ANNUAL MEETING- January 22, 2012

First Congregational United Church of Christ

At 20 Oak Street in Downtown Asheville

PO Box 3211

Asheville, NC 28802

(828)-252-8729

www.uccasheville.org

Joe Hoffman, Senior Minister

Shannon Spencer, Associate Minister

Gary Mitchell, Commissioned Minister of Music and Art

Harper Leich, Office Manager

Report From the Moderator

2011 has been one of the most harmonious years for the church in recent memory.  Congregational meetings have seen little controversy and all proposals have been passed with near unanimity.  Executive Board meetings have operated in a similar fashion.  With the various parts of the Body of Christ functioning well together, much has been accomplished.

Among the most visible accomplishments of the year was the completion and dedication of the Memorial Garden between the Sanctuary and Education buildings.  In spite of many frustrating (and expensive) complications, this beautiful space is now functioning in ways that help us to remember that our community extends beyond the present moment and is built on the foundation of those saints who have gone before us.

At the same time that we acknowledge our past, the Solar panels which have been installed on the roof of the Education building witness to the larger community our dedication to stewardship of the world which God has provided for us.

The Church continues to recognize that, as the Body of Christ, we are called upon to minister to more than our own “fingers and toes” and through our ongoing involvement in the larger community, whether through our ministry to the Homeless in Asheville, our provision of office space for the Campaign for Southern Equality,  our outreach to communities in Nicaragua and Egypt, or all of the many ministries coordinated and supported by our Christian Action Committee, we have endeavored to fulfill that call.

A dedicated Task force on Governance  has struggled, throughout the year, with investigating how we might more effectively organize ourselves to accomplish our ministries.  During this fall, individual and staff interviews and focus groups helped gather and clarify issues and concerns.  The task force has also been looking at models that have worked well in other congregations and looking at changes that may need to be made in our bylaws.  Even though this will bring some major changes and is an ongoing process, the task force hopes to begin putting some of the new structure in place this next year. They have surveyed the congregation and sought insight in a variety of other ways and are nearing recommendations.  Roy Dunlap has taken on major leadership for guiding the task force and other members are Spence Duin, Carol Groben and Alice Martin-Adkins, with Joe Hoffman as our staff person.  Chris Nealis and Wes Heath have also been helpful consultants.  Board and Committee members have agreed to continue into the new year in their positions in anticipation that the new structure will be in place before very long.

All of this has been accomplished without necessitating the bare bones budgeting of the recent past.  Indications are that we approach the next year with reasonable expectations that we can continue to underwrite the many ministries of the Church with continuing confidence.

Phil Sageser, Moderator

Report from the Senior Pastor

Annual Report of the Senior Minister for 2011

Rev. Joe Hoffman

It is always interesting to look back and report on the previous year. 2011 was a difficult year in terms of a struggling economy which has meant a high poverty rate in North Carolina and a number of people out of work. It has been a year when our legislature in Raleigh has tried to undo a lot of the progress on justice issues accomplished by previous political leaders – like the Racial Justice Act. It was also a year when our state legislature finally succeeded in voting to have “marriage being only between a man and woman” placed on the ballot as an amendment to our constitution – the vote to come middle of this coming year. Nationally, our president has pulled our forces from Iraq while the war in Afghanistan continues. And it has been a year when we watch changes in our environment and wonder what it means.

I begin with the state of North Carolina and the world because I think it important to remember the context in which the church exists. Our faith can never be just an individualistic one. We are faithful to Christ in the context of following him into the world and living an ethic of love and compassion amidst all that happens in this larger arena.

As a congregation, we have had what I think has been a good year. Most of the particular news of our year can be found in the other annual reports, which I urge you to read. I will only highlight a few specifics in my report, and will also offer a larger overview.

I am very proud that in April we became the first faith community in Western North Carolina – and actually one of only a few in the whole state – to have solar panels installed. These panels were made possible by the diligence of the Earth Team to find a creative way to do this. That involved a lot of research and a partnership with the Appalachian Institute for Renewable Energy and North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light. As a result of our efforts, a number of other faith communities here in Asheville and across the state have asked for our help so that they might also install solar panels as well. I want to especially thank Stan Corwin and Ron Martin-Adkins for their leadership in this area.

