Year End Greetings To The Christian Church in Ohio 2022

Dear Christian Church in Ohio members, leaders, and friends,

Blessed Holiday Greetings from your Regional Church Staff and Regional Church Council!  We pray that as we celebrate Christmas and New Year's you know exactly how much we appreciate each and every one of you, how we rejoice in the ministry of clergy and lay leaders alike and we celebrate the mission that pours forth from our congregations, our camp, and our ministry partners.  For all of this, we hold you close in prayer.  Just as God became present with humanity in an exciting and powerful way in Christ Jesus, so we as the Body of Christ try to bring God's presence to those we serve in our families, our communities, and in the world.  As John's gospel proclaimed it, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory…, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

Thank you for being the incarnation of Christ as you embody the love, gratitude, and possibilities of Jesus Christ in your own communities and situations.  Thank you, also, for helping the Christian Church in Ohio to be more and more present in the lives of our church leaders and local communities of faith to help inspire, support, adapt, create, equip, empower, and celebrate your ministry in the world.  Our dedicated but tiny staff could not do any of what we do without you.

Because of you and your support, this last year… 

• We gathered physically with one another for a Regional Assembly for the first time in several years on September 24 at Camp Christian for our "Family Reunion.”  Almost 300 people attended a joyous and fun-filled day with worship, music, honors and recognitions, games, crafts, food, and singing.  Ministry partners from around the Regional and General Church shared their wisdom and made connections.
• At that very Assembly new Regional Church Council was elected and began serving their two-year term in November as a most committed, richly  diverse, and multi-talented group of leaders.
• We expanded and diversified our Regional Elders when we welcomed the Rev. Dr. Judy Alston to District 9 and the Rev. Cornelius Brown to District 8.  Using the expanded job description document finalized in 2021, the Regional Elders continue to serve as cherished counselors for our Regional Pastor and President, as well as a faithful and skilled extension of his ministry throughout the Regional Church with local congregations, clergy, and lay leaders.  Regional Elders continue to meet monthly for networking and support.
• The Regional Church's Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism commitment was reintroduced when a revitalized and reenergized PR/AR Commission was formed in February under the leadership of Rev. Thomas Barnes and Rev. Heather Schimmel as co-chairs.  A new mission statement and logo were created and a completely redesigned training, now called our Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism Awareness Conversation, was offered for the first time October 22, with a second planned for Saturday, March 25, 2023.
• We expanded our previous years offerings of camps, conferences, and retreats as we held nine Summer Camps, Conferences, and retreats for participants of all ages and utilized the gifts, skills, and energy of ten Summer Camp Staff in addition to our three wonderful Regional Camp Staff and two Kitchen Assistants.  Our Regional Camp Liaison, Rev. Jim Bane, brought insight, history, and a sense of stability to the vibrant summer camp season.
• We vastly improved our Retreat Center offerings by upgrading ten of our twenty rooms in Monroe Lodge to include linens, a mini-fridge, coffee maker, and nice décor (hopefully all will be completed in 2023) and began utilizing our lodge in the off-season as an AirBnB facility.  Publicity and appropriate rates were announced at the Regional Assembly in September encouraging our congregations, members, and friends to hold their weddings, family reunions, and church retreats at the Camp Christian Retreat, Camp, & Conference Center.
• Twelve local congregations that were in the Search & Call process invited from around the state and around the country dynamic, committed, and gifted pastors to serve them as Interim, Youth and Young Adult, or settled Pastors and at least fifteen more are in the process of listening for God's leading, interviewing, and calling their own new pastoral leadership.  Our Regional Elders and Regional Pastor & President continue to make pastoral transitions and search and call a priority knowing that the stronger our congregations are the stronger the Regional Church is.
• Our Regional Pastor and President and our Regional Elders stayed busy this year participating in numerous clergy retirement celebrations, pastoral installation services, Commissioning services, and, sadly, several memorial services for beloved clergy who have died.
• In 2022 we brought into leadership three new Commission on Ministry leaders, including Rev. Chris McCreight as Chair of the Commission, Rev. Julie Cory as Chair of Team 2 (Commissioned Ministers) and Rev. Jonathan Rumburg as Chair of Team 3 (Standing).  Rev. Cynthia Klingemier continues in her excellent leadership of Team 1 (Ordained).  Plans are underway to improve process, practices, and policies to make this important work more consistent, accessible, and effective!
• We began a partnership with the Christian Church in Illinois/Wisconsin and the Christian Church in Michigan to share in the outstanding School For Ministry (S4M) to improve our educational opportunities for Commissioned Ministers, Clergy Continuing Education, and Lay Leader Education.  The Regional Elders have begun planning a Lay Preaching Academy to begin in the Spring to help ensure all our congregations have strong Gospel-oriented preaching no matter how small they might be.
• Our Regional Pastor continues to care for and assist clergy in-between ministry settings with as much responsiveness and support as possible, whether by offering counsel, prayer, or technical advice, writing their Regional References, providing creative ways of communicating like our virtual "Regional Minister Search & Call Meet & Greets,” or simply by walking alongside them as they discern their future calling.  Your Regional Minister is in conversation with other Regional Ministers and the General Commission on Ministry to re-imagine and improve Search & Call across the life of the whole church.
