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JUNE 2018 VOL 170 NO 2 Redeeming the American Dream UNIQUELY POSITIONED A Healthy Interfaith Study 99 YEARS OF FAITHFULNESS What is a Congregational Church Published by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches c o n g r e g a t i o n a l i s t o r g

We ve changed our look Not our mission We have a new contemporary look to our name But our focus remains the same helping the men and women who serve God envision what is financially possible for their lives now and in the future Let s get started BENEFITS AND RETIREMENT PLANS CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER TM PROFESSIONALS TEN FUNDS COMPETITIVE RETURNS FREE UNBIASED ADVICE mmbb org 800 986 6222 The Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board

Table of CONTENTS Features 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 99 Years of Faithfulness Take Head ON THECOVER NACCC Houston Relief Workers from left to right Andy and Common Sense Guide to Romantic Relationships Melanie Sheuermann from Preston City Congregational Church Preston CT Dave Edwards First Congregational Church A Healthy Interfaith Study of Saugatuck MI Melanie Sheuermann Preston City Congregational Church Michele and Jamie Nichols First Uniquely Postioned Congregational Church of Stanton MI What is a Congregational Church Departments Redeeming the American Dream 4 5 6 8 28 30 31 OUR VOYAGE TOGETHER 64th Annual Meeting 2018 STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS Harry R Butman ALONG THE WAY NEWS AND NEEDS NECROLOGY PASTORATES AND PULPITS CALENDAR EDITORIAL STATEMENT All content in The Congregationalist appears by the authority of the editor We reserve freedom of expression to our authors and freedom of opinion to our readers Except for service information clearly sponsored by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches NACCC or its component parts content does not necessarily reflect policies and opinions of the NACCC Neither The Congregationalist nor the NACCC has a creed or holds positions on social or theological issues but we recognize the authority of each local church to do so for itself if and as it wishes and we encourage thoughtful and respectful discussion of our agreements and differences

OUR Voyage TOGETHER 64TH ANNUAL MEETING IS NEARLY HERE O ur annual family gathering for the Congregationalists of the NACCC is just around the corner The 2018 Annual Meeting is being hosted by the California and Western States Association in San Diego I hope you have already made your plans to be part of our annual meeting because much work and planning have been done to present speakers and workshops of benefit to the local congregations One of the special speakers this year is Dr Bill Wilson President of The Center for Healthy Churches From his bio on the website for The Center for Healthy Churches He brings over 33 years of local church ministry experience to CHC His denominational leadership has been extensive He graduated from Murray State University and went on to receive his Master of Divinity at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and his Doctor of Ministry at the Graduate Theological Foundation in South Bend Indiana Bill is a popular speaker and writer and he brings to his role as the leader of the work of CHC a deep passion for the local church as well as a commitment to the health and success of both clergy and congregations Bill s work with churches and ministers is marked by a positive and unyielding belief that Christ centered ministry is fulfilling and relevant His deepest desire is to encourage churches and clergy to discover a vital and vibrant future He believes that as difficult as it is to be the church today there has never been a day when the church was more needed Bill s presentation to us in San Diego will be as a plenary speaker so everyone at the meeting will have a chance to hear him He will help us focus on what we can do to promote the health of our local congregation Isn t the opportunity to hear from Bill Wilson on how your congregation can be healthier a good reason to be in San Diego for the 64th Annual Meeting of the NACCC JOIN US THERE Grace and Peace Michael 4 By Michael Chittum Executive Director

AND Strangers PILGRIMS By Marianne King For several years this space in the magazine has been reserved for brief bios of important Congregationalists which have been adapted from Bob Hellam s marvelous book The Congregational Minute As we near the end of that journey we come to Harry R Butman Bob Hellam writes Dr Butman was one of the courageous founders of our National Association and he was one of our most influential pastors one of the editors of The Congregationalist magazine one of the moderators of our annual meetings one of the chairmen of our Executive Committee and one of the major historians of our movement 1 Harry Butman was born on the East Coast Beverly Massachusetts in 1928 and died on the West Coast Acton California in 2005 He had significant impact on Congregationalism during his 101 years A graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary in 1928 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Piedmont College in 1958 Forty years later in 1998 Piedmont College established the Butman Chair of Religious Studies in recognition of Butman s contributions Piedmont President Dr James F Mellichamp recently called the Butman Chair the keystone for our Department of Religion and Philosophy While a member of the NACCC s first Executive Committee Butman helped resuscitate The Congregationalist which had been out of print for a number of years In the 1958 inaugural issue of the revived magazine Butman wrote the following There are those of us who yet recall the name of our paper in the great days when it was the voice of free Congregationalism The full and all but forgotten title was THE CONGREGATIONALIST AND HERALD OF GOSPEL LIBERTY God grant in the days to come that all who cherish freedom and toil for its triumph may be cheered in reading this reborn paper by words of truth and challenge and chronicles of achievement and comradeship May it be a silver trumpet which shall with no uncertain sound forever blow the brave music of freedom 2 Harry Butman was a prolific author In The Congregational Minute Bob Hellam quotes from the brief biography on the back cover of one of Butman s books The Lord s Free People Dr Harry R Butman is a New Englander whose ancestral roots are deep in the Pilgrim earth As a minister his first three pastorates were within forty miles of Plymouth Rock When he came to Los Angeles in 1953 to become the pastor of the Congregational Church of the Messiah he brought earth from the yard of the ancient Church at Dedham to mingle with the adobe of a California hilltop as a token of his love for the Puritan way of life 3 Butman s friend Mitchell Abbott called him the dean of American Congregationalism His leadership of the NACCC in its earliest years and his prolific writings have helped to define the role of the NACCC and Congregationalism In 1977 Butman wrote the following in his paper Theology and Covenant in Congregationalism Harry R Butman 1928 2005 As valuable as the covenant is in making it possible for the National Association to include a wide spectrum of theological opinion while remaining a fellowship the covenant alone is not enough It is letter and not spirit If our beloved National Association is to grow and witness to freedom we must have a deep and true respect for each other s convictions and a liberty rooted in love Liberals must not look down their intellectual noses at conservatives and conservatives must not hold a pharisaical attitude of pious superiority toward liberals I once read that the medievalists had a phrase Odium Theologicum the hatred engendered by theological differences It was the worst kind of loathing It was spiritually deadly because those who indulge in that violation of the law of love thought in Christ s cutting phase That they did God Service Our fellowship has been richly blessed by God and its witness is sorely needed in a day when organizational ecumenicity seeks to clamp creedal fetters on free minds Let us with mutual respect and Christian love each grant to the other the right to think of God as God leads him to do 4 1 Hellam Robert 2012 The Congregational Minute CreateSpace Publishing 2 Butman Harry R 1958 February The Gospel We Preach The Congregationalist Vol 1 pp 1 2 3 Hellam Robert 2012 The Congregational Minute CreateSpace Publishing 4 Butman Harry R 1977 June Theology and Covenant in Congregationalism www naccc org Retrieved April 18 2018 5

THE Along WAY Historic Naccc Church Gives Quincy Church Start A New Day N Submitted by Peter Smith ew Day Quincy A Christian Church has taken a new step in its journey as a new congregation Begun in 2015 as a daughter church of First Congregational Church in Hanson Massachusetts under the leadership of Rev Joy Matos the church met for most of that time in a Breakfast and Lunch Caf in a busy area of The City of Presidents The initial strategy for reaching out to local residents in the ethnically diverse neighborhood where Rev Matos lives included literature distribution signage and coffee house evenings with live music Success was limited at best so the church planting core group gathered for a retreat to study and pray A new initiative was born New Day partnered with Quincy Asian Resources Inc in their effort to help recent immigrants become acclimated to their new home Representatives from the core group helped people apply for citizenship in one day commitments Then they took the big step they trained and volunteered to teach ESOL English for Speakers of Other Languages From the first night the volunteer teachers from New Day found they had students who were extremely eager to learn One volunteer said They wouldn t let us take breaks They said No break just teach Bob Cox one of the members of the core group tells of students who were walking several miles to class even in the rain Marilou Hall another core group member and a veteran school teacher says One thing they tell you when you become an ESOL teacher is Don t become personally involved in your students Forget it That didn t happen Rev Joy Matos 6 The Rev Peter Smith D Min is Sr Pastor of the First Congregational Church in Hanson Mass A member of the Mission and Outreach Ministries Council for the NACCC Smith is also the author of Thriving Churches Then and Now Eight Characteristics from Church History for Pastoral Ministry He also enjoys caning chairs and riding a tandem bicycle with his wife Carol Offering rides to students finding out that one had missed class because his mother was ill and showing genuine interest in and care for these students from Myanmar China Venezuela and elsewhere led to students asking Where is your church Can I come Soon the monthly services and the weekly Bible study were welcoming ESOL students their family members and their friends to their number Using Alpha as their curriculum helped some of the students to make the decision to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord Growth created a challenge however The team noticed that a married couple never came together they were alternating staying home with their children But the caf was too small to hold children s ministry Not only that but the ESOL class had grown creating a need to split the class to accommodate different English speaking skill levels A new site was needed Enter Union Congregational Church in the Wollaston section of Quincy just half a mile from the caf Union Church was once a thriving church serving the needs of its neighborhood In time the neighborhood changed but the church did not The few members who remained however wanted to do something they just didn t know how or what When Pastor Joy approached them about the possibility of using some of their facilities for their expanding ESOL program and other ministries Union Church enthusiastically welcomed New Day On Sunday February 25 New Day Quincy held its first service in the Union Church building complete with a Sunday School led by new members of the church plant team mother and daughter duo Kim and Victoria Scully All the participants are excited about this new phase of ministry