I am also pleased that we now have a long anticipated Memorial Garden. I am grateful to Gary Mitchell for his staff leadership on this project, and to all who worked with him to make it possible. It was a real team effort. I also want to thank Mary Weber for donating her time and expertise to create the design of the garden. This will be a very important and sacred space for us for years to come.

During the course of the year we had 23 new members join the church, 4 members resigned from the church, and we had 2 deaths.

New members – Jeff Silverman, Penny Silverman, Marcella Gonzalez, Linda and Roy Dunlap, Ashley Merrill and Sarah Owenby, Rob Montague, Jim and Ann Beggs, Jennifer Cournoyer, Jen Stump, Holly Newton, Ed Hillman and Leslie Sladky-Hillman, Heather Talley and Lee Crayton and confirmands – Joy Bangonan, Shanel Bangonan, Willie Burke, Serena Dotson-Smith, Zack Lebbon, Luke Sageser.

Deaths – Billie Buckingham, Rozanne Archer

Resigned Membership – Luis and Marilyn Uranga, Doug and Pat Williams

I have enjoyed having more time to teach and lead groups in the past year, something I was not able to do so much in previous years when we were having capital campaigns, moving to new locations, and trying to survive a few years during very low church financial times. But last year that changed, much to my delight. I try to teach at least one adult class a quarter, and often have helped to lead more. I have found that we are hungry to talk about faith – who is God, who are we in relation to God, how do we pray, and so forth. These are questions that never have final answers – and it is so good to share our thoughts as we also connect more with one another. I have taught a class on grief and faith, which still continues, and has proven to be a very powerful way for those with grief to find a sense of community with others who experience the same reality.

We had the good pleasure last fall to host a group of young adults and youth from Mulheim, Germany for several days. This is a partnership that began a number of years ago when I traveled to Germany with other UCC pastors from the Southern Conference and met Rev. Katrin Schirmer. I think this is now the third time that she has brought a group here to visit.

I have enjoyed working with Ron Vinson to lead afternoon conversations on meditation, on how to have a conversation, and such. We also co-led a retreat last fall to the Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center in Tennessee with about 12 people.

Speaking of retreats, we had our second annual all church retreat at the Blowing Rock Conference Center last August. As always, it was a wonderful time to be together. My thanks to Shannon Spencer and Yolanda Adams for their leadership in making this happen, and to the Deacons for sponsoring this.

We tried something new in 2011 – a Thursday evening worship service called Grace on Thursdays. Actually, this kicked off in the fall of 2010. The attendance was 30 or so at the most, but routinely we only had about 6 -8 – which included me and/or Shannon and the FireOne Band. We came to realize this was not sustainable, so we ended this service in the late summer of last year. It was a good experience –and worth doing. I don’t know what we might next try.

In a year when the government was cutting its funding by up to 25% for a lot of social programs that people depend on, I am proud that our church did what we could to be an agent of hope and compassion in the community. In Gary’s report is listed all the community groups that used our building during the year – many on a weekly basis. Our Christian Action Committee oversaw the distribution of over $17,000 for support and partnership with justice groups in Asheville and across the world, with some of that money in the pastor discretionary fund going to help people with basic needs like needing food, gas, a bus ticket, and so forth. We also received 4 special offerings through the year that the national UCC urges us to participate in – One Great Hour of Sharing, Neighbors in Need, Strengthen the Church, and the Christmas Fund. For these offerings, plus generous giving of a fifth ask for people suffering  from storm damage, we gave an additional $2960. Thus, we gave a total of about $20,000 last year to causes beyond our church – and I am proud of this, and yet I invite us to be even more generous in this coming year as the needs around us are so great.

