Conference Minister's

Report to the Churches
December 2009

In a number of congregations where I’ve visited this fall I’ve preached a sermon based on Peter’s confrontation with the religious authorities as found in Acts 5.  I’ve titled those thoughts “Doing Church Like it Matters.”

Does church matter?  Can it matter?  Some might suggest that the assertion itself is at best audacious – at worst, absurd. 

There are profoundly interesting issues suggested by our nation’s relationship with religion.  On the one hand we have, for well over 200 years, maintained a formal separation between church and state.   Some are discomfited by this separation but on the whole it has been good for both church and state.   I would suggest that there are, however, worrying consequences of the way church and religion are increasingly conceptualized in our society.  To oversimplify, I think we have moved more and more toward a state of affairs in which church (or religion, or faith – these three terms are not precisely the same, but in the popular mind they are not much distinguished) is not merely separated from the formal affairs of the state, but is marginalized from the truly “important” matters of society into a ghetto of the inconsequential.

To put it another way, I believe organized religion in our nation has forfeited much of its moral authority.  This state of functional irrelevance is not of simple origin, nor has it come upon us suddenly.  To be honest, nearly all of us as leaders and practitioners of faith for at least two generations have been complicit (certainly unintentionally) in contributing to our current state of irrelevance.  In some measure, I am sorry to say, we have trivialized ourselves.  This is, admittedly, a broad assertion, and the evidence I might adduce in its support is complicated, diffuse and circumstantial.  Were I a book writer, I’d say more.  My point today, however, is to assert our functional irrelevance and to challenge us to reverse that status quo.

What is also undeniably true is that our church in all its settings – local church, conference and national – is appreciably diminished.   Even more unsettling is the evidence that our diminishment is accelerating.

So, why not throw in the towel and call it quits?  Well, in spite of our church’s profound and discouraging diminishment, I am unable to shake the conviction that the gospel matters and that it is precisely the gospel as espoused in places like the UCC that our society and world most dearly needs.  Instead of being a divisive force, at our best we bring people together.  Instead of being resigned to injustice, we honestly believe that God calls us to work for a better world.  That better world toward which we believe God is calling us isn’t just better for me and mine, but is intended for all – great and small, first and third world, young and old, of every race and gender and sexual orientation and ethnicity.  We understand the gospel in a way that is intellectually honest (and consequently open to doubt and difference of opinion and complexity), but hopefully also emotionally warm (we’ve got a ways to go on that one, I’d assert).  We believe the gospel isn’t simply opposed to culture, nor is it simply a manifestation of culture, but that it interacts with and critiques culture, sometimes opposing it, sometimes transforming it, and sometimes embracing it.  We believe that the gospel is beyond our own control – that both you and I are always invited to express our understand of it (as I am doing here), but that none of us “owns” the gospel in such a way that makes it entirely definable and concrete – for after all – the Word of God is living and active, and is not accountable to us, but rather we are accountable to it – or rather to the God whose proclamation the gospel ultimately is.

A church (and churches) such as this are a gift to all of humankind.  They are caring and open and warmly critical.  They are humble and brave and willing to take risks.  They are the hands and feet and mouth of God Almighty who is in addition to being strong – paradoxically – the crucified one.

It is in service of the God of this gospel that I and the conference staff do what we do.  It is in the service of this God that I am seeking to lead the Iowa Conference be a place where leaders are formed and equipped to invite local churches to announce and personify the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When we do this, we do church in ways that matter!

As our new logo says, “Transforming Churches, Transforming Lives” – that is the calling of the Iowa Conference.  Thank you for your part in and your support of this difficult and exciting ministry. 

With hope!

Rich Pleva
Iowa Conference Minister

Send us your e-mail address!

To receive the UCC Reporter electronically, send us your
e-mail address!

The United Church News will cease publishing a paper edition this year. The last Iowa Conference insert was in the September/October issue. We have switched to an electronic version, and make a paper version available to paid subscribers.
The deadline for the online version of the UCC Reporter will be the first Tuesday of every odd-numbered month. Your kind contributions are solicited!

Conference Priorities

*Development, growth and support of effective and transforming pastors.
*Support of pastoral search and call process.
*Support and resource processes of ministry formation and authorization.
*Facilitate ministry to youth and adults in contexts beyond the local church.
*Attend to wider church relationships in the UCC and ecumenical contexts.