Congregants worship in FCC Clarkston s beautiful Nave 187 Years First Congregational Church Of Clarkston Marks submitted by Carolyn Mills T he first weekend in February might have been Super Bowl LII but for the First Congregational Church of Clarkston it was a celebration of 187 years as a congregation For the first century and a half our church was located in downtown Pontiac Michigan Over time the large facility in Pontiac became difficult to handle and maintain a target of burglaries and vandalism and expensive to heat Furthermore many church members were relocating north of Pontiac and drove up to 25 miles to attend worship services With heavy hearts the congregation voted to sell the church building in Pontiac and relocate For the next 20 years our beloved A luncheon at FCC Clarkston celebrated the church s 187th anniversary as a congregation former church was used as a nightclub and concert venue A few years ago it became a beautiful church again It is now Grace Gospel Church the inspiration of Rev Kent Clark Under his spiritual leadership it is part of Grace Centers of Hope where lives have been rescued families restored and hope renewed As part of our anniversary celebration Pastor Clark invited us to come on Saturday afternoon to tour the old church that was such an important part of our history Our pastor Tim Chappell who has been with us for nearly a year was the most excited of all It was a very heartwarming experience for the 50 or so of us who wandered through this beautifully restored church Pastor Clark enjoyed hearing our stories and had many of his own to tell us For our Sunday service Pastor Tim found a 1906 bulletin from our historical archives to follow the same Call to Worship the same Scripture reading and the same hymns He even chose a robe to fit the occasion After a fun service we retired to our fellowship hall for a wonderful catered dinner The tables were historically decorated by our Pastor s wife Athena Those members who attended the downtown church shared stories and memories We had a wonderful celebration thanks to the Historical Committee under the leadership of Nancy Hill and those football fans got home in time to watch the Eagles win the Super Bowl Correction We apologize for an error in the caption regarding the photo from First Congregational Church of Toulon in the March 2018 issue Rev Wayne C McLeod retired set the record straight It should actually identify my friend as Pastor Ronald Toliver who is doing an amazing job at Toulon Church Historian Floyd Ham left with Pastor Ron Tolliver right 7

AND News NEEDS of OUR Visiting Missionaries Spring is the time to plan for missionary visits This year is no different The Mission Council has invited Rev Jaime and Linda Julian from Christian Mission in the Far East Philippines and Rev Elvis SaDo from Congregational Church of Myanmar to be our guests at the NACCC Annual Meeting and Conference in San Diego Charles Sagay from Mission School of Hope Cameroon and possibly Rev Charles Nyane from Word Alive Ghana will also be visiting NACCC churches Rev Jaime and Linda Julian Work group on site in Houston l r Andy Sheuermann Preston City CC Preston CT Dave Edwards FCC of Saugatuck MI Melanie Sheuermann Preston City CC Preston CT Michele and Jamie Nichols FCC Stanton MI One Great Hour of Sharing Update ECHO Workshop in East Africa Funds continue to come in for Hurricane Relief Thanks to your donations progress is being made For example Educational Concerns for Hunger ORG ECHO N Fort Myers Florida sponsors workshops around the world March 6 8 2018 Geoffrey Lipale and Geoffrey Lemoi from Pilgrim s Presence Kenya attended the 3rd ECHO East Africa Pastoralist Symposium in Nanyuki Kenya The symposium focused on Land Tenure Rangeland Rehabilitation and Management and Livestock to Markets Florence Congregational Church Florence Massachusetts continues to send Life Straws water filters batteries and solar powered lights to Puerto Rico They had made 11 deliveries to the island as of March The Congregational Church of Mt Dora Florida was able to repair the roof of its church Rev Jaime and Linda Julian Rev Elvis SaDo 8 Hosanna Industries Pennsylvania First Congregational Church of Stanton Michigan and Olivet College Michigan twice have sent groups to Texas to help in its recovery from Hurricane Harvey More groups will be going later this summer to Texas and Puerto Rico Geoffrey Lipale and Geoffrey Lemoi attend Symposium

Reception area at the new center New Medical Center Happy Life Children s Home Kenya finished construction in November 2017 on the Jesse Kay Medical Center and a dedication ceremony was held This Center which is directly across the courtyard will provide care for over 50 babies and toddlers at Happy Life Children s Home as well as medical care for the neighborhood Two shipping containers with medical equipment and supplies arrived at Happy Life the first week of January The first phase of the Medical Center began operation at the end of the month January 2018 and the Medical Center opened in February for patients Happy Life has formed a partnership with Liberty University s Nursing School a Christian University in Lynchburg Virginia Twenty two nursing students and four professors went to Happy Life in March 2018 to provide some medical services For more information on any of these missions or to donate to any of the projects please contact Linda Miller at the NACCC Office 800 262 1620 ext 1618 or lmiller naccc org For a complete listing of NACCC Mission Projects please go to our website www naccc org and click on the Missions tab Mission and Outreach Ministry Council NACCC PO Box 288 Oak Creek WI 53154 Mission Updates The Maine Seacoast Mission continues its mission to serve Maine s island and coastal communities Its long history 113 years hasn t kept it from looking ahead Mission 2020 its strategic plan calls for new work on the islands and expanded emphasis on helping youth graduate from college and training programs Mission School of Hope Cameroon is working on one of four new school buildings for the Mission Morgan Scott Project Tennessee will be saying goodbye to Ella Smith on her retirement in August 2018 The new director has not been identified yet The Sunbeam arrives at Matinicus Harbor Maine Needs Prayers are Needed We ask your prayers for Nannie Castillo founder of the NACC Philippines mission who is dealing with health concerns Please pray for the work groups that will be helping in the hurricane ravaged areas of Texas and Puerto Rico Christ to the Villages Nigeria is looking into large scale or commercial farming They have purchased land but need farm equipment quality seeds and irrigation equipment Fishers of Men Mexico would love to have volunteers come to their mission They also operate medical brigades taking health care to the outlying villages You do not need to speak Spanish to volunteer with them Indian Community Fellowship India opened a new church in Bhutan This country is closed to Evangelism The church worships in secret 9

99 Years of WWII monument in Calais Maine 10 O n any given Friday you will find Phil Cook seated at the register at the North Deering Congregational Meeting House in Portland Maine At 99 years of age Phil faithfully takes the orders of customers who come in to enjoy a bowl of haddock chowder a lobster roll a glass of punch or hot coffee and or tea along with a time of fellowship Phil is the guardian at the door the first person that you see With a big smile and hearty welcome Phil greets the Friday faithful to a Mainer luncheon It was during these times on Fridays that I got to know a little bit about Phil This happened as I took a seat beside him and heard about the life of an amazing man of God Phil was born and raised in Calais Maine He grew up during the Great Depression in a section known as Milltown a small village across from Milltown New Brunswick Canada Separating these two towns is the mighty St Croix River Both Phil and I have crossed this river by way of the International Bridge I was pleased to hear this because I too am from Calais Maine though I was born 50 years after Phil Despite the gap in time there was much in common between my new friend and me Phil and I both share the same experiences of walking the streets of Calais Many of the old landmarks are still there Both of us remember the same old stores of yesteryear now long gone One particular store on Main Street right before the bridge was Tommy Andrews Tobacco Stand Despite the deceptive name this was a wonderful general store that I fondly remember going into as a young boy in the early 1970 s with my Grandmother Dorothy As a seven year old I would look forward to a bottle of pop and a bag of chips before going over the bridge into St Stephen New Brunswick to buy mustard pickles to bring home to Dad Phil said that he graduated with Tommy Andrew s daughter Lillian in the class of 1936 With a glimmer in his eye and an impish grin he said that Lilly was real cute After high school Phil joined the Army Air Corps on the eve of World War II His life would never be the same again Phil trained in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania for several months to be a fighter pilot which would take him to an air base 30 miles outside of London Throughout the war Phil piloted B 17 bombers in the name of liberty flying over a Europe threatened by the dictatorial powers of Nazism As Phil told me this story I could see the pride in his eyes It was as if Phil could see himself still in the cockpit almost

