Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC

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Home About Us Southwest Conference

Southwest Conference

Conference staff provides support to local churches

The Conference Minister and staff provide support to local congregations and clergy. They also lead and direct ministries related to the current mission emphases of the Southwest Conference:

  • Church development and growth
  • Youth, young adult programs, camping and outdoor activities
  • Connection and communication
  • Advocacy for the United Church of Christ as UCC areas of concern
  • Programs to strengthen local churches

Tasks of the Southwest Conference

Ministries to clergy and churches:

  • Assist congregations to find a new pastor or interim leadership
  • Offer crisis response and conflict management to pastors and churches
  • Support clergy renewal through continuing education and pastoral care
  • Celebrate ordinations, anniversaries, installations, and building dedications
  • Offer consultations and workshops on stewardship, Christian education, evangelism,and long-range planning
  • Start new churches, nurture them and renew existing congregations with support ministries and leadership subsidies

Empowerment for ministry and mission:

  • Work through the Board of Directors and the seven committees to set policies and develop ministries in mission emphases voted by church delegates to the annual meeting
  • Support campus ministries at six different institutions in the three-state area
  • Participate in the Arizona Ecumenical Council and the New Mexico Conference of Churches
  • Encourage local congregations doing hands-on missionProvide for future leadership of the church through support for Pacific School of Religion, our covenant partner in theological education, and our In-Care Students in seminary
  • Enable national and world ministries through support for Our Church's Wider Mission

Youth, young adult and camping ministries:

  • Sponsor summer youth camping program and "Sow the Seed" scholarships
  • Train camp directors and staff
  • Provide leadership and youth advisor training events
  • Organize yearly retreats for junior and senior high youth
  • Offer youth and young adult ministry networking and resourcing for local churches
  • Send youth and young adults to national and regional youth events
  • Encourage youth leadership through Conference Youth Council

UCC News

Headlines from the United Church of Christ
  • UCC's Mission:1 receives DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Award
    Mission:1 awarded "Best of Class" in the Public Relations, Advertising Campaign category during the Religion Communicators Council annual conference in Philadelphia.
  • Pilgrim Place project inspires college class
    The next Martin Luther King? Cesar Chavez? Mother Theresa? At UCC-relatedPilgrim Place, in Claremont, Calif., the consensus is that these people are out there, already doing good work. The question has always been: "What can we do to help this next generation of social activists? How can we pass on the legacy of making a difference in the world to those just starting out."
  • Peace witness, baptisms create connection of blessing at UCC Connecticut church
    In a Sunday service designed to observe the end of the Iraq War, First Church Congregational UCC in Mansfield Center, Conn., solidified on March 25 its standing as a peace-witness church with two separate acts: a gesture by two men from warring countries symbolizing the end of the war in Iraq, and the baptisms of two of the church's youngest members.