Commission for Witness Life
Annual Report to the Maine Conference, UCC
2008
Mission Statement:
The mission of the Commission for Witness Life is to focus on areas of
ministry relating to God’s world globally, nationally, statewide, locally and
ecumenically through: serving human need, proclaiming peace and justice,
promoting the integrity of creation, witness of evangelism, denominational and
ecumenical ties, stewardship and mission interpretation, and, in consultation
with the Coordinating Council, new and emerging ministries.
The mission
statement above has directed our work and attention since the last Annual
Meeting and the September 2007 report.
Following are notes of specific activities.
- Neighbors
in Need grant to Maine: We met with Jonathan Falk of PICA (Peace Through Interamerican
Community Action) regarding an application for a Neighbors in Need grant,
and at the recommendation of the Commission David Gaewski wrote a letter
of endorsement. The funding is
being used to develop a series of community workshops in a project on
immigration and trade, comparing issues in Maine
and Central America. Programs are available for churches upon
request.
- Open
and Affirming: The Commission supported Bill Walsh in
his work with ONA/GLBT issues. Two
members of the Commission and others assisted him in preparing a
resolution for the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Conference asking the
Conference to begin a process of study and reflection in order to
determine whether or Conference should declare itself an Open and
Affirming Conference. Bill will
continue to provide direction and leadership if the vote is positive. We have committed to continuing support.
- Just
Peace: The Coordinating Council asked that the
Commission follow up the vote of the 2007 Annual Meeting to become a Just
Peace Conference, by providing some interpretation and resources for
churches and other instrumentalities of the Conference. Accordingly a workshop is planned for
the 2008 Annual Meeting, and assistance will be provided for on-going study
as requested. In this regard we
have met with Victor Stanley of the Somesville church who is involved in
convening a national committee to develop a resource available for use by
congregations considering Just Peace study and action.
- New England Justice Witness
Action: Two members of the Commission and Sarah
Bigney (member of the National UCC Justice Witness Board) attended a
meeting in February attended by representatives of all six New England
States. A decision was made to
undertake a cooperative action project centered on the work of the
National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and planned for June which is
Torture Awareness Month. Plans are
to increase awareness of this moral issue, centering on education and
action during June. An on-going
six-state committee, with two Maine
members, has been formed and with National staff support will plan further
projects.
- Jubilee
Campaign: Witness Life called attention within the
Conference to the Jubilee Campaign which lobbied successfully to pass the
Jubilee Act in Congress (HR 2634 / S 2166). It will build on pass debt cancellation
decisions by calling for expanded debt cancellation to all countries that
need it to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme
poverty in half by 2015.
- Disaster
Response: The Conference Disaster Response
Coordinator, Lori Whittemore, met with the Commission and explained how
she has made contacts to integrate her role, and that of the Conference,
with other first responders when disasters occur in the state. The Commission made funds available to
pay the cost of her travel to a national conference on the issue, and will
continue to work with her as appropriate.
Following Conference request the National UCC office has designated
$3,000 from One Great Hour of
Sharing funds to assist the Fort Kent
church to replenish supplies in the ecumenical food pantry following
recent flood damage and loss.
- Honduras
Partnership: The
Commission continues to monitor the Honduras Partnership with reports from
Marcia Charles and David Gaewski, and to provide funding for some of the expenses
in our budget.
- “Tents
of Hope”: Following
up on information sent to the Commission about Darfur relief Karen Nielsen
initiated a local project with members and youth of the Saco church,
culminating in participation in a Washington,
D.C. event to which they
brought their tent, along with others from across the country.
- Integrity
of Creation: Stanley Primmer, of
Interfaith Power and Light has kept the Commission aware of new initiatives
and we are pleased to know that all three Conference properties
participate in the renewable power option.
In addition, the next cooperative project of the New England JW
group will be in the area of ecological action.
- Ecumenical
work: Silver Moore-Leamon, a member of the
Commission, is also president of the Board of the Maine Council of
Churches. Her reports make it plain
that the Conference benefits from the lobbying and public educational
efforts of the Council and the Commission gratefully supports the Council
in our budget. Silver also reports
regarding Native American issues in Maine.
- Seminary
scholarships: The Commission will continue to award
modest scholarships to Maine
students, the amount depending on the number who apply.
- Justice
and Peace Action alerts: The Commission has sent several alerts
of statewide interest to the e-mail listing of activists who are
registered with the Washington,
D.C. office of the UCC and
made available to the Conference by that office. Among those are: lobbying regarding
State budget cuts, the Jubilee Campaign, availability of clean power with
Interfaith Power and Light contracts, how to find listing of peace vigils
in Maine, etc.
Respectfully
submitted:
Jeanne Davis,
Chair
Commission for
Witness Life
May 15, 2008