Faithfulness by Michael W Glidden 80 years ago As a child I remember at the park in Calais seeing a memorial statute to the many people who served in WWII Many of my family are listed there and recently I learned that Phil s name is engraved also Seeing Phil s name as well as the others including my family reminded me of the great wall of faith that s listed in the Book of Hebrews I imagined the Bible writer mentioning Phil along with some of my family members in this great list Phil demonstrated faith by his acts of great courage and loyalty to his country and God Phil struck me as a man of risk demonstrated by his act of service He told me that fear was never an option in doing what is right I ve realized that God desires His children to be risk takers too God wants us all to launch out into the sky of the unknown and bear witness to Christ s name Phil s love of God began in his early years as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Milltown Phil speaks fondly of going to the house of God as a boy with his family Every Sunday he would walk with his family up the steep hill to the little church with the steeple pointing upward to the sky This same church is no longer Methodist Episcopal but is now a Seventh Day Adventist church where many of my wife s Rhonda family attend No matter the denomination this church with the steeple upward on a high hill looks down on the village and keeps it safe because of the prayers of the faithful I could envision Phil as a young child sitting alongside his family praying Phil s life demonstrated the fruit of those early years This small church played a great role in the development of a 99 year old man whom I consider a role model I m grateful that I graced the doors of North Deering because by the providence of God I found a friend that spoke to me about my roots and by his great act of service pointed me to a loving savior It s funny how things come full circle Sitting beside Phil brought some consequences He s been training me to be his replacement Phil said that since I am only 50 and just a young man I m going to take his place in the chair at the register I realized that just showing up and pulling up a chair to have a conversation can lead to some amazing things I wonder what stories I will share when I am 100 The Rev Michael Glidden D Min is a Member Minister at North Deering Congregational Meeting House in Portland Maine He has been pastoring since 1993 Rev Glidden earned his Master of Divinity Degree in 1995 from Bangor Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in 2002 He was ordained in 2000 Mike lives in Saco Maine with his wife Rhonda 11

by James P Nichols I recently drove home from Arizona to Michigan and took a deliberate path that led through breathtaking mountain views including Monarch Pass in Gunnison County Colorado One smaller joy of the drive was watching the readout from my vehicle s instantaneous fuel economy setting I was getting 99 mpg for long stretches as I coasted my way down the mountain During those stretches I had to pump the brakes to avoid careening off the mountainside In a similar way it may be wise for the NACCC to pump the brakes on our collective identity lest we find it impossible to negotiate cultural and ideological curves on the road ahead As a newcomer to the NACCC in 2016 I asked many questions listened to many explanations and read nearly everything I could find pertaining to the values that govern the ethos of our association The most oft recurring information involved an emphasis and definition of the Congregational Way and how that 400 years ago Congregationalists were oppressed within a top down Church of England system Our original movement was responsive and corrective to the wider church s systemic shortcomings But beyond being merely a way I tried to discover the NACCC s way to what This is where I encountered difficulty While searching for an elaboration on the balance of our identity I kept running into terms like autonomy and liberty It became clear that the second and third Cs in our moniker are harder to pin down than the first I became persuaded that predominate definitions portray us more as a National Association of Congregationalists 12 and less as a nationwide fellowship of Christian churches Within our Separatist history there is little confusion as to what our ancestors were against The Pilgrims fled and few will dispute what they were fleeing from To fully appreciate what they aspired toward an historian might begin with the Separatist objections and deduce inversely Modern Congregationalists are proud of our liberty for interpreting the Gospel and this freedom is ensconced in original Separatist objections However a careful examination as to what undergirded those original objections will show that nowhere was there a belief that Gospel definition was arbitrary Puritan writings demonstrate that Gospel definition rests solely upon the pages of the Bible Our heritage has a rich love of the Scriptures In fact from Luther to Robinson and Browne every instance of protest was motivated by an unequivocal commitment to biblical authority When objections against the wider church were leveled it was never from puritanical groupthink or socially motivated discontentment but from deeply held convictions that had grown from the study of God s Word It cannot be over emphasized that historical Congregationalists risked their lives because of convictions forged within a commitment to the Bible as the highest authority by which every spiritual claim must be validated As an association of Christian churches we would be well served to reinvigorate this commitment through joyful and frequent declarations of our love for the Bible focus upon its reading and exposition at association gatherings forthright advocacy of its diligent study and clear unequivocal unashamed and oft repeated declarations that the churches of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches are molded and shaped by its teaching The Apostle Paul clearly states that the Word of God is valuable for reproof correction doctrine and instruction in righteousness 2 Timothy 3 16 He also warns about the existence of false teaching and unwitting departures from orthodoxy These were realities then and are no less realities today In my brief time in the NACCC I have detected a reluctance to entertain the possibility that any among our ranks may be in error This has led me to wonder whether an emphasis on freedom to interpret combined with a regular disavowal of creeds as a litmus test for fellowship have together created a wide open door for unaccountable theology In her work The Art and Practice of the Congregational Way the Rev Dr Elizabeth Mauro writes Congregationalists have long embraced the idea that in God s eyes all of the faithful are spiritual equals p 13 What would we suppose is the basis for this idea but the Scriptures of course Spiritual equality among all people is a doctrine firmly established in the Bible cf Gal 3 Col 3 1 Pet 2 But this is only the beginning of what it means to be Christian Simply because priests and ploughboys share equal privilege to read the Bible and follow the Spirit into truth it does not mean they will do so error free As Mauro goes on to point out equality before Christ is not the same thing as spiritual maturity Neither priest nor

Rev Dr James P Nichols is pastor at First Congregational Church in Stanton Michigan He and wife Michelle have raised their three children in Stanton since coming to pastor FCC in 2002 ploughboy are self ruled individualists with carte blanche rights to live above correction Enter the historic creeds Separatist creeds while never compliance mandates nonetheless existed and were broadly affirmed standards It is difficult to imagine a 17th century religious group seeking to be numbered among the ranks of Puritans while publicly denying tenets of the Savoy Declaration Yes one modern Congregationalist might be swift to point out but even the Savoy Declaration is never above scrutiny Granted but scrutiny by what standard Without pumping the brakes via front and center declarations of the Scriptures as our final authority the NACCC could easily become a syncretized smorgasbord of religious ideology and more a doppelganger to contemporary mainline religion than to our Puritan ancestors Freedom is a blessed two sided reality The NACCC s publicized persona is clear that all congregations enjoy it and our corporate understanding is relatively monolithic on the question freedom from what Now that we are fully free from that which burdened original Separatists we must seek to answer the question freedom to what Unless we come to close agreement our corporate identity will remain based in polity Jesus died for more than that If our association is more about Pilgrim history and less about shared Christology how can we hope to come close to the one faith or one Lord unity of Ephesians 4 1 5 Could heresies ever leak in and corrode churches of the NACCC Consider Israel Did she not lose her way without the objective written law to guide her It wasn t until the teachings of the sacred scrolls were restored under the leadership of King Josiah that Israel regained a measure of favor in God s sight 2 Kings 22 Declaring ourselves an association of Christian Churches without sufficiently defining either Christian or Church is a grave risk to our future While the first C in our abbreviated name serves to define our history the latter two Cs will define our future Loyalty to Scripture is the only epistemological safeguard and it is entirely consistent with our heritage Mauro also observes that early Pilgrims and Puritans relied upon the Bible as the ultimate source and authority for Christian truth p 29 It is an indisputable fact that Christianity by any definition is understood first and foremost from the sacred pages of Scripture For the NACCC to more clearly define Christian and Churches we would be wise to follow suit May we open God s Word together and search for His definition on these matters May we prayerfully study within the shadow of the Savoy Declaration affirming that which our forebearers affirmed and straying only when compelled by biblical evidence May we engage in thoughtful and respectful conversation about the meaning of the Gospel as taught by Bible writers May we lovingly call to repentance those who have strayed far afield Local churches may vary slightly in the final analysis on non essentials but never in the basic non negotiable and foundational commitment that God s Word always has the final word Historical Congregationalists would hasten to agree Monarch Pass along U S 50 is considered one of Colorado s most scenic views 13

