Nurturing a United Church of Christ Identity

 

Banner in front of Webster UCC, 2024

"Most of us were taught that God would love us if and when we change. In fact, God loves you so that you can change. What empowers change, what makes you desirous of change, is the experience of love. It is that inherent experience of love that becomes the engine of change."

--Richard Rohr, Falling Upward

 

Jesus prayed, "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

--John 17:21

 

1. Acknowledging Jesus Christ as the sole Head of the Church.

Jesus the Christ gives us a road map for meaningful, integrated, and loving expressions of faith, which, when followed to its completion, result in the ability to accept death—in all its forms of loss and change—as the only path to transformation. As the sole Head of the Church, we look to the Christ for direction on how to live in true community with ourselves, our neighbors, and the Divine; how to encourage and when to accept with grace and compassion the growing edges of ourselves and others; and how to ultimately give our true and full selves for the continuation of the Kin-dom of God.

 

2. Communicating passion for the oneness of the Body of Christ (John 17:21).

A pastor friend of mine gives this blessing during Lent: “From star dust you came, and from star dust you will return.” I love how it broadens our understanding and points to the fact that the Kin-dom of God is not limited to a denomination or even a religious community. The Kin-dom of God is the fullness of creation, and we are invited to not only recognize this but to fully participate in its health, maintenance, and growth by engaging with the gifts, abilities, and limitations of ourselves, our neighbors, our communities, and the environment.

3. Holding an active membership in a local churches of the United Church of Christ for 8 years.

Webster UCC

Membership in the United Church of Christ has provided me with the needed support and encouragement to transform into the new creation Christ is calling me into.

  • Member First Congregational Church, UCC 2017-2021
  • Member Webster, UCC, 2021-Present

 

4. Participating in the various settings of the United Church of Christ, including Local Churches, Associations, Conferences, General Synod, and global ministries.

  • Participation in committees, council, and staff meetings at the local level at churches within the Covenant Association
  • Intern Secretary for the Covenant Association (Spring 2025)
  • Active attendance of the Covenant Association’s annual meetings, online forums, and communities of support
  • Preaching in various congregations within the Covenant Association
  • Ecclesial meetings, ordinations, and instalments of various members of the MI Conference and Covenant Association
  • Attendance at General Synod 2021 and 2023

Elisabeth is blessed with considerable talent.  She is highly motivated, organized and seriously engaged in issues of theology and ministry that affect the life of the church. Elisabeth demonstrates genuine intellectual curiosity that is often accompanied by a willingness to dig deep for the knowledge required to fully respond to the needs of ministries in the real world.

All this is to say, she has a keen sense for how to be a pastor (or chaplain). She is attentive, without smothering, caring without fawning. She takes preaching and liturgy very seriously.

Elisabeth cares about details but only as a means of approaching deeper truths. Elisabeth has a fine mind. She reads widely and does not settle for easy and, too often, false answers.

Perhaps Elisabeth’s greatest gift is that she accepts people of various backgrounds and views. She has a marvelous way of listening to and engaging people who differ strongly with her. She knows in her bones that the body of Christ includes us all.

--Rev. Dr. Julie J. Kilmer, Director of Spiritual Life, Chelsea Retirement Community 

5. Knowing and appreciating UCC history, polity, and theology.

My childhood experiences in conservative Christian traditions gave me an incredible foundation and appreciation for community and Biblical knowledge.

However, as an adult, I needed more progressive theology and broader polity to support my growing spiritual understandings. In the United Church of Christ, I found both, as well as a denomination rooted in action, just as much as it is in scripture and history.

Eden Theological Seminary’s class in UCC Polity and History (2021) helped me understand how this denomination brings together a variety of Christian expressions and continues to weave them together with new thoughts and understandings, creating stronger and more robust polity and theology.

I found an even greater appreciation for this as I explored Synod 2025 with UCC Historian and person extraordinaire, Barbara Brown Zikmund (pictured at right). We spent hours discussing the past, enjoying the present, and watching history being made one vote at a time.

 

6. Exhibiting a commitment to the core values of the United Church of Christ:

Continuing testament

This is a photo of a UCC march and rally on the steps of Indiana’s Capitol Building. I am grateful for the UCC’s emphasis on acknowledging how “God is still speaking” especially through the voices calling us to tear down bias, hate, and the ‘isms’ they create in our society.

 

Extravagant welcome and changing lives

“No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here” UCC motto proclaimed at the beginning of each Sunday Service at Webster, UCC. 

I found my way to the UCC because one of its churches provided a place to create free gingerbread kits—and they were nice kits with good candy! There was no charge or even a donation requested. No one came around trying to evangelize or indoctrinate my children; they just brought hot cocoa and a smile. It was safe and fun—the basement doors flung open in a wide welcome to the constant stream of people. I attended church there the following Sunday and the next. Ultimately, becoming a member, getting involved in community outreach programs, developing my UCC identity, and now seeking to be ordained in its denomination.

Jesus welcomed all, and we are called to do the same. I love belonging to a denomination that actively lives out this belief!