I want to name a few other events that we either lead or partner with others in leading. We joined with a coalition of community groups and faith communities in the past year on a resolution to City Council on Domestic Partner Benefits and Anti-Bullying legislation. This was passed and offers a sign of hope for justice changes yet to come for the LGBT community. We also have offered office space to the Campaign for Southern Equality which led the We Do campaign in October – a campaign in which 20 LGBT couples went with a support team to request marriage licenses at the Register of Deeds office. They were denied these licenses due to North Carolina law, which we knew would be the case. But two of our members, Elizabeth Eve and Kathryn Cartledge, refused to leave when denied a license and were arrested. This act of Civil Disobedience was covered by all the local press and was eventually seen or heard about through social media by over 1 million people. I am proud that we are part of such bold, courageous, faithful acts in this day and time. They have a court date Jan. 24.

This has been a year of transition in terms of our governance structure, and that will continue in the coming year. Our old system of a committee structure with an Executive Board was mostly dysfunctional in 2011. That is not a bad thing – we knew it would be so. It is just a sign of the changing times. I am grateful to Phil Sageser, our moderator, and Alice Martin-Adkins, our assistant moderator, for helping to steer the course during the year. We kept a good eye on how things were going even as it might have appeared things were just falling apart. This old system will continue for a few months in 2012 (my thanks to leaders for being willing to continue serving a few extra months) until the Governance and Ministry Task Force brings a motion to the congregation in the spring to begin a transition to a new governing system. This task force has worked hard to begin putting a new plan together, one that the congregation has been invited to offer input into. I enjoy working with this team because they understand the need for this change, and are fun to work with.

I want to thank all of you who volunteer in numerous ways with the ministries of this church. We could not be the church that we are without your help, without your energy and passion and excitement. We hope our new governing structure will open the way for more of us to do the things we really love to do and feel called to do – rather than spending so much time keeping the institution of the church running. I really think the years to come will be very exciting for the church. We will be creating Ministry Teams for all kinds of things – and my hope is that each of us will connect with several teams throughout the year. You will learn much more about that in the early months of this year.

 I want to say a word of thanks to Spencer Duin, chair of Finance and Trustees. Spencer is diligent about keeping us on our financial plan – and in so doing has helped us stay in better shape financially during the past couple of years. He gives a lot of time to go over the numbers and to meet with the staff. I am very thankful.

 I am also so grateful to our staff. They are a very creative and capable team. Harper Leich has now been our Administrative Assistant for a little over a year. She brings an artist’s touch to the job – which you have probably noticed with the art work on the cover of the bulletin each week. She continues to be a great addition to our team, and a joy to work with. Shannon has now been with us for 4 years and is doing some very important work that often is not seen by the whole congregation. Her work with our youth is significant – and I appreciate her willingness to think creatively about how to help these youth develop and grow in faith. She also has quietly created some new groups for young adults and families, offers support and care to the LGBT community in our church and in Asheville, is a strong and caring presence in worship, and so much more. Gary Mitchell has now been with us more than 5 years – and continues to find ways to bring music to worship that is moving, engaging, and diverse in styles. He keeps our sanctuary space beautiful with his artistic creativity – and our art gallery. And he oversees the upkeep of this building – which is always more than we would hope! I am only naming a few things that each staff person does, but there is so much more – and I am grateful for it all.

 I am also grateful for your support of me and our staff. That means so much. Most of us on staff have had some hard times this year in our personal lives, and you have allowed us to be human and to live through those with your generous love and care. That does not happen everywhere, and for that we are so appreciative. The Staff Parish Relations Committee exhibits such care as well as they meet once a month with whomever on staff needs to talk about whatever. They are mostly a committee that the congregation never sees, but their work is so important. That team includes Joyce Rhymer, Dorri Sherrill, Carol Groben, Bill Petz, Paul Gillespie, and John Whitener.

This past year I have continued to be on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Council of Churches, which has been a great experience for me. I will continue in this role for at least one more year. I continue to be a leader with People of Faith for Just Relationships, and am also the board chair for the Campaign for Southern Equality. I attended once again this summer the national gathering of the Children’s Defense Fund, which is always an inspiring and educational event. I meet with a small group of professional men once a month to discuss racism. And this coming year I look forward to a new opportunity – which is to join an accreditation team to evaluate a theological school.  This is the first year the accreditation process has included a local church minister, a practitioner if you will, and I am excited to learn all I can and to offer whatever wisdom I can.

