On Thursday, June 18 nearly 100 UCC Members in Discernment gathered on Zoom to connect and hear from the various staff at the National Office. I’m providing a brief recap for friends and colleagues who were unable to attend the live events.

First, I want to express my gratitude to the National Staff for their hard work to provide this opportunity to MIDs. COVID-19 disrupted life and work rhythms for many people. Traditionally, there is an in-person gathering for MIDs at the UCC National Office in Cleveland, Ohio. The National Staff didn’t want MIDs to miss out on the opportunity to connect and therefore worked to replicate as much of the traditional event as possible.

Our day began at 9AM with introductions of the full MESA staff. A listing of the MESA team and the responsibilities of each person are available here. MESA stands for Ministerial Excellence, Support, and Authorization. I felt like I was swimming in acronyms by midday! MESA, COM, MOM, MID, CARDD, etc. It helps to remember to ask if something is unclear. We need to advocate for ourselves as MIDs.

From 10AM to 10:30AM we were greeted by Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer, Rev. Traci Blackmon, and Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson. It was great to hear from each of them and know that they care about MIDs.

The remainder of the morning was spent in small group time. When we registered we were instructed to share where we were in the MID process: discovery, progressing, transforming. It was a little confusing since I had never heard those words before. But Discovery is early in the MID process, under one year as a MID. Progressing is the middle phase. Transforming is coming to the end of the MID process, looking towards search and call.

The small group time was helpful to connect with other MIDs in a similar phase. Each group was given some discussion questions. My group discussed what was causing anxiety for us in our current phase and what were we doing to reduce or calm the anxiety. Many in the group mentioned how it is a challenging time to be in search and call. Some were working on ordination papers and having trouble focusing due to the stress of the pandemic and life circumstances (loss of employment, caring for children, health concerns, etc).

Later in the day we had another opportunity to be in small group time and my group spent most of the time getting to know each other more. We shared where we were in the MID process, where we were located, and what kind of ministry we felt called to. Truthfully, this was one of the few opportunities I have had to connect with UCC MIDs outside of Divinity School. I would say the personal connections were one of the major benefits to this National MID Virtual Gathering. There are two ways for MIDs to connect moving forward. A Slack chat was spontaneously set up during the gathering as a way to share information outside of the Zoom chat box. And there is a pre-existing UCC MID Facebook group. If you need assistance connecting to either of those resources, please let me know.

The afternoon sessions were the content heavy time. Attendees received presentations on the Manual on Ministry and the Marks for Ministry. You can view the Manual on Ministry (MOM) online. There are various documents available online for Marks of Faithful and Effective Authorized Ministers. I’m including a link here to what I think is the MOST helpful version of the document. Personally, I like the longer document I’ve linked to because it helps give examples and context for the Marks. Some COMs (Committees on Ministry) use the Marks along your journey as a MID, but others do not. However, whether you are super familiar with the Marks or not, you need to write and reflect on them when you are crafting a profile to find a UCC ministry job in the search and call process. The longer Marks document is helping me to prepare my profile.

We also received presentations on the search and call process, setting up a profile, different types of covenant agreements, and basic guidance on call agreement. Most search and call information is available online here. One helpful document that was brought to my attention, which you can find via the previous link, is a sample call agreement. Another new resource I learned about at this gathering is a shared Google Document, “Conducting a Pastoral Search During a Pandemic.” This document is helpful for churches and for MIDs and pastors who are currently searching and unable to gather in person due to COVID-19.

There were afternoon breakout sessions with various presentations. Obviously I could only attend one, but I heard great things about the various groups and the information that was shared. A good way to stay connected to the UCC and all of the various work they are doing is via email. I believe that the primary UCC email newsletter is KYP: Keeping You Posted. Be sure as an MID that you are also getting emails from your conference and association, as applicable. Personally, I get regular email newsletters from the Potomac Association (where I am a MID), the Central Atlantic Conference, the Southern New England Conference, and, most recently, the Vermont Conference, because I am working with some UCC churches in Northeast Vermont this summer. These various email newsletters are a great way to learn what the UCC is doing at various local/regional levels and discover different types of ministries in the area.

Our final afternoon session was with the Pension Boards. They put together this great little YouTube video to walk us through the variety of programs and departments at the Pension Boards. I definitely recommend watching the video. This link goes directly to the Pension Boards website.

The long day on Zoom concluded with final reflections and a closing worship, but I was unable to attend past 5:30PM.

Overall, as I said at the beginning, I am very grateful to the National Office for coordinating a virtual MID gathering on a time crunch. The ability to connect is a blessing. However, technology was not always our friend throughout the day. And I think that the schedule was overly ambitious. A more comfortable schedule might have been two half days, or even one night a week for a month. I hope that the MESA team continues to provide these virtual gatherings because for many people physically traveling to Cleveland for an in-person gathering is a challenge, due to other employment, child care, health, etc.

I think it is so important for UCC MIDs to support each other and connect as best we can. If you have questions about something I shared, please let me know. If you don’t have my email, the best way to contact me is on Facebook Messenger, my Facebook profile is public. And I look forward to virtually connecting at General Synod 2021.