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Mission Moment
"Yet one more reason to love the UCC"
My cousins from the Ft. Lauderdale area. . . will shortly be moving to an area of Texas where there is no UCC church. It made me think about all the people out there who are hungry for our kind of faith and community but won't be able to find it because of location, or work schedule, or personality. Made me wonder whether we should do a new kind of new church start that would be web-based? We could create a worship experience that would not be dependent on time zone or ability to gather, could experiment with ways of communicating, pastoring, praying, etc., that are participatory in a different sense. With streaming, video and so forth, it could be quite dynamic. . . As a nation, we need to find new ways to create community. As a church, we need to find new ways to be the Church of Jesus Christ.
We're doing it! On Ash Wednesday, March 1, the United Church of Christ opened the doors of i.ucc.org, a "virtual community" for spiritual seekers who are unable to find a UCC congregation where they live, or who, for other reasons, prefer to explore a relationship with Jeasus Christ through a virtual experience.
I think this is a cool idea! online church. I'm glad I found the UCC. I got baptized a month ago in a UCC church. I had been going to another church. I started going to bible study at UCC church 6 months ago. My pastor saved me in more ways than one. I love her for that. I love everyone at my new church. I feel so safe there.
The i.ucc virtual community is not created to compete with local congregations. On the contrary, it will encourage seekers to consider local church membership whenever possible. For some seekers, the community is a chance to "test" the UCC before proceeding to participation in a local congregation. The virtual community may, in time, serve as a model to help UCC congregations create their own web-based communities.
I'm an active member of a UCC congregation; but even so, there's not always enough time or opportunity for compelling discussion with others who also enjoy conversing about God on that level. So i.ucc is a really welcome development! Yet one more reason to love the UCC.
i.ucc is made possible by your support of Our Church's Wider Mission. Thank you!
God is still speaking,
August, 2006