Romant ic Relat ionship Common Sense Guide to a I originally developed suggestions for determining compatibility for a singles group in my congregation The concept seemed to snowball and evolved into advice that divorced people found helpful when assessing their past marriage to avoid similar mistakes in their next relationship You are welcome to use all or any part of it if you find it useful Even God wants us to make good choices when we seek a relationship Do not be yoked together with unbelievers For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common Or what fellowship can light have with darkness 2 Corinthians 6 14 It s absolutely amazing how many people become romantically involved only to later find severe problems with their new partner So much heartache can be avoided by simply asking questions of a potential partner How best can we tell the difference between what could be a loving relationship or a hurtful one The answer is found in these time proven words of wisdom Never fall in love with someone before you truly know them 14 But I want love to be spontaneous not scientific Being careful before you let a stranger into your life does not take romance away It s just plain common sense to protect yourself and find out who this person is For example you d be surprised how many people never ask basic questions such as Why did your previous relationships end Were you ever in trouble with the law Have you had any serious physical or emotional problems Unfortunately some people will give dishonest answers by lying or telling you what they think you want to hear To help avoid such deception first try to get their opinions on various subjects Talk about yourself later This shouldn t be a problem because any reasonable person would think you re just interested in knowing about them If someone objects to your polite curiosities or gives half answers then a big red flag should go up in your mind But I don t want to question everyone I date That s fine if it s only a casual date Bear in mind if it s True Love you seek casual dating is counter productive Why waste time on someone who isn t by Len Capobianco a potential true partner Why take the emotional and physical risk of becoming involved with someone who looks good on the surface only to wake up one day and realize you re not really compatible or there was never any intention on the other s part of making a real commitment Isn t a partial relationship better than being alone The answer to that age old question is to understand the difference between being alone and being lonely Millions of people through the ages have learned to live alone and still lead satisfying lives Ask yourself if you d rather live alone in peace or live with someone who is continually causing you emotional or physical harm If money made people happy then everyone with money would be happy and that is simply not true If good looks made people happy then all beautiful people would be happy and that also isn t true A handsome or wealthy man may be a strong attraction at the start of a relationship yet will become repulsive if he suddenly begins to abuse you mentally or physically A beautiful woman will quickly turn ugly in your eyes if she s unfaithful or uninterested The sentiment love is enough has caused many a heartbreak The truth is love isn t enough Good relationships have love of course but that s only one ingredient Successful marriages also have compatibility communication patience forgiveness compromise and a healthy sense of humor But by far the most important elements are shared values and mutual commitment

Reverend L J Capobianco is an ordained Christian Minister He previously held positions as an Assistant Director for the United Cerebral Palsy Association pre school teacher to minority children ski tour guide and is a U S Air Force veteran In his mid thirties he felt the call to enter the ministry and earned degrees from Temple University and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary then served as a church pastor until his retirement He currently lives in Wisconsin and volunteers as chaplain for the county sheriff s office He has authored two novels The attached Compatibility Comparison is intended as a guideline You may add your own questions to this list Score the answers with a 1 10 point system For example let s say you re not a sports fan but your partner has a casual interest The score would be a 1 However if you don t care for sports and he s a sports fanatic spending much of his time watching sports on TV or going to games the score would be 10 If both of you love sports the score would be 10 Be most careful to prioritize the answers For example a score of 10 on wanting pets is far far less significant than 10 on wanting children Make every effort to score as objectively as possible Absolutely avoid skewing the results because you re infatuated by some superficial characteristics You would only be cheating yourself and honestly just where do you think that will get you No perfect person exists so how can two imperfect people make a perfect relationship We must be realistic in our pursuits There are no perfect relationships but there are many wonderful loving ones The attached Compatibility Comparison will help you weed out the far less than perfect and increase your probability of finding someone close to perfect After you total the plus and minus columns your decision on whether to pursue a potential relationship will become so much clearer Compatibility Comparison Questions 1 to 10 1 to 10 1 What kind of music do you listen to 2 What kind of TV programs do you watch 3 What are your favorite films 4 What do you do for fun Sports other activities 5 What friends do you associate with how often 6 How close are you to your family 7 What obligations do you have to your family 9 What are your personal professional goals in life 10 How do you plan to reach your goals 11 Were you ever in trouble with the law 12 Do you take drink or drugs if so how much 13 Do you gamble if so how much 14 How do you handle finances 15 What are your political views 16 What are your religious beliefs 17 What do you think about marriage 18 What do you think about owning pets 19 What do you think about having children 20 Have you had any serious physical or emotional problems 21 What upsets you the most and why 22 How do you handle things when you get angry 23 Why did your previous relationships end 24 What is your real opinion of yourself 25 Why do you want to date me TOTALS 15

A HEALTHY Interfaith Study by Daniel J Kidder McQuown David Frank Rev Jerry Turner Rev KidderMcQuown the facilitators Display in back is of the Ten Commandments at Temple Beth Israel in Jackson Michigan I n February 2018 Arbor Grove Congregational Church engaged in a study with Temple Beth Israel Reform Judaism on the theme of health Both our congregations are located in Jackson Michigan and have shared a friendship for decades Over four different weeknights in February we looked at what the Bible and our two traditions have to say about healthy families heart finances and mind We alternated locations meeting twice at Arbor Grove facilitated by me and twice at Temple Beth Israel facilitated by David Frank Our discussions covered some familiar themes With family we looked at Deuteronomy 6 1 9 Luke 9 46 48 and the Creation stories from Genesis We talked about the importance of our religious traditions at home and the 16 role of church or temple in supporting the home We shared stories about how healthy family life has been central to Jewish and Congregational histories When discussing heart health we looked again at Deuteronomy 6 1 9 as well as Leviticus 19 and Luke 6 43 45 Rabbi Norman Roman showed us how heart health is built into the Hebrew language and its centrality in Jewish tradition With finances we looked at Ecclesiastes 7 12 Matthew 25 14 30 and Proverbs 13 25 We discussed the question of motivation to give including duty charity and supporting one s congregation We talked about an individual s attitude towards money and poverty In our last session on healthy mind we looked again at Deuteronomy 6 1 9 as well as Mark 5 1 20 and a number of excerpts from Jewish scholars We discussed how love the heart is connected with learning the mind for well being We shared how moderation and balance are essential for mental health in both our traditions There were many great insights For those of us from Arbor Grove we learned a great deal of appreciation about how Jewish teaching is passed down including the discussions and debate between Jewish scholars over the centuries For example in talking about healthy finances we discussed the maxim from Rabbi Elazer ben Azariah from the Pirkei Avot If there is no flour there is no Torah if there is no Torah there is no flour This deepened our conversation about poverty and the role of religion We were also impressed that the members of Temple Beth Israel really wanted to know about the Congregational tradition and teachings For example they saw a lot of common ground when we shared about freedom as an inherent Congregational value and key to health Over the course of our four studies we heard from a cardiologist sampled some wine from Israel grew as friends and colleagues and laughed a lot In preparing for the study Rev Jerry Turner Arbor Grove and I investigated whether there is a body of resources within the NACCC for historical and current reference on Congregational traditions of health While we did not do extensive research it seemed to us this is an area for further scholarship and discussion in Congregational tradition The Rev Daniel KidderMcQuown has been senior minister of Arbor Grove Congregational Church in Jackson Michigan since 2015 He was ordained in 2000 and has served as church pastor hospital chaplain and college chaplain in the past His Master of Divinity is from Princeton Theological Seminary Daniel is originally from Springfield Illinois

LET S 644 CONGREGATE th THIS SUMMER Annual Meeting Conference of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches San Diego June 23 26 2018 Our featured guest speakers Dr Terrence R Lindvall Bible Lecturer Rev Dr Lowell Linden Congregational Lecturer Hosted by the California and Western States Association Lodging and conference rooms at San Diego Marriott Mission Valley 8757 Rio San Diego Drive 17