• We continued networking and supporting our ordained and commissioned clergy, both through our monthly Zoom Clergy Calls and monthly Congregational Leaders Mailing.  In 2023 plans are in the works to network more with our retired clergy, our chaplains as well as with young clergy.
• The Commission On Ministry Team 1 met with and nurtured persons on the journey towards ordained ministry.  Team 2 nurtures and cares for dozens of Commissioned Ministers and Team 3 ensures all our clergy are connected, cared for, and maintain the highest standards for ministry. Team 3 successfully contacted and sought to support all of our ordained and commissioned ministers be offering pastoral care and supporting continuing education and the training requirements for standing.
• Your Regional Church Council, under the able leadership of our Moderator, Candis Wilson, and with fully functioning Commissions, Committees, and Teams, provided strong and streamlined governance while also having honest and productive conversations about the challenges and the future of the Regional Church. 
• Our Finance Committee has met monthly and has worked diligently to not only insure that our Regional Church finances are managed responsibly, but to provide full transparency of these finances.  Monthly financial statements (in addition to Regional Church Council minutes) are posted on the Regional Website as an added measure of transparency and accountability.
• Our Ohio Women's Ministry resumed as it offered its first regular retreat in years.  Dr. Patricia Brown and Ms. Gena Stone-Phillips planned and led a fall retreat in September and younger clergywomen, such as Rev. Kara Swartz and Rev. Shauna McGhee led those gathered in imagining the future of Women's Ministries.  Next year's retreat date has already been set for Saturday, September 9^th. 
• Ohio Men's Ministry is still regrouping after the pandemic, but two initial retreats are being planned for 2023: one for March 17-19 and another for May 5-6 ( the latter in conjunction with Camp Christian Workday)  It is hoped that new leadership will emerge from these retreats to lead the Regional Church in the critical work of Men's Ministry.
• The Spiritual Life Committee, guided by Rev. Beckie Linn Gregory, resumed their regular pattern of retreat offerings, beginning in late March with the Rev. Dr. David Belcastro guiding the Clergy Spiritual Life Retreat.  In October the Silent Retreat added the possibility of meeting with Spiritual Directors from around the Regional Church.  The 2023 Clergy Spiritual Retreat has already been planned for January 24-26, 2023 with the Rev. Monique Crain Spells from Disciples Home Mission to be the keynoter.  Register now!
• A new Pastoral Relations Committee was formed to provide our Regional Pastor and President, Rev. Allen V. Harris, with support, guidance, and suggestions for improvement.  This group meets bi-monthly and is facilitated by the Rev. Don Baird.
• The Camp Christian Committee began to live into its revised governing documents, and now has turned to a comprehensive update of policies and procedures, counselor training, and membership development. 
• Our highly skilled and deeply caring Campsite Manager, Tom Bowerman-Jett, weekly completes an enormous amount of ongoing maintenance and upgrades to the camp, including the complete rebuilding of a section of Cabin Cluster 2 that had rotted, saving the Regional Church tens of thousands of dollars.  He is keeping a list of necessary capital improvement to guide us in ensuring our camp and conference center is sustainable for the long haul. 
• In February we hired Bruce Bowerman-Jett as our Camp Christian Food Service who serves full-time during the summer camp season and is available off-season for all retreats and meetings at Camp Christian.
• In November the Regional Church Council approved a Feasibility Study to discern the capacity for our Regional Church to hold a Capital Campaign for capital improvements for Camp Christian, as well as to support staffing for increased use of the camp, conference, and retreat center.  This work is in tandem with the work of the Pool Exploratory Committee formed last year to research on what it might mean for us to have a swimming pool again at Camp Christian.
• We are working more closely with our ecumenical partners, especially the Ohio Council of Churches under the leadership of Disciples clergy person, the Rev. Dr. Jack Sullivan, Jr. and the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ and its Conference Minister, the Rev. David Long-Higgins, working together in fresh and innovative ways that will mutually benefit each organization. 
• Our Regional Minister has met regularly with Rev. David Long-Higgins, Conference Minister of the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ, seeking ways for our two denominations to work more closely together to amplify our ministries and fulfill our calling from God more effectively and efficiently.  In addition to doing all of our Interim Ministry Training and Support together, we are exploring other ways to share in ministry, including search and call, networking congregations and leaders around ministry interests, and camp and conference programming.  In regard to the latter, staffs from both campsites (Templed Hill for the United Church of Christ and Camp Christian for the Disciples of Christ) toured each other's' facilities and began building stronger working relationships.  In 2023 we will jointly publicize each other's camp program.
• We continue to improve communication around the Regional Church with our monthly all-Region newsletter and have stepped up our work on promoting, particularly through social media, the ways in which individuals and congregations can support the mission and ministry of the Christian Church in Ohio, particularly through our three primary means of support: the Disciples Mission Fund, the Renewal Initiative, and the Christmas Offering.

