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NEW UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST IN HAMILTON, MT. "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." ~Gracie Allen  A new and progressive community of faith built on love and justice.
WORSHIP: Resuming in September, Twice Monthly, Every First and Third Sunday evenings
WHERE?:
The 1st Christian church across the street from the High School WHY? Every community reflects a profound diversity in its religious landscape. Hamilton is no exception and folks have traveled to Missoula for years to worship at the University Congregational Church (UCC) because of its 'progressive' and non-doctrinal theology and commitment to social justice issues. For years, we have thought that a United Church of Christ should exist in the Bitterroot Valley and now we are in the midst of doing so.
 WHAT? This church is beginning as a satellite congregation of University UCC in Missoula while being in partnership with 1st Christian church (Disciples of Christ) of Hamilton and with the Montana N.-Wyoming Conference of the United Church of Christ and with the Montana Region of the Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ). Thus it is emphatically ecumenical in this partnership and is also intentionally Open and Affirming** as a part of the Missoula church. HOW? This is a new church and as such is a work in process. At its inception it will be creating a worship community which will meet first and third Sunday evenings at 1st Christian Church. As desires become more apparent, other opportunities for ministry and community will emerge. Pastors Peter Shober and Amy Carter of UCC Missoula are committed to offering leadership in these beginning times for this ministry and will be present as much as is possible. It is not the intention to create a duplication of the University Church in Hamilton, but rather to create this new ministry in its own unique evolving way. We will share in an informal worship style that will not look or feel very 'traditional.' We will be flexible instead of fixed; we will be inviting people into a participative rather than spectator context and we will be more about relational than organizational realities. SO, COME! Come as you are and come in the hopes of who you yearn to be. Come, knowing you are extravagantly welcomed. Come, knowing that this emerging ministry reaches out for and honors all of God's people - straight or gay, rich or poor, churched or un-churched. As our denomination says: No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.
 
RECENT MESSAGE Dear Friends in Hamilton, We write with all kinds of information! Primarily we want to give a report of our mini retreat held in Hamilton on Sunday May 18 at the First Christian Church. Eight of us gathered at 4pm to talk about the next steps in this emerging ministry. It was about a year ago that we began planning this ministry; and we have been worshipping together for 5 1/2 months - which is hard to believe! Here are the ideas that came from our discussion. In order to save our energy for fall, and to give us time to develop resources for our plans, we decided not to meet for worship during the summer. We will worship at 7pm on Sunday, June 1, and then resume worship in September. We feel good about what has happened so far. We are committed to expanding and deepening this ministry. We agree that we need a much bigger presence in Hamilton. While not worshipping this summer as normal, we are, however, planning a workshop this summer to which we will invite Hamilton and Missoula folks, possibly meeting somewhere between the two towns, but probably at the church in Hamilton (stay tuned). We have tentatively scheduled it for July 19 from 10am to 3pm, including a potluck lunch. Location and workshop description and confirmed date will be available soon. (See more information below) Peter Shober is willing to spend 2-3 days in Hamilton in the summer or fall, meeting people and attending relevant meetings or groups as a way of making known the presence and purpose of this new worshipping community, and talking with some of the people in Hamilton who might want to know about it. There is an informal group of people who have started a monthly spiritual gathering in the area. We want to find out more about them. The Ravalli County Fair is held on Labor Day weekend. We plan to have a booth there, staffed by people from the Missoula church and with folk from Hamilton, offering various kinds of literature about the Hamilton ministry and about progressive Christian issues and thought. We are also interested in possibly participating in Daly Days. This would certainly be a bit like 'coming out of the closet!" We need to put energy into publicity. We can put ads or articles in local newspapers. We think it would be useful to develop both a brochure and a website and/or blog. We also spoke about the conference that Peter and Daryl Kistler (UCC pastor at Kalispell - the last new church start for the UCC in Mt.) will be attending in Atlanta in August. It is called the "New Church Leadership: Now is the Time for New Church Development" and it is a high quality gathering for UCC folk around the country who are committed to doing what we are committed to doing and this could give us some truly great resources. Funding for this is being mostly provided by the Western Association of our Conference of the UCC so we are in deep appreciation to them... Stay tuned. We shared supper, and a few more people joined us for worship. We agreed to stay connected by email as we pursue these ideas. Regarding the Retreat: Saturday, July 19 Janis Springer, our Minster of Spiritual Formation will lead a retreat entitled, Reclaiming Christianity from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at First Christian Church in Hamilton. Please see this link for details about this retreat.
Blessings, |