I feel blessed and inspired to have participated as a delegate from our Pennsylvania Southeast Conference to the 2025 General Synod of our United Church of Christ in Kansas City from last Thursday to this Tuesday. The theme was “Into the Deep,” guided by Jesus’ direction to his disciples to “Push out into deeper waters” to find the spiritual abundance they long for (Luke 5).

Here is the spirited cast of characters who formed our delegation:

In keeping with the longstanding “United and Uniting” value of the UCC, the vote passed to join all the Pennsylvania Conferences into one statewide Keystone Conference. Our slogan has been “Together we are Stronger.” I am excited for the collaborations that have already been happening. Here are all the delegates from the four Conferences that are now united as Keystone:

There were worship services that I found inspiring, creative, and Spirit-led. You can watch videos here, here, and here.

Here is the “State of the Church Address” by General Minister and President Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson, about the blessings and challenges of being a “big tent” denomination that strives to keep God at the center:

Here is a rousing sermon she later gave during worship, about going “Into the Deep”:  

We celebrated together the 40th anniversary of the UCC’s Open and Affirming declaration. Here is the message from Rev. Derek Terry, the ONA director, for an ever-deeper commitment:

We also honored the 25th anniversary of the Our Whole Lives wholistic sexuality education curriculum. This video shares the life-giving and life-saving power of this program:

The Keynote speaker was Rev. Jennifer Butler, with the message that “The Bible is a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny”:

Keynoter: Bible is a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny

The Synod voted to call Rev. Shari Prestemon as the Associate General Minister / Co-Executive of Global Ministries for the UCC. https://www.ucc.org/people/shari-prestemon-officer/

The delegates discussed and debated many important resolutions put before the synod body. Some were about the national organization of the United Church of Christ. Most were resolutions of witness, which “speak to, but not for” all settings of our church about matters of urgent concern in our church and society. Overall, I found the discussions, debate, and discernment to be conducted earnestly, thoughtfully, and prayerfully. There was care for the many types of diversity we try to hold as a “united and uniting” church, as well as passion and commitment would not be watered down. There were as well blind-spots and bruising hurts that were revealed, as well as grace extended in our shortcomings.

There were resolutions to welcome full communion status with Christian denominations in Germany and Puerto Rico; resolutions about immigrant rights; human rights abuses and religious persecution in the Philippines and India; genocide in Gaza; mental health; funding for USAID and Voice of America; the Our Whole Lives curriculum; and the formation of a Small Town and Rural Coalition of UCC churches.

You can learn more about all these here: https://www.ucc.org/news-stories/, and here: https://generalsynod.org/resolutions.

Each of these resolutions is worth the time to explore. I very much welcome further conversation and exploration about them.

If you are interested in discussing more as a group about the General Synod and my experience there, I want to offer a time to do that. Stay tuned for when I settle on a time.

For now, I wanted to share with you as soon as I could this taste of the experience. I come home with a sense of fresh purpose, connections, and inspirations for how we can continue to live into our call as a beloved community of faith to know and to share the love and mercy of God in the way of Jesus.

            In faith,

            Pastor Nathaniel