WHEW!!!!  These and so many more accomplishments and activities throughout this past year helped the Christian Church in Ohio repeat the sounding joy of Jesus Christ throughout Ohio and beyond!

Last and certainly not least, I must note that the pastoral and programmatic presence the Christian Church in Ohio was amplified in 2022 by our incredibly talented, deeply faithful, and hard-working staff.  I have the distinct privilege of serving alongside the extraordinarily gifted, eminently reliable, and always patient Jennie Stoddart Bernard as our Regional Administrator; the ever-industrious, incredibly skilled, and always good-natured Tom Bowerman-Jett as our Campsite Manager; and our newly called Food Service Director, the committed, fun-loving, and extremely capable Bruce Bowerman-Jett .  And for the summer months, in addition to a marvelous set of Summer Camp Staffers, we enjoyed the deep wisdom, pastoral presence, and spiritually grounded gifts of Rev. Jim Bane as our Summer Camp Regional Liaison.  I count as one of my very best gifts this Christmas the ability to work with such wonderful church leaders.

There is much more to be done, most certainly, and we will get to it!  But this holiday we are all taking a rest and seeking God's redeeming love, imagined and made real at Christmas, and the rejuvenation that comes with each New Year's celebration.  May you, also, take some time to breathe deeply, allow the joints and muscles of the body – yours and the Church's – to heal and prepare for what lies ahead.  And, with our faith firmly set on God alone and our trust in Christ made stronger and reliance upon the Holy Spirit fully intact, we will begin 2023 with even more grace, more imagination, and more possibility than ever before!  And may the words of the Apostle Paul be ours all around, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13).  May it be so!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Allen

Rev. Allen V. Harris, Regional Pastor & President, Christian Church in Ohio

AHarris@ccinoh.org