As we look ahead, I want to name that our 100^th anniversary as a church will come about in June of 2014. I want us to celebrate that with special events throughout 2014 – which means we will need to start planning soon.  I also know that we continue to have a learning curve in terms of the use of social media and new technology in ministry. (I am the staff member who finds this most challenging!!) As the world and the church continue to change, we will talk more and more about what it means to be a “member” of a church with newer generations who do not find membership to be important.  These are just a few of the exciting opportunities we have in front of us.

Last summer I celebrated my 15th year as your senior pastor. It has been quite an experience. I feel honored to serve this church and share in our various ministries with you. The challenges facing all churches in the next 10 years will be significant. My hope and prayer is that we will continue to be on the leading edge of finding opportunities to meet those challenges.  May God help us be faithful to that challenge.

Report from the Associate Pastor

Including Christian Education, Softball, ONA, and Stewardship

Grace & Peace, Y’all,

What a year 2011 was!  I can’t say that I’m not thrilled to welcome in the New Year, but first let us take some time to reflect on the many ministries, events, and prayers that have led us to 2012. 

Although it doesn’t always feel like it, our church is on the cusp of the emerging church movement.  While other traditions have layers and layers of hierarchy to sift through, our UCC policy allows for us to move more fluidly, hearing the call of God’s Spirit, and following it wherever it leads.  We’ve tinkered with worship - wanting it to be creative and engaging.  We’ve experimented with worshiping on a different day and time than the traditional Sunday morning hour.  We’ve let a few ministries go and seen rise to others filled with deep passion.  In these years of transition – or to use the words of the great theologian Phyllis Tickle, these years of new reformation…it seems 2 things are certain: 1)  none of us can know what church is going to look like in the coming years  and 2)  some of the ways we are used to doing “church” are no longer working.

For many of us who have grown up in “traditional” church…these shifts in church structure, programming, and worship can feel weird and even wrong.  But in those moments, we are invited to trust each other and God more so than our own comfort.   I can tell you it’s been challenging to hear how many folks want Christian Education opportunities offered at some time other than on Sunday morning.  And how difficult it can be to hold together a dynamic youth group when our youth and families are so over scheduled that a once a week gathering seems impossible.  What we know is...church cannot be, and maybe should not be, what it was even 20 years ago.  Where that is going to take us…who knows?  But if we can hold onto each other I suspect it’s going to be a bumpy but beautiful journey.   And I’m glad we’ll be on it together.

As you have heard, we are in the process of gathering information regarding a new church structure.  It’s been a wonderfully productive process so far with nearly all of the feedback suggesting positive energy for what the possibilities are.  I’m not sure what exactly the new structure will look like, but given the comments and resources the task force has gathered I feel confident it will be one that will involve more not less people.  It will encourage all passions and calls.  It will allow for folks in all walks of their lives and stages of availability to give in the ways that they can rather than having to opt out because they couldn’t meet the prescribed formats of involvement.  It’ll be a work in progress, I’m sure – but it’s also exciting!

Given that many of our committees functioned on a limited basis last year as we began to open ourselves to this transitional time, I am going to include the committee “reports” in this one.  It’ll be nice in a way – to be reminded that our ministries do not operate in a vacuum but are part of a whole that we call First Congregational, United Church of Christ.

Like years past, Christian Education is a moving target.  Each year, we are given the extraordinary privilege (and challenge) of discerning how best to offer our faith story.   In the fall, we began with a kick-off pot luck following worship.  With a bouncy house, sidewalk tables, and a live band – led by our very own Willie Burke – this started off our program year with a bang.  

In the fall we also started a new ministry for our elementary age children – called “Children’s Church”.  To be a welcoming church to all – including families with young children – we wanted to offer this ministry for parents who find it distracting to keep their children in worship for the entire service.    Volunteers (and we will welcome more) lead a time of story and play with children k-4 grade in our Godly Play room following the time with children.  We tried to offer this 2 years ago but didn’t have enough volunteers to make it happen every week.  Thanks in a large part to Kadee Sloan and Ashley Westmoreland we’ve been able to offer this ministry each Sunday.  

