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National Association of Congregational Christian Churches,  P.O. Box 288, Oak Creek, WI  53154
414-764-1620 
Email: naccc@naccc.org   Web Site: http://www.naccc.org

by Rev. Jim Eaton
United Congregational Church
87 Broadway
Norwich, CT 06360
unitedchurch@mac.com

A few years ago a popular movie was built around the theme of six degrees of separation. The idea is that you know someone who knows someone and so on...until we are all connected.

Churches ought to count the degrees of connection when they consider their ministry. A little more than 25 years ago the Seattle Congregational Church was a small, fairly new congregation and I was just out of seminary. I was ordained there and set about ministry.

Eventually, I moved to another church. Here's where the connections come in: that church was connected by bonds stronger than they may have realized to the Seattle Congregational Church. After all, that church in Seattle had formed me. The same is true of other churches I've served. Each is connected to the other.

This is a season when many congregations hold annual meetings. We are very good at counting up our treasury and reporting our activities. Wouldn't it be a good time as well to count up everyone who is touched by the congregation? Not just the membership: but the groups who meet there, the people who are now somewhere else but continue in Christian life, the people who are touched by the people your church touched.

You might be surprised at the result; you might discover your church's reach is much longer than you thought.

REQUEST FOR COMMUNITY OUTREACH IDEAS
The theme for the 2002 Annual Meeting is "The only thing that matters is faith working itself through love." As the church, one way that our faith works through love is through outreach in our own communities and neighborhoods. We would like to share ideas for outreach programs in the Resource Room during the Annual Meeting. Some churches may be willing to highlight programs at work within their communities. Other churches may take these ideas and adapt them to their situations or communities. If you would like to share your program(s) with others, please bring a poster outlining the program to the Annual Meeting, along with a simple one-page handout describing how the program works. If you feel a display would work better, please contact Ruth at the NACCC office (1-800-262-1620 or rmahnke@naccc.org).
 

The NACCC post office box number has been changed to Box 288. We have a one year transition period in which the old Box 1620 will be accepted. Please begin using the following new address in all communications:

NACCC
PO Box 288
Oak Creek, WI 53154-0288

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