As part of the restructuring of the Northwest Ohio Association, plans are being made for members of UCC congregations in the Toledo area to join for worship, fellowship and sharing. The first gathering was on October 3 at St. John’s UCC, Genoa. Four or five members of each UCC congregation in the area were invited to worship with the Genoa congregation, share lunch and meet to share ideas and discuss topics of interest.

Bethany UCC, Cuyahoga Falls has sent a September 11 Remembrance Wreath to the UCC’s New York Conference, where Donna Prince, the Ministry Coordinator for the Pastoral Care Ministry for Healing and Empowerment, will take it to the World Trade Center Memorial Site. Rev. Prince serves as a chaplain to the New York area churches and pastors in the wake of the events of September 11. For more information, visit the New York Conference website at uccny.org.

Cross Creek Community Church, Centerville held a Halloween Hullabaloo for kids up to fifth grade on October 26. The children were encouraged to wear "non-scary, non-violent" costumes for an afternoon of fun, games, crafts and refreshments.

Faith UCC, Dayton, sponsors Hospitality Evangelism events such as sharing viewing of the movie "Spitfire Grill" with the congregation of Cross Creek Community Church, Bible study groups, and home-based video discussion groups who meet to consider hospitality in a church setting.

The Ohio Conference Racial/Ethnic Empowerment Committee (REEC) recommended award of two grants to the Conference Board of Directors at their September 27 meeting. Awards of $5,000 each were made to Christ Church in Hough, Cleveland and Union Congregational Church in Concord.

Christ Church in Hough, led by co-pastors Rev. Jackie Bailey and Rev. Joan Campbell, will use their grant for a project dealing with the impact of spiritual healing energy on the body, mind and spirit of the elderly.

Volunteers are being trained in Reiki and other practices that assist in listening and collecting data.

Leslie Carole Taylor, chair of the REEC, noted "This church is located in an area that badly needs this type of service."

Edna Stinson, REEC member, added "It will be a way of supporting and helping people who may for days not have contact with another human being."

Ms. Stinson explained, "They are going to be able to give some evidence that spiritual healing works. It does not replace traditional medicine but works in conjunction with it."

The second grant was awarded to Union Congregational Church, Rev. Rodney Coffee, pastor, to establish a non-profit organization that will administer the King’s Court Project in Lake County, a program to help at-risk young men.

The King’s Court Project is a cooperative effort between the church, juvenile court and the police designed to help rebuild families in the community by training boys on how to become responsible leaders and spiritually strong men.

Lake County does not have an at-risk male youth diversion program. "The program organizers intend that it will strengthen the boys, their families and the community," said Rev. Taylor.

The REEC accepts proposals for funding from local churches, Associations and organizations related to the Ohio Conference that focus on racial/ethnic empowerment and/or racial reconciliation.

The next application deadline is February 15 for funding in March. Grants may be renewed once.

Funding for the grants comes from a portion of the Neighbors in Need offering. The initial grant request limit is $5,000.

The REEC is looking for new members who are committed to racial reconciliation and empowerment for all people of color. "We have changed the focus of the committee," said chair Leslie Carole Taylor.

"We are working not only to empower churches populated by people of color but also churches working on racial justice and reconciliation issues."

The Ohio Conference Make a Difference Committee recently recommended that the Board of Directors award grants totaling $15,775 to eleven churches and Association task forces. The Board approved funding of the grants as recommended.

Grants were given to St. Paul, Columbus, to support lay leadership for a children’s Sunday breakfast and program ($1500); St. Paul, Sidney, to help pay tuition for a Christian Educator Training Program ($900); Faith UCC, Dayton, to help fund a youth ministry program ($1832); and to the Northwest Association Small Church Task Force, to help with an event for leaders in small membership churches ($500).

Grants were awarded to Berlin Heights UCC, to help build a ramp for handicap accessibility ($1555); and to Washington UCC, Cincinnati, to help enclose a patio to be used for food and clothing distribution ($1600).

Also funded were grants to First Congregational, Wellington, for a community outreach program ($3000); Paradise UCC, Louisville, for their community-wide Bible School ($350); St. Stephens, Sandusky, for their after-school children’s outreach program ($1000); to David’s UCC, Canal Winchester, for a new community outreach after-school program ($1500); and to the Eastern Ohio Association Task Force on Domestic Violence to support a billboard campaign against violence ($2038).

The committee received grant requests from 22 different ministries totaling more than $167,000. They stress the difficulty of making grants when the amount available is so much less than the requests.

