what kind of UCCer am I?

I been thinking about what piece of the UCC I could be considered to "officially" be a part of today. We have all kinds of groups that are used for "further identification" purposes within the UCC, but purported to help those outside the UCC to understand better who we are. If I were an outsider, I just would like to know what a plain ole UCC church was. Maybe more truly, just what it means to be a church as the body of Christ whether UCC or not. But as I try to sort out the UCC today to communicate to folks interested in becoming "partners in ministry" (rather than "members") at our place or to confirmands, it gets a bit confusing.

So I thought maybe I could start the NACLUCC (National Association of Continuing Liberals of the UCC) or the POUCC (Plain Ole UCCers). Or the UCCWDKWTRAY (UCCers who don't know who they really are...yet).

According to the national UCC Fairlawn-West United Church of Christ is a God Is Still Speaking UCC church. But we don't really know what that means. I just signed us up so we would get the emails about the GISS campaign. And I stopped getting those some time ago. We aren't an official Open & Affirming church, but we have gay and lesbian folks who are active in the life of our church and we are clearly inviting to ALL people who are seeking to know God more deeply through Jesus Christ. We also have a lot of people in 12 step recovery who are part of our church. But there isn't any official category for that (but if you do a Google search for "recovery church" you come up with our place...which may be THE way these days to help identify who we are in the wider culture...its a lot cheaper too than tv and print media advertising! You may have heard in Dec about the Leheigh Univ student who was arrested for robbing a bank to pay his online gambling debts. His father is an American Baptist minister here in the Akron area. The NY Times Sun Magazine on June 11 did its centerfold article on this family and the young man's addiction, the serious legal problems he is facing and the steps he and his family are doing to recover. Well, his dad did a Google search trying to find any where in the country there was a church that was shaping ministry around 12 step recovery...and guess which church popped up first! That's right, this plain ole UCC Fairlawn-West. I am now meeting regularly with the dad and helping him to begin 12 recovery programs at his church and ministry in a recovery context as well as looking at recovery from an insitutional perspective using authors like Anne Wilson Schaef and Tom Bandy.)

Well, anyway, I don't know if it matters that we are listed as even a POUCC. I hope God identifies us as faithful disciples who are not ashamed of the Gospel and who are faithful servants of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

David Loar