Whereas, finding a faithful, inclusive faith curriculum was once our biggest CE struggle, now it’s scheduling.  With families constantly on the move, weekend jobs, 2 household families, sport tournaments, theatre productions, etc. finding a time when adults and/or youth can gather together is difficult.  It can sometimes be disheartening to look around on a Sunday morning and see fewer faces in our Sunday School classrooms.  There can be grief in missing our friends or frustration in feeling like we’re doing something wrong.  The good news, however, is – our numbers aren’t down at all!  We have more children, youth, and adults  - we don’t always see this because participation is happening in programs throughout the week.   You’ll learn about some of these below.

A huge thanks to Meg Word-Sims, who in Feb, will step down from being our Adult CE coordinator.  Meg has worked hard over the past at least 4 years to provide a diverse and meaningful adult Sunday morning adult program.   Tell her how thankful you are for her dedication next time you see her! 

As I mentioned above, our youth group continues to flourish.  In 2009, we took 6 youth to Blowing Rock.  Last year we took 9.  This year we will take 11.  On average we have 7-8 every Sunday morning!  Like all ministries, the subject matter or curriculum or activities might be what gets them in the door but it’s not what keeps them coming back.  It’s the relationships that they have formed with each other.  This happens with church lock-ins, weekend retreats, weekly gatherings filled with fun and substance.

After last year’s confirmation class, we heard from a number of our parents who were worried that their youth would not continue coming to church after the class ended.  Listening to this feedback, as well as hearing that Sunday was the best day for most of our families, I, with the support of Jan Brown and Julie Cummins our CE chair and member respectively, decided to move youth group from Sunday night to Sunday morning.  This has kept many of our youth attending on Sunday morning which also allows their parents to attend SS classes. 

Realizing that always meeting in the classroom and only for an hour would be limiting, we started the Second Sunday of the month service outing.  This allows for our youth to experience what it means to live out their faith in their own town as well as accrue service hours many of them need for school.  They not only learn about the resources in our community, they also get opportunities to walk alongside and talk with folks on the street.  Even though we miss the worship in the Sanctuary, worship still happens…whether we are Ahope or Pritchard Park or eating together at GreenSage.

The Second Sunday Outings are just one example of the ways we are trying to think outside the box to offer faith formation.  Another is softball…

No, we don’t win every game, but we did win some this year!  We had a great and fun-filled season and, just to share with you a bit of how this team represents YOU:  read the following letter sent to Joe from one of the umpires of a game:

Dear Joe,
I wanted to take moment and share something with you while it was fresh on my mind and dear to my heart.
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of umpiring a game that involved the UCC softball team. Let me preface this email by saying that I have umpired for almost 10 years on just about every level one can imagine. I've umpired over 3000 games and can count on my hand how many teams I can remember specifically. This afternoon, your softball team became one of the most memorable teams I've ever umpired. In the last 4 years, Asheville has seen it's church league for softball dissolve. A large part of this is that we had problems with sportsmanship within the league. I've thrown out 2 people in the last 5 years, both in the church league for profanity and unsportsmanlike behavior. I once had a team representing a Presbyterian church here that was removed from the league after their first baseman kicked dirt and it went onto spectators in the stands.  Needless to say, my experiences with church teams leaves me somewhat disheartened by the lack of example that they set for those they are playing or are at the ballpark.
 
Today, my hope was renewed and restored that a church team could serve as an example of Christ for those it comes in contact with. It was by shear coincidence that I ended up on the field that the UCC was playing. Short teammates, they played with less people than their opponent. When they were losing early on, they were still shouting encouragement, laughing, and playing hard. They weren't playing to win necessarily, but playing as a form of fellowship. They were light hearted with their opponent, smiling even when they were out at the hands of the opponent. As they pulled ahead of their opponent and it became a one to two run game and things took a serious turn, they were still a gracious group. On a play that I truly believed to be an out (I was later told by the scorekeeper that I got it wrong), they asked politely why I made that call, accepted it, moved on, but then came up and shook my hand in between innings telling me it was a good call. When the game was over UCC won and though I suspect they were a little surprised, they were gracious in victory. They gathered outside their dugout after shaking hands and joined hands to say a prayer. Afterwards, Shannon came back on the field letting my umpiring partner, Tyler, know they had said a prayer for something specific for him. It was humbling on so many levels.
 