UNIQUELY POSITIONED Opportunities for the Small Town Rural Congregation by Lawrence H Balleine We re just a stepping stone for young ministers We just can t seem to hang on to our young people If we are lucky enough to keep them after confirmation we are certain to lose them after their high school graduation T hese two laments are spoken often by members of small town rural congregations The comments may be wellfounded For two conditions frequently exist that give rise to them First small town rural congregations often have fewer than two hundred members and sometimes much less than that Their financial resources are frequently limited And if they are fortunate to call a full time pastor he or she is often fresh out of seminary or divinity school and commonly serves only a few years before moving on to what is usually a more lucrative position Thus it is not surprising that when this is the repeated experience of a small town rural congregation it will consider itself a stepping stone Second young people from small town rural churches often leave their 18 hometowns shortly after they graduate from high school Job opportunities are frequently limited in small town rural settings forcing young people to seek employment elsewhere Some leave for college and do not return after receiving their degrees So too young people from small towns rural areas are regularly attracted by the mystique of the big city and they will follow through on a statement they may have uttered in their mid teens I m going to get out of this town and go where the action is These two conditions have existed for several decades And yes they have often resulted in the above mentioned laments the inability of small town rural congregations to keep pastors for an extended period and to retain their young people beyond high school A further result is a disparaging selfassessment wherein many small town rural congregations view themselves as inferior to larger congregations in larger communities or suburbs And frequently this self appraisal can lead small town rural congregations to embrace a maintenance or survival mode and a failure to recognize their unique mission opportunities Is there any way that small town rural congregations can cease to view these two realities as limitations but see them as unique opportunities and thus transform these perceived negatives into positives I believe there is When the pastor of the small town rural congregation is serving his her first congregation after completion of seminary or divinity school and is out in the real world for the first time following seven or eight years in higher education that novice pastor may be like a tender shoot who needs further nutrition and maturation Such an environment where he or she can continue to grow and develop can be provided by members of the congregation he or she serves Moreover theological seminary or divinity school training doesn t teach all there is to know about ministry Certainly internship and field education placements required by many seminaries are extremely beneficial to the development of any pastor yet they commonly do not prepare one for everything that one encounters upon becoming a full time or resident pastor Small town rural congregations may be uniquely positioned to engage in this important growth process by being the crucible where these first call pastors become better pastors How By being a place where rookie pastors can make mistakes and learn from them a place where they can discover what approaches are helpful and useful and which are not a place where they can hone their skills and discover their unique strengths gifts and talents as well as limitations

Lawrence H Balleine is a 1975 CFTS graduate who has served as Congregational and UCC pastor for forty three years The majority of his ministry has been with small town rural congregations and areas that need improvement and a place where they can learn much about human nature and relationships and how to bring God into those relationships However it takes patience on the part of the congregation to bear with its pastor as he she makes plenty of rookie mistakes And it takes willingness on the part of these pastors to receive the gentle guidance of the congregation It is often said that the first congregation a pastor serves can either make or break that pastor Therefore it is important that when those in a pastor s first congregation have complaints about the pastor they render their criticism in a constructive manner And when that pastor errs he or she should be the recipient of both patience and forgiveness Unless the gravity of the offense merits expulsion For if this first pastor is treated with respect he or she will generally accept such constructive criticism and address the problem area seeking to remedy it Such caring and fair treatment of that pastor will be beneficial to both the pastor and the congregation for the short run as well as the long haul And such caring of the pastor will be that small town rural congregation s gift to the wider church after that pastor leaves for it will have helped to make that pastor On the contrary there have also been first congregations who have treated their beginning pastors so poorly and disrespectfully that they have left the ministry after serving only this first congregation In some cases these pastors may not have been cut out to withstand the rigors of pastoral ministry but in others the pastors and or their families have simply been the subject of too much unkindness and unfair criticism These are instances in which the small town rural congregation does a great disservice to both itself and the wider church Thus the first congregation a pastor serves can help to further educate strengthen and shape that pastor further equipping him or her for ministry And so when he or she leaves that situation it s as a more capable pastor Accordingly his or her second call or position and any subsequent congregation he or she serves benefits from the input training and nurturing provided by that first congregation And the first congregation often rural and or small town and still apt to call itself a stepping stone can provide a great service not only to the novice pastor but to any future congregation that pastor serves What about the second dilemma often faced by many small town rural congregations losing their young people Rather than continually bemoaning the fact that we are losing all our young people I suggest that members of small town rural congregations see this mobility as their unique opportunity to send out their young people That the small town rural congregation embrace its responsibility to nurture and prepare its young people so well that when they do leave assuming their departure is inevitable these young people not only carry with them a solid faith foundation upon which they will continue to grow but will also possess a willingness to share their gifts and talents in their new locations Recently I saw a Facebook post that included a photo of Sarah a young woman who grew up in our small town congregation in rural Wisconsin Sarah is now in her mid 30 s and lives with her spouse and five children in Illinois There she has become active in a local congregation The photo shows her at the pulpit of her new congregation where she was coordinating the church s Vacation Bible School It was at that moment I realized We didn t lose her We sent her We equipped her and sent her out with a solid faith foundation such that she now shares her gifts in another place Certainly this is an important role small town rural congregations can embrace and celebrate And so while small town rural congregations have the opportunity to refine and send out their pastors who are often serving their first parish to serve in subsequent congregations they also have the chance to send out their young people to enrich the lives of other congregations It is the small town rural congregation that is uniquely positioned to fulfill this important mission 19

What is a CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH I by Robert Hellam f you have attended any of our Annual Meetings you know that each year the delegates are given a list of new churches that have been accepted into the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches There is never any information given about those churches beyond their addresses and the fact that they have been recommended for membership by the Leadership Council Whatever criteria that are followed by the Council in making their decisions are not shared with the membership at the Annual Meeting Our task which we routinely and obediently perform is merely to rubber stamp the Council s decision Has anyone else found this routine to be unsatisfying If so surely your reaction like mine stems from the lack of definition of what exactly it means to be a Congregational church as Congregational church is understood by our National Association It can t be true that polity is the only issue involved because there are other denominations with a congregational form of church government like Baptists for example and we don t see them as Congregationalist organizations Is there anything beyond polity that unites us as Congregationalists anything essential to a recognition that a congregation is a true Congregational church Recently I had a very pleasant visit with Dr Doug Gray of the Vitality Ministry Council When I told him that I had sent an e mail addressing this issue to the leadership of our regional association he suggested that my message might be the basis for an article in The Congregationalist In hope that this is so I am quoting the e mail below I have been challenged to identify what my vision is as the new moderator of the Northern California Fellowship of Congregational Christian Churches One of my goals is that we all have a better understanding of what unites us as Congregationalists What beliefs and practices do we have in common that are uniquely embodied in a Congregationalist association 20

Robert Hellam lives in Seaside California with his wife Constance A retired Federal employee Bob taught for 15 years at Monterey Bay Christian School in Seaside He is now senior pastor at Church of the Oaks in Del Rey Oaks California Bob also served as a chaplain captain with the California State Military Reserve from 2011 through 2015 with prior active duty as an enlisted man in the U S Navy Bob earned his BA in English and his teaching credential from San Jos State University his Master of Divinity degree from Western Seminary and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary Bob is a member of the Monterey Bay Colony of the Society of Mayflower Descendants He has published a number of books including The Congregational Minute and is an accomplished poet To that end I offer for discussion certain statements of what Congregationalism is or should be that are either what I have heard or read from fellow Congregationalists or are reasonable facsimiles thereof Do we agree with any one of them or do we combine two or more or do we reject them all as either false or insufficient 1 We are all about the Social Gospel nothing more nothing less Most of you have recognized the satiric intent of the above definitions of Congregationalism If Congregational can mean virtually everything does it mean anything Can we survive as an association without more clarity The default position often is that we are distinguished by our polity but churches that are dually affiliated UCC and NACCC belie even that desperate attempt to elucidate what it means to be united as Congregationalists 2 As Congregationalists we do not have to believe anything we can even believe nothing at all if that is our preference 3 We don t care what the Bible says We think for ourselves 4 We care only about what the Bible says Christian tradition is not important 5 The Reformed tradition is all we need We don t care what the Church said before the year 1517 6 We are a non creedal association There is no place for creeds and other liturgy in our worship 7 We are not the church of the Pilgrims and Puritans anymore We prefer a completely liturgical service including creeds rejecting long sermons and extemporaneous prayers 8 Our churches are autonomous We are free to be whatever we want without limits or qualifications What we believe and what we do might include teachings and practices from non Christian religions if we so choose 21

