May 17: Meeting with UCC Congregational Care scheduled

On May 17th, Bob Miles sent the following to the group:


Dear church friends,


The four representatives of our group (Ben Coonrod, Bonnie Rash, Diane Rhoades, and I) are scheduled for a Zoom meeting tomorrow morning (Monday, the 18th) at 10 (not in two weeks, as I said incorrectly in the last message I sent) to discuss issues that arose from the new policy to exclude former pastors from church membership,  


We agreed, somewhat reluctantly, that only the four of us will participate with the four UCC committee members and Rev. Samson and that the meeting will not be recorded (though we will take notes).


The four of us have been have been talking and emailing every day this week and will meet (six feet apart) this afternoon to prepare for the meeting.


We will ask questions about the meeting and UCC process.  We know the importance or conveying the anguish experienced by those in our group (and probably others) since the notice on March 11th of the new church policy.  If there are additional meetings, we will ask for other group members to participate as observers and for a record of the meetings. 
We also are writing a statement informing the congregation about these developments that we will ask Phil Taylor to send.

We will notify all of you about the meeting, including any outcomes, as soon as possible after Monday.


We continue to pray for healing within our congregation.


Bob Miles