We just finished the first plenary of the annual meeting for the Florida Conference of the UCC. It's basically just business--resolutions, budgets and so forth. However, two things jumped out at me.
There was a video presented featuring some of the churches from the region that is hosting the conference--the Northeast region. There are several fine, historical churches in this area, but as each was featured, I couldn't help but feel that I was watching something from a time capsule from 1962. I imagine congregations and pastors are doing the best they can and, in many ways, our church would present the same way in a 3 minute snippet, but seeing several in a row up there on the screen really brought home for me the reality of our situation: that we are, by and large, an aging and declining denomination.
The high point was the reception of a new church, Rainbow Promise in Lakeland. They were a former Metropolitan Community Church. Their reason for wanting to "switch" was powerful. Their pastor said they wanted to become a part of something bigger than themselves. Predominantly gays and lesbians, they wanted to move beyond seeing themselves as victims and move outward. I love it!
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