Tyler and I had talked throughout the game. As regular umpires, we have our code of language we use both verbal and nonverbal. Multiple times throughout the game we caught each other smiling and enjoying the game. Rarely do umpires smile and laugh that much on the field. Several times in between innings we discussed how much we were enjoying this game, our last game of a long day of games. When it was said and done, Tyler and I both were warmed by the sportsmanlike and Christ-like behavior we saw on and off the field. We were humbled and after discussion, decided that it was important to let you and your church know what shining examples they are of not only how a church team should behave, but how we as believers should walk. I have to say that it has renewed my faith in church teams and it has humbled me as a Christian. I am not likely to umpire another game for your team as I usually get put on the highest level of play, but if I have my say I'll hopefully have another opportunity to experience their witness as a team. Please forward mine and Tyler's sincerest appreciation for them as individuals and as a team.
It is my hope that more church teams like yours surface and that those who witness them are led to Christ.
Warmest,
Ashley

Our ONA ministry also experimented last year.  It was decided we would try mini-retreats 3 times throughout the year to check-in and plan rather than trying to hold monthly meetings.  Our first was in Feb. and it went really well.  The 3 hour time block allowed for more discussion, relationship building and planning depth.   We brainstormed the needs of our church community as well as our wider one.   Out of this gathering, we decided to host several programs at our church through the “Will and Grace” event created to offer a response to the Exodus International workshop happening at Montreat.  We also donated half of our budget to support these community speakers and forums.   At our second retreat in June, we shared ideas of how to reach out to LGBTQ families.  From this discussion another new ministry was born– LGBT family fun and support.  LGBT families in our area are invited to join us every 3^rd Sat of the month for fellowship and support.  We gather at parks and play spaces all over Asheville.  These gatherings have proved to be vital and a wonderful way of networking.   In June, our ONA team helped design and lead a very powerful worship service.   Our Sept. meeting was spent planning our booth for Asheville PRIDE.  Last year’s PRIDE was the best ever – more vendors, a very public space in front of the courthouse and much positive media coverage.   I am grateful to many people who have helped us continue ONA ministries like the quarterly potlucks (Bruce Steele) and others who’ve helped us stretch and try new things – Angie and Jan Buchanan, Kadee Sloan, Ashley Westmoreland) and our two chairs:  Holly Newton (who moved to Chapel Hill in June) and Jen Stump.   These leading folks deserve a big ‘ole thank you!

Now, two years ago – if you were sitting in our last annual meeting – would you have trusted that we would be where we are today financially?  That was a difficult year when we felt it most faithful to use our budgeted funds for ministry in house (staff, building maintenance)   Wow – looking back… can we see how far God has brought us?  We trusted in Her Divine providence and in one another and although we are not even close to “rolling in the dough” we’ve been able to restore a good bit of money towards our committee ministries.  A large reason for this shift is the work of our stewardship chair Pam Jeffers.  Pam believes strongly in investing in one’s faith community as one way we give back to God what God has so graciously entrusted to us.  Through acknowledging the pledges you’ve made, given thanks for them and offering multiple chances in worship and letters for folks in the congregation to share why they give, our giving is up from 2 years ago – and in this tough economy...that is saying something about the positive spirit moving in and through our congregation.  There is still much room for us to grow.  We need to invite all sorts of ways of giving.  We need to provide more opportunities for folks to learn about the spiritual discipline of stewardship.  We need to continue to develop ways to celebrate all gifts… but my goodness 2 years is not a long time in church years but we’ve made terrific and faithful strides.  I hope you can feel it and I hope we can begin to understand we, as a faith community, will only be able to do what you help us do.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 years since becoming one of your pastors.  It’s truly been a journey and I’ve learned a great deal from you.  I’m excited about where God is leading us because I deeply believe this community needs First Congregational.  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for me and my family over the past year.  They’ve been a gift.  May God continue to speak and may we listen and follow well.

