopment, peacemaking, social media in the church, and topics for youth ministry.

Information is available on the General Synod website, which will be continuously updated with emerging details. Registration for the event opened Sept. 8. There is no additional cost for workshops with registration.