Redeeming the The Gild by Norm Erlendson T he Social Gospel movement of the late 19th century was an attempt to preserve the promise of the American Dream for the least of those who lived among us during America s Gilded age Its leaders including Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch shined a light on the grim faces of millions of working poor for whom the American Dream was truly becoming an impossible dream In the 1930s James Truslow Adams coined the phrase American Dream He defined the Dream as the vision of a better deeper richer life for every individual regardless of the position in society which he or she may occupy by the accident of birth It has been a dream of a chance to rise in the economic scale unhampered by unjust restrictions and the hope of bettering the physical conditions of living and of lessening the toil and anxieties of daily life 1 Adam s catchphrase was new but the idea was not The concept of an American Dream has been traced all the way back to John Winthrop s Puritan dream of making New England a shining city upon a hill 2 Washington Gladdon 22 The Social Gospel movement began as a Christian response to the political and economic forces that drastically transformed America in the decades between 1860 and 1900 This was an era that saw the rise of big business and big cities America underwent the greatest changes in its history In a mere 40 years the nation of small towns and small farms became the world s greatest industrial power The percentage of people living in cities increased from 25 to 40 The nation s population doubled its Gross National Product quadrupled and the size of its cities exploded By 1895 the American agrarian economy was transformed by giant industrial corporations that only came into being after the Civil War They were run by moguls whose personal fortunes approached the billion dollar mark and whose lifestyles rivaled or exceeded those of the fabled royal families of old Europe These Captains of American Industry and Finance lived in the spotlight of the press and were regarded as national heroes But their fortunes were built on the sweat and blood of the millions of men women and children whom they employed to work in their mines and factories 12 to 14 hours a day six or seven days a week for a mere three to five dollars per week In his book The Good Old Days Otto Bettmann wrote Profits were enormous against meager wages never before had the rich been so rich and the poor so poor an imbalance that by 1890 helped one percent of the population own as much as the remaining 99 percent put together 3

ded Age Gospel of Social Salvation A REDEMPTIVE VISION FOR SOCIETY Washington Gladden 1836 1918 and Walter Rauschenbusch 1861 1918 were leading voices who addressed the desperate plight of a rapidly growing underclass of wage earning industrial workers and their families Gladden wrote Working Men and Their Employers in 1876 Thirty years later Rauschenbusch wrote Christianity and the Social Crisis the single most influential book produced by the Social Gospel movement It was the product of ten years of ministering to the poor in the Hell s Kitchen section of New York City followed by ten years of theological reflection on the social implications of Jesus teaching about the kingdom of God Rauschenbusch came to believe that America was facing its greatest social crisis He argued persuasively that the well being of laboring families and democracy itself were put at risk by the new industrial order because it denied them a living wage and the opportunity for social advancement The Social Gospel reformers were motivated to action by a redemptive vision for America The singular contribution of the Social Gospel to Christian thought was its insight that sin has a corporate dimension that corrupts social institutions just as thoroughly as it corrupts and hardens the hearts of sinful individuals Evangelical revivalists denounced as sins the popular pastimes of the working class such as smoking gambling and dancing Social Gospel preachers did too but they also condemned the systemic injustices that allowed for monopolistic business practices and price fixing by giant corporations They warned that the concentration of immense wealth in the hands of a few would subvert the democratic process They protested when business made profit maximization its Iron Rule at the expense of the Golden Rule which seeks the good of all They denounced the boom and bust economy that created unstable social conditions in which unemployment crime disease alcoholism and prostitution flourished They were troubled by the powerlessness of workers to improve their circumstances Most disturbing was their realization that the traditional American values of thrift and honest hard work leading to a better richer life could no longer be relied on as it had been in previous generations THE WAY WE ONCE WERE The celebration of free labor and the American work ethic was a popular theme in early America In an 1855 address Henry Ward Beecher said with pride Among us and from the beginning work has been honorable It has been honorable to dig to hew to build to reap to wield the hammer at the forge and the saw at the bench It has been honorable because our people have been taught that each man is set to make the most of himself The crown for every victory gained in a struggle of skill or industry over matter is placed upon the soul and thus among a free people industry becomes education Go where you will a Yankee is a working creature He is the honeybee of mankind But with all this Walter Rauschenbusch 23

Redeeming the The Gild industry you shall find nowhere on earth so little drudging work as in the North 4 In 1850 the American Dream loomed large on the American landscape By the 1870s dark clouds had gathered on the horizon in the land of opportunity From the beginning of the 19th century to the Civil War the American Dream for the working man was steady advancement toward self sufficiency through his labor After the Civil War when the factory system rapidly replaced small artisan producers there was a sharp increase in drudging dead end work and a steep decline in opportunities for social advancement by workers As the promise of the Dream faded for millions of these new industrial workers the Dream lived on in the popular imagination undiminished There was no great outcry by the general public The prosperity of the nation as a whole increased at an astonishing rate Factory produced goods became plentiful and cheap even as wages remained oppressively low The generation that witnessed great leaps in technological innovation and mass production marveled at what had been done in their lifetime They were transfixed by an optimistic expectation of a bright future that held the promise of 24 even greater prosperity and spectacular achievements while the wretched working poor and people of color among them remained largely invisible THE DREAM IN DECLINE Wealth disparity social injustice and widespread want among the lower working classes contributed to the present crisis which Walter Rauschenbusch described in Christianity and the Social Crisis He believed the chief cause of the crisis was income inequality between capital and labor a disparity that was also subversive to American democracy If a class arrives at economic wealth it will gain political influence and some form of representation If therefore we have a class that owns a large part of the national wealth it is idle to suppose that this class will not see to it that the vast power exerted by the machinery of government serves its interests And if we have a class which is economically dependent and helpless it is idle to suppose that it will be allowed an equal voice in swaying political power 5 Washington Gladden was another whose eyes were not blind to the plight of the laboring classes He grew to adulthood in the years leading up to the Civil War and witnessed the changes to American society in the decades following It is not very many years since society in this country was quite homogeneous the economical distinction between capitalist and laborer was not clearly marked for most capitalists were laborers and most laborers were capitalists the social distinction was not emphasized there was really but one social class But our material progress has given full scope to the principle of differentiation the wage workers are now distinctly marked off from employers and capitalists labor itself has become highly specialized and even the old mechanical trades are split into fractional parts through the use of machinery industrial groups are numerous separate disparate the lines of social distinction are sharply drawn 6 The leaders of the Social Gospel movement saw the American Dream as something that made America great in a Christian sense Belief in the Dream affirmed the fundamental Christian values of opportunity for personal redemption and betterment as well as advancing a greater social good and the kingdom of God The purpose of the dream was to lift up the lowly and fill the hungry with good things 7 Christian social reformers like Rauschenbusch embodied the communitarian ideals of John Winthrop we must delight in each other make others condition our own rejoice together mourn together labor and suffer together 8 In the Gilded age when it was every man for himself too many were trapped in their miserable lowly estate Too many remained hungry sick and tired with no one to sympathize with them and lift them up In the 1870s and 80s the American

CONTINUED ded Age Gospel of Social Salvation Labor Movement began to gain momentum on a national scale around a dream to improve the lives of the millions of wage earning men women and children across all trades and industries Unionization was their response to cutthroat business practices which kept wages at rock bottom levels They worked long hours at repetitive strenuous tasks in factories where working conditions were unsafe and unsanitary The specialization of factory labor robbed the free laborer of his opportunity to become an independent craftsman and capitalist The factory system reduced labor to many small steps in a manufacturing process Workers had absolutely no bargaining power because businesses pitted their employees against the steady stream of unemployed immigrants who flooded into American cities by the millions eager to do any work at any wage In fact working men women and children were caught in a perfect storm of stubborn social forces that held them in the firm grip of subsistence level living Their plight was made worse by severe fluctuations in the business cycle that threw millions out of work for months or years at a time and downturns were seized upon by employers as opportunities to reduce the hours and wages of the laborers they continued to employ The Knights of Labor was founded in 1869 to give workers a united and more powerful voice A general assembly convened by the Knights in 1878 adopted a vision statement calling for uniting of working people regardless of trade race or gender into one national labor union and the creation of a just society in which moral worth not wealth was the measure of greatness and where labor and capital cooperated for a common national good that served the interests of all Added to this proclamation was a list of short term goals The abrogation of all laws that do not bear equally upon capital and labor The enactment of laws to compel chartered corporations to pay their employees weekly in full for labor performed during the preceding week The prohibition of the employment of children in workshops mines and factories before attaining their fourteenth year To secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work The reduction of the hours of labor to eight per day 9 WHOSE DREAM IS IT In the 1880s and 90s these reform measures were loudly criticized as radically contrary to the traditional American values of free labor and individual initiative The popular attitude toward labor lagged far behind new workplace realities Another cultural headwind that blew back against the demands of organized labor was the rising influence of the Horatio Alger dime novels that cultivated a rags to riches narrative Alger s storyline held that any young white man by sheer determination and personal initiative could achieve the American Dream Social Darwinism also flourished Its proponents applied the principle of survival of the fittest to the competition between nations races and businesses Consequently the titans of capital who were of Western European descent were lionized in the press and celebrated as the fittest and noblest specimens of Anglo Saxon humanity They created 25