In the Love that conquers fear,

Shannon

Christian Action Committee

This year has been a busy one for the Christian Action Committee,and the committee has worked hard to fulfill its mission “to educated, motivate, and empower the people of our church to seek out and respond in the spirit of Christ to the needs of our neighbors near and far.”  A huge part of the committee’s responsibilities is to distribute benevolence money on behalf of the congregation.  (The tentative—subject to budget changes—benevolence list for 2012 follows.) 

 As in previous years, we began by opening up our doors for a New Year’s Day celebration  with the Asheville homeless community.  Thanks to Yolanda Adams for her devotion to this endeavor. 

Later in January, we also participated in the annual Martin Luther King Day peace march. 

Our congregation wrote a number of letters as a part of the Bread for the World yearly letter-writing campaign in the spring.

The Christian Action Committee hosted a film series centering on peace and justice issues.

In September, we joined other area groups in celebrating the International Day of Peace.

 In October we hosted the congregational potluck luncheon and featured some of our cookbook recipes.   Proceeds from the cookbook will add additional money to benevolence funds.

Under the direction of Meg Word-Sims, the Alternative Gift Market was revamped to be an evening dinner event with alternative gift opportunities, Fair Trade items, and donations by church members and friends which funded this year’s designated charities.  Almost $4,000 was raised.

We have hosted Room in the Inn twice in 2011.  We would like to thank Elizabeth Eve for her work as innkeeper.  Linda and Roy Dunlop are taking on this task in 2012.

The congregation has participated in building the Habitat for Humanity interfaith house.  Mary Ann Brackett  has served as our liaison to Habitat.  Mary Ann Brackett and Spence Duin also arranged an excellent presentation on Habitat during our worship time.

Emily Townes and Virginia Himmelheber have spearheaded our efforts to sell Fair Trade items throughout the year as a way of promoting economic justice throughout the world. 

The Channel of Grace Pritchard Park breakfast begins each Sunday morning at FCUCC where a team prepares hot coffee and grits for our guests.  There are now about 14 area congregations which work with FCUCC to provide a complete  breakfast for up to 150 people.  Special thanks go to Wayne Burgess, Calvin Allen, and John Himmelheber for their dedication to this project.

The committee has discussed the meaning of becoming a Just Peace church at great length and wishes to put a formal proposal before the congregation.

A big thank you to those who have served on the Christian Action Committee this year—Doug Wingeier, Meg Word-Sims, Jim Beggs, Mary Ann Brackett, Emily Townes, and John Himmelheber and to our staff liaison, Joe Hoffman.

Respectfully submitted,
Virginia Land Himmelheber

*Please note that the budget for CAC has changed since they wrote this.  The organizations receiving support remain the same, but the numbers will change a little.

FCUCC BENEVOLENCE BUDGET 2012—$16,400

UCC and FCUCC

Our Church’s Wider Mission $6,000

WNC Associaton $200

North Carolina Council of Churches $150

Pastors’ Discretionary Fund $2,500

Room in the Inn (FCUCC expenses) $500

Alternative Gift Market $150

Haiti Mission $500

CAC discretionary $250

TOTAL UCC AND FCUCC $10,250

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RACIAL RECONCILIATION

National Coalition to Protect Civil $50

Freedoms

Christian for a United Community $350

Center for Participatory Change $150

Western Carolina Citizens to End

Racial Bigotry $200

COLA $200

Western Carolinians for Criminal $200

Justice

TOTAL RACIAL RECONCILIATION $1,150

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PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Just Economics $350

World Neighbors $150

Witness for Peace $150

National Religious Campaign Against $200

Torture

Campaign for Southern Equality $50

Christian Peacemaker Teams $200

TOTAL PEACE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE $1,100

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CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND ELDERLY

Pisgah Legal Services $400

Helpmate $400

UCC denominational ONA fund $300

TOTAL CHILDREN, YOUTH, ELDERLY $1,100

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HEALTH

Partnership for Pastoral Counseling $200

Life O’Mike $200

Pritchard Park fund $200

TOTAL HEALTH $600

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HOUSING

Homeward Bound $225

Habitat for Humanity $225

Room in the Inn (organization) $650

TOTAL HOUSING $1,100

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ENVIRONMENT TOTAL $1,100

(TO BE DISTRIBUTED BY EARTH TEAM)