UCC cousins across the pond

     I visited our UCC cousins, the United Reformed Church (URC) in Great Britain this summer.  They are a loose union (sound familiar?) of 1500 English, Scottish and Welsh congregations (three nations, different laws) from Congregational, Disciples and Presbyterian heritage (only 3?- the UCC has 4 predecessor bodies.) 
    (One could say the URC is sort of our uncle and aunt; their ancestor, the English Congregationalist John Robinson in 1620 sent the Pilgrims off to the new world with the words, "There is yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s holy word," ie, God is still speaking.)
     Actually, the URC’s General Secretary, Roberta Rominger, even IS UCC.  A Californian, she holds her ministerial standing in our Conference.  She grew up in Foothills UCC, Los Altos, but has spent most of her ministry in the UK.  Two years ago she became the first woman and first Yank to be elected to the URC’s highest post.  (see Pacific story)
     I was in the UK this summer to attend my daughter’s graduation from the University of St. Andrews, and wangled an invitation to represent the UCC at the URC’s biennial assembly at the University of Loughborough, near Nottingham.  Some reflections on how they are like and unlike us, and about visiting cousins:
   -Your basic big church meeting in the gym, but for their first time they had round tables for delegates, rather than theatre (sic) seating and encouraged conversations and shared projects by table (we did a jigsaw puzzle of the world, wrote in the dirt like Jesus, and shared communion.)
   -They vote by consensus - that was different.  Oh, occasionally it got to “all in favor say aye,” but the bulk of the effort was to “come to one mind” and “discern God’s will in our work.”  Each delegate (and we international visitors were given full voting rights) had a blue and an orange card.  Orange meant you were “warm to the idea.”  Blue, cold.  (I was told it was not green and red since those colors are hard for colorblind people.)  Throughout debate the moderator would stop and ask for a show of cards before proceeding, and if there were just a few blue cards they got called on for info or clarification and an attempt to move forward.  It worked remarkably well - we should try it!
    -They are struggling with aging congregations and buildings (and we’re talking aging - some buildings are 400 year old.)  50 churches had closed in the past two years, and a poignant section in the booklet was each church’s story.  They also welcomed 50 new ministers, both young and second career.
    -A parallel Children’s Assembly had 50 kids ages 7-16, chosen from each of 13 regions (synods), who did usual kid things.  But they also strongly asserted in a video made at the Assembly and shown to the group that they were “disciples in training, not disciples in waiting."  In their sessions they learned about the Assembly’s business, and they were present at key votes to speak to the issues.  Before we voted on the two hot button social resolutions, the Nestlé’s boycott and child deportation (of immigrant kids, a big controversy in the UK), the delegates delayed until the kids came in and shared their opinions.
    -The URC had hired our own Ron Buford to consult with them about a “God is Still Speaking” type initiative (after General Secretary Rominger experienced GISS here at an NCNC Annual Gathering.)  Eventually the URC decided to form their own brand, but there was still all the heated debate about branding, advertising, etc.
     -It’s interesting to be grouped with the “international visitors.”  I made friends with church leaders from Germany, Burma, Mozambique, Italy (Waldensians), ecumenical visitors from the UK - Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, and interfaith visitors from the local area, led by a Muslim woman.
    -And I was obviously not in the US.  All those “brilliants” and “splendids” and “lovelys.”  We even sang a hymn with the line, “God, you are lovely.”  And I refrained from voting on the resolution congratulating the Queen on her upcoming diamond jubilee.
     -But they do have a sense of humor.  In honor of our proximity to Nottingham, the new “Robin Hood Initiative” was introduced by folks dressed like the merry men, advocating a tax on banks that are profiting at the expense of the poor.
     -And of course the best thing about conferences like this is the friends you make.  I was glad to reconnect with my seminary classmates Roberta Rominger and her husband Dale, also a UCC/URC minister.  And my new friend is Aled Edwards, Anglican director of a Wales interfaith justice center who gleefully told me of his vacation in Berkeley in the fall of 2008 which he spent working the phones for Obama and celebrating in Oakland on election night.  “Never have I experienced such generosity of spirit and hope than in those weeks.  I love America!”  That was great to hear.