Redeeming the The Gild monopolies that enabled them to corner their markets and close the path of success to any rivals who tried to follow in their steps There was no level playing field on which to compete Their workers were paid a market wage rather than a living wage and were treated as just another natural resource to be exploited While the newspapers were burnishing the All American image of the giants of capital the steady tide of immigration was changing the face of labor By the 1870s one third of the work force consisted of immigrants most of whom were neither of Western European descent nor Protestant A CONFLICTED CHURCH Proponents of the Social Gospel saw the church as having a large stake in this clash of values between rich and poor classes They realized that the Labor Question was one of its main spiritual battlefields Rauschenbusch believed that the Church is to be the incarnation of the Christ spirit on earth the organized conscience of Christendom It should be the swiftest to awaken to every undeserved suffering bravest to speak against every wrong and the strongest to rally the moral forces of the community against everything that threatens the better life among men 10 However many clergymen chose to remain silent on the controversial Labor Question Historians report that published sermons of the period suggest that universals replaced specifics in most Sunday morning services They estimate that less than five percent mentioned social or economic problems Many ministers of the era were so committed to 26 the ideal of personal regeneration that they expressed little concern for society in general 11 Washington Gladden worried that the Christian clergy might lack the conviction and courage to stand against the prevailing winds of the political and economic status quo There is imminent danger that our churches instead of shaping society will be shaped by society that the laws of nature working themselves out in the world of finance and exchanges will domineer the Christian law that the fissure now running through the social world and threatening to become a great gulf fixed between the employing and laboring classes will divide the religious world as well 12 Gladden s fears of a coming religious divide were well founded The churches of the Gilded Age became passionately polarized on the Labor Question The majority by far came down on the side of capital against organized labor The Congregationalist in an opinion piece in the May 13 1887 issue suggested the Gatling gun as the best way to deal with a mob of workers In another issue The Congregationalist characterized the unemployed as profane licentious filthy vermin swarming thieves petty robbers and sometimes murderers social pests and perambulatory nuisances 13 These disparaging remarks were characteristic of religious publications Typically their voice was that of white Protestant America which was frightened by the steady stream of Italian Polish Slavic and Jewish strangers into America s cities Upon their arrival they were viewed as foreign invaders who held subversive ideologies Campaigns were organized to Christianize and Americanize them Their squalid living conditions were seen as due not to widespread discrimination and systemic social injustice but to their personal moral depravity and general godlessness The Social Gospel movement battled the popular mindset that blamed the victims of poverty for their misery and which distinguished between the deserving poor and all the rest Eventually government agencies began publishing reports that indicated workers were more often unemployed due to injuries on the job than to drink or indolence Realizations such as this brought the unique insights of Gladden and other like minded social reformers into play in the discussions about the sources of social problems LEGACY OF THE SOCIAL GOSPEL The Social Gospel movement planted seeds that bore fruit in the Progressive Era and beyond Most notably four amendments to the United States Constitution ratified between 1913 and 1920 addressed social justice issues A graduated income tax the popular election of senators the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors and granting women the vote were adopted to strengthen democracy and create a more equitable and just society Other political reforms such as the initiative and referendum were adopted by many states In 1935 the National Labor Relations Act affirming the right of employees to organize into trade unions and to bargain collectively with their employers was passed by

CONTINUED ded Age Gospel of Social Salvation The Rev Norm Erlendson is Pastor of Third Congregational Church Middletown Connecticut He has been a member of the Washington Gladden Society for many years and is currently its president He also has served as Moderator of the Fellowship of Northeast Congregational Christian Churches Norm earned a master s degree in Early Christian History from the University of Washington and a master s degree in Christian Theology and Ethics from the New College Berkeley California Congress These Progressive era and New Deal reforms created new social conditions in which the American Dream was able to flourish for more millions of citizens than ever before Proponents of the Social Gospel shared in the prejudices of their age Yet for all their faults false turns and failures they were a school of prophetic voices that pricked the conscience of a nation and its churches They were inspired by the prayer that Jesus gave the church Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven The Social Gospel 1 Lawrence R Samuel The American Dream A Cultural History Syracuse Syracuse University Press 2012 13 2 Jim Cullen The American Dream The Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation New York Oxford University Press 2003 3 Otto L Bettmann The Good Old Days They Were Terrible New York Random House 1974 67 4 Henry Ward Beecher Conflict of Northern and Southern Theories of Man and Society Rochester Steam Press of A Strong and Co 1855 39 5 Rauschenbusch Christianity and the Social Crisis New York Macmillan Company 1907 253 254 6 Washington Gladden Social Facts and Forces New York Macmillan 1897 194 195 7 Luke 1 52 53 was a movement of American dreamers informed by the teaching of Jesus and committed to their dream of making America a just and good commonwealth for all A shining city upon a hill 8 John Winthrop A Model of Christian Charity in American Puritans Perry Miller ed Garden City Anchor Books 1956 83 9 Janette Thomas Greenwood The Gilded Age A History in Documents New York Oxford Press 2000 52 53 10 Rauschenbusch 287 11 William Bos and Clyde Faries The Social Gospel Preaching Reform 1875 1915 in Preaching in American History Dewitt Holland editor Nashville Abingdon Press 1969 225 226 12 Washington Gladden Working People and their Employers New York Funk and Wagnalls 1894 187 188 13 William Bos and Clyde Faries 228 229 27

Lois Hei Necrology2018 Picture yourself here Barbara Janikowsky Barbara Janikowsky passed away February 4 2018 at age 94 A member of North Shore Congregational Church in Fox Point Wisconsin Barbara Janikowsky contributed years of service to the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches culminating in the NACCC Executive Citation in 1990 Between 1975 and 1991 she served on various committees and chaired the Executive Women s Commission and Personnel and Administration and NACCC Office Renovation committees She also co chaired the 21st Century Fund drive in Wisconsin She was a member of the Nominating and Program Committees as well as four Executive Search Committees and three Annual Meeting Planning Committees She was 1987 1988 NACCC National Moderator Barbara was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison and did her post graduate study at Northwestern University Music School She was past president of both the Whitefish Bay Woman s Club and Milwaukee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution She was also past Wisconsin State Regent of the DAR and a member of the National Speaker s Bureau and the National Officer s Club Washington D C past senior State President of the Children of the American Revolution and awarded the Medal of Appreciation and the Martha Washington Medal by the Wisconsin Society Sons of the American Revolution and a Member of the College Endowment Association She was also Life member and former board member of the Junior Achievement Women s Association founding member of Shelomoth Temple Daughter of the Nile Pi Beta Phi Sorority and appointed by Wisconsin Governor Lucey to the Wisconsin Bicentennial Commission Barbara Janikowsky was preceded in death by her husband Earl E Janikowsky She is survived by a son a daughter and two grandchildren Memorials to North Shore Congregational Church or New Castle Memory Care would be appreciated Lois A Heilmann of Glenshaw Lois A Heilmann of Glenshaw of Glenshaw Pennsylvania died peacefully on February 22 2018 Lois spent most of her career as a legal secretary and executive secretary She worked at Consolidated Coal Company and retired from Doepken Keevican Weiss law firm She was a loyal member and former secretary of First Congregational Church of Etna Lois served in various leadership positions in the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches including Women s Commission 1983 1987 Congregational Christian Church Development 1988 1992 Secretary 1992 2002 Program Committee 2002 2004 and Nominating Committee 2004 2006 She is survived by numerous family members and her friend and caretaker Sharon Hannan Memorials may be made to Animal Friends 562 Camp Home Road Pittsburgh PA 15237 28 We are seeking a new Senior Minister to replace our retiring pastor Our church is located in the beautiful paradise we know as Florida s South West coast Our congregation is healthy happy and poised for the next chapter in our history To receive a complete church profile regarding this position email us at admin taecc com We welcome your inquiry 1619 Llewellyn Drive Fort Myers FL 33901 239 334 4978 www taecc com McGraft Memorial Congregational Church Muskegon Michigan Located in Western Michigan on the shore of Lake Michigan SEEKING FULL TIME SENIOR PASTOR Our Purpose Statement Celebrate God through worship and praise Care and serve in Christian love Lead people to Christ and into the family of God Encourage spiritual growth See our Church Information Form on the NACCC Also see our Web site at mcgraftmemorialchurch org