Elaine Mikesell, committee chair, said to the Board, "Please remind folks that we are trying to divide these funds among many programs that are worthy of receiving funds, but we just don’t have it to give."

Grant funds come from the earnings of the Make A Difference endowment fund.

In the last ten years the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has obtained $1.6 billion against employers in connection with cases alleging discrimination.

Federal laws prohibit job discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Equal Pay Act prohibits sex-based wage discrimination. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects those who are 40 years of age or older, and the Americans with Disabilities Act protects qualified individuals with disabilities. State statutes may also apply in these areas.

Are congregations immune from this activity? Often they are not. Employment disputes are a major source of litigation for churches–accounting for 19% of lawsuits.

Most church property and liability policies do not offer Employment Practices Liability (EPL). Those that do, have an exhaustive application process and a hefty premium to endorse coverage. That is not the case with your IB Program!

Consider this: A pastor was terminated by a local church based on the church’s constitutional right to free exercise of religion in the selection of ministers. The pastor filed a wrongful termination lawsuit alleging defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and interference with prospective economic advantage.

This case is less than 2 years old. So far, $50,000 in defense costs have been paid, and $135,000 more is set aside for future defense. No matter the outcome, the reputation of the church is at stake; the pastor is having his day in court for justice to prevail.

The bottom line is this – without Employment Practices Liability Coverage, a congregation is left to raise the money to pay for defense costs.

Fortunately, this church was covered with the Insurance Board’s standard EPL coverage. Another church was not so lucky. Just 6 months after leaving our program to cut costs, it was hit with an EPL lawsuit. There was no EPL coverage in the new policy.

The Insurance Board Program provides $1 million of EPLI at no additional charge with a $50 million dollar umbrella. Does your church have this vital coverage?

More information on Employment Practices and Discrimination Prevention Policy is available in our loss control manual, Caring For Our Churches, in the Services section at www.insuranceboard.org. Or call us at 1-800-437-8830 for a complimentary copy.

June 12, 2002

It’s not for nothing that we call Wednesday the "hump day!" Midpoint of the work week brings tempers a little more strung out. It’s hot, we’ve had to wait so staff could make arrangements for us, communications broke down a bit, people are more tired, and muscles ache.

It rained today while one crew helped a family that lost everything – that means EVERYTHING. The whole house, its contents, and everything in the yards, were simply swept away. They qualified for a loan of $27,000 to build a new house (provided it would be higher than the old one!).

The man has $98 left–but a lovely little place. The whole family works on the house– grampaw, mom, dad and the kids. They are being particular and it sparkles.

Since their money is gone, our labor helps them a lot. Our crew works alongside the fellows of the house to do finish carpentry, trimming out windows, painting the inside, and learning their story.

Another group didn’t just build a deck to replace the rotten one for an older lady. They put on solid handrails, added spindles, twirls, and decorative touches that make her the envy of the neighborhood.

"Ecstatic" better describes her joy than "delighted." We are told that she walked up and down those new steps repeatedly just to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

There were many things we didn’t count on doing or learning this week. Chief among them might be that we didn’t expect to harvest mushrooms. But they grow on the wet dark walls and in the cracks of still-damp basements waiting to be dug out, cleaned out, sanitized, sized and painted.

The volunteers had to take turns going outside every few minutes to get a lung or two full of breathable air–but they’d troop right back in to scrape and wash and paint some more. They got it done and were really pleased with their achievement.

We saw some of the work that journeymen carpenters did soon after the flooding–charging exorbitant prices, buying the cheapest materials, doing the shoddiest half-completed work–and moving on. Siding came off in the next windstorm, decks were not tied in, and roofs were poorly laid. We fixed some of them.

A Church World Service bulletin reports that this region of West Virginia ranks first in the nation in unemployment, poverty and exodus.

We are making dents in the veneer of despondency and damage. We’ve met wonderful folks who have been exceptionally friendly, and we’ve met some folks who would be helped more by a motivational speech than by volunteers hammering nails into shingles on their roofs.

But we are in an area where expectations are sometimes extremely limited. Perhaps the most heartbreaking attitude we learned about concerned a paid crew boss at another work site who glossed over slipshod work by saying, "Oh well, you can’t see it from your house anyway."

We’re determined to do better than that, because we serve as representatives of a God who calls us never to be satisfied with saying "that’s good enough" when it clearly isn’t!

These UCC volunteers do what they do with care and with concern for both safety and aesthetics. God also loves beauty, we believe, and friendship and hospitality. We’re giving and receiving all three!