Spiritual Life Commission Minutes September 6, 2008

Present: Chair, Anne Roundy, Konni Wells, Linda Kimball, Bob Edgarton (Reflector), Kate Winters, Carl Gunn, Judy Hubley, Joanne Painter

The meeting opened with meditation and prayer led by Chair, Anne Roundy. Check in followed. Bob Edgarton agreed to be the reflector and Linda Kimball took the minutes. Minutes of the prior meeting were accepted. It was agreed that the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ, held at UMF in June was successful. The contract for the September, 2009 Annual Meeting at Sunday River has been completed and the Keynote speaker has accepted.

Executive Committee Report – Anne: The facilities at PL, Rockcraft, and the Pennell Center will be visited this week. On September 13 the Association scribes and moderators will meet in Waterville from 10 to 2. An effort will be made to fill the commission rosters.

Coordinating Council – Anne and Linda will attend the Coordinating Council Retreat at China Lake, Sept. 26-27.

Conference Concerns – Darren Morgan: Darren announced the invitation to Virginia Seminary for a summer collegiums and spoke about the Conference Fall Calendar that was mailed to churches in the conference. Susie Craig reported that the SYC fall convention will be Oct. 17, 18, 19. Highlights of the National Youth Event held this summer: Living Love, Living Green, Living Peace! Interfaith Understanding, Relationship with the Earth, John Thomas spoke on Living Peace and the role of the church. Susie is collecting information about energy saving programs in local churches to be posted on the Web site.

Academy for Congregational Life and Leadership – Kate: The class for this year has a full complement of 25 students and will meet on September 13 at BTS, Bangor. A scholarship fund has been inaugurated for the ACLL. Peggy Dunn, Director of the ACLL, will attend our meeting in November. This is an exciting time to be in the church. It is agreed that building strong lay leaders is essential. It was suggested that Cursio or Tres Dias provide another component of building spiritual strength.

Budget, 2009 – Anne: Report is that we are doing fine and Anne is satisfied where we are in this process.

Calendar for 2007-2008 – Anne: The chairs of Committees Church and Ministry will meet in South Portland on September. Linda Kimball agreed to represent the Spiritual Life Commission at this meeting. Dates for the Clergy Advent Retreats are November 13 in the north and November 20 in the south from 10 to 2. A new date will be arranged for the Seminary Day at the Bangor campus of BTS.

Fall Learning Event – Linda: Planting Seeds of Change is the learning event taking place at the Waterville church on November 7-8, sponsored by the Small Church Mission Team and the Spiritual Life Commission. Gil Rendle, author of Leading Change in the Congregation is the keynote speaker. Registrations prior to Oct. 17 will receive a $5 discount.

Discussion of Retreats – Konni Wells agreed to contact Grace Bartlett about being the retreat leader for the Advent clergy retreats. We still need to plan the Lenten retreats and the Spring Clergy retreat.

Spiritual Resources Directory – Joan Jordan Grant has informed Anne that the directory of nearly ready for publication.

Maine Ministerial Excellence Program and Grant Writing – Anne: We are awaiting David Gaewski’s return from Sabbatical for more work on these programs. Next Meeting – October 4, 2008

Respectfully Submitted

Linda Kimball