CONGREGATIONALIST READER SURVEY 2018 NACCC is committed to The Congregationalist As we plan for the future we want to ensure that the magazine serves the needs and interests of our readers while meeting budgetary goals Your input is vital to our planning Thank you for taking the time to share your opinions Please mail your completed survey to Tracy Bernhardt NACCC 8473 South Howell Avenue Oak Creek WI 53154 Or fax it to 414 764 0319 1 Do you belong to an NACCC member church Yes No 9 How disappointed would you be if The Congregationalist were no Not sure longer available as a print copy Very disappointed 2 Where do you get the magazine Personal copy Somewhat disappointed Church copy Library copy Not at all disappointed Other please specify Would no longer read the magazine ____________________________________________________ 3 How often do you read The Congregationalist Four times a year 10 Rarely Would you be willing to make an annual contribution to the magazine if it helped ensure The Congregationalist continued to be Occasionally available in print Never Yes I would be comfortable with at least a 4 How much of the magazine do you typically read All of it Some of it 15 donation each year None of it No I would not want to make an annual contribution Other please explain 5 What do you look forward to reading 11 Rank 1 8 with 1 being your favorite Editorials and opinion pieces Would you be more likely to make an annual contribution to the magazine if you received a yearly solicitation from NACCC Technology applications for churches Yes I would be more likely to donate Congregational history No it wouldn t make a difference News about missions Other Strategies to help churches with today s challenges ____________________________________________________ News from churches regional and local associations NACCC news and information 12 Theological and philosophical reflection We invite you to share your thoughts and comments Thank you for completing the survey regarding The Congregationalist 6 How do you prefer to read magazines 13 Your input is greatly appreciated You can submit your As a print publication responses anonymously For more information about The On a laptop or desktop computer Congregationalist subscribing donating and more you are invited to On a mobile device smart phone tablet etc provide us with your name and contact information ____________________________________________________ 7 How often do you read The Congregationalist online Every issue Occasionally Never ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ 8 How likely would you be to read The Congregationalist online if it ____________________________________________________ were provided in a more readable format ____________________________________________________ Very likely Somewhat likely Not at all likely ____________________________________________________ Name _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Company __________________________________________ Address 1 _____________________________________________________ Address 2 ____________________________________________ City Town _______________ State Province _____ Zip ________________ Email _________________________________________________ Phone __________________________________________________ 29

AND Pastorates PULPITS AWAKENINGS Congregational Symposium Explore Congregationalism s involvement in the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries and how it informs our identity today KEYNOTE SPEAKER In Search Senior Minister Congregational Church of Bound Brook N J First Congregational Church Ashland Neb First Congregational Church Crown Point N Y First Congregational Church Fall River Mass First Congregational Church Interlachen Fla First Congregational Church Marshfield Mass First Congregational Church Portland Mich First Congregational Church Royal Oak Mich First Congregational Church Saugerties N Y First Congregational Church Terre Haute Ind First Congregational Road Church Stonington Conn Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church Brooklyn N Y Founders Congregational Church Harwinton Conn Mayflower Congregational Church Mansfield Ohio McGraft Memorial Congregational Church Muskegon Mich Mohegan Congregational Church Uncasville Conn Mount Hope Congregational Church Livonia Mich Ozaukee Congregational Church Grafton Wisc Plymouth Congregational Church Kenosha Wisc Second Congregational Church Jewett City Conn Stafford Springs Congregational Church Stafford Springs Conn Thomas A Edison Congregational Church Ft Myers Fla Tinley Park Community Church Tinley Park Ill Trinity Congregational Church Adams Wisc Associated Pastor Amelia Christian Church Clayton N C Non NACCC Church First Congregational Church Laurel Mont 30 The Rev Dr Eric Elnes Author Gifts of the Dark Wood October 11 13 2018 First Congregational Church Marshalltown Iowa FCC Marshalltown symposium host Papers are invited on symposium themes Awakening in History Awakening in Spirit Awakening to New Dreams drcapacker gmail com Contact Rev Dr Charles Packer 1 800 262 1620 Ext 1613 drcapacker gmail com 1 800 262 1620 Ext 1613

2018 CALENDAR July 16 2018 General copy deadline for The Congregationalist June 2018 issue Contact Marianne King editor Marianne kingwi gmail com or 800 262 1620 ext 1624 JUNE 15 16 2018 Faith For Such a Time as This The Old Meeting House Congregational Church Colegate Norwich Norfolk England www oldmeetinghousechurch org uk JUNE 22 2018 Quiet Day Retreat Spiritual Ministry Center one block from the Pacific Ocean at 822 Del Mar Avenue San Diego CA JUNE 23 26 2018 64th Annual Meeting Conference of the National Association of Congregational Churches San Diego Marriott Mission Valley 8757 Rio San Diego Drive San Diego CA JULY 29 AUGUST 3 2018 Boston Seminar in Congregational History and Polity Mariner s House 11 North Square and Congregational Library 14 Beacon Street Boston MA OCTOBER 11 OCTOBER 13 2018 Awakenings Symposium First Congregational Church 312 West Main Street Marshalltown IA SAVE THE DATES JUNE 22 25 2019 65th Annual Meeting Conference of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Cleveland OH JUNE 27 30 2020 66th Annual Meeting Conference of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and Plymouth 400 Anniversary Celebration Portland ME NACCC Advertising Inquiries Editorial Inquiries Subscription Inquiries 8473 South Howell Avenue Oak Creek WI 53154 naccc naccc org Marianne E King 800 262 1620 ext 1624 editor naccc org Carrie Dahm 800 262 1620 ext 1612 cdahm naccc org Tracy Bernhardt 800 262 1620 ext 1615 naccc naccc org Articles and editorials in The Congregationalist are by the authority of the editor and do not necessarily reflect policies and opinions of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches The NACCC reserves freedom of expression to its authors as well as freedom of opinion to its readers Copy deadline for each issue is noted in the previous issue s Calendar section Letters to the Editor are welcome All letters may be edited for clarity and length We regret we cannot publish or respond to all letters The NACCC reserves the right to refuse any advertisement Editor Marianne E King Publisher Carrie Dahm Contributing Editor Linda Miller Graphic Design Goes Studio Editorial Advisory Team Rev Dawn Carlson Rev Dr Donald Olsen Randy Asendorf Rev Dr Michael Glidden Rev Barry W Szymanski J D Subscriptions Policy One subscription is provided free of charge to each individual requestor who is a member of a church in fellowship with the National Association One complimentary Newcomer Copy will be sent to any person one time only upon request by a church in fellowship with the National Association A subscription to The Congregationalist is provided free of charge to each church in fellowship with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and one to each accredited theological seminary on the magazine s mailing list Single copies may be purchased from the National Association office for 3 75 plus 3 20 to cover shipping and handling We seek and gratefully accept voluntary donations to help keep this magazine in print Donations are tax deductible except for the first 15 of donation per subscription received by the taxpayer per year The Congregationalist ISSN 0010 5856 Postage paid at Madison WI 53714 9998 Published quarterly by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches 8473 S Howell Ave Oak Creek WI 53201 0288 Periodicals postage paid at Madison WI and additional mailings offices POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Congregationalist 8473 S Howell Ave Oak Creek WI 53201 0288 The Congregationalist Online Our Web site congregationalist org features PDF files of the current issue plus back issues and a searchable index of all articles Each new issue is posted on the Web when the printed version is mailed so you can read it online days or even weeks before the printed copy reaches your mailbox Enjoy SUBSCRIBING CANCELING MOVING Email us at naccc naccc org The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Bringing together Congregational Christian Churches for mutual care and outreach to our world in the name of Jesus Christ 2018 The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches All rights reserved 31

8473 South Howell Avenue Oak Creek WI 53154 0288 Henry M Dexter Award The Congregational Library Archives is pleased to announce an annual award honoring the work of pastors and scholars as exemplified by emeritus board members Arvel M Steece and Richard Taylor and by nineteenth century scholar Henry M Dexter The award supports study and research by non specialists with preference given to laypeople and pastors The selection criteria include clarity of purpose fit with collection sources and need One award of 1 000 willl be announced in September How to Apply Each application should include A detailed description of a project to be completed at the Library max 3 pages or 1 000 words A list of Library sources to be consulted min 10 sources Letter of reference from non family member sent separately Mail Completed Applications To Congregational Library Archives Attn Executive Director 14 Beacon Street Boston MA 02108