c. 2007 Religion News Service

HARTFORD, Conn. _ With fiery speeches on faith and politics, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod here has seemed at times as much a revival or political rally as a mainline church meeting.

The nearly 10,000 church members gathered here through Tuesday (June 26) heard speeches from journalist Bill Moyers and presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who exhorted his denomination to continue its support for progressive causes.

“They say your church is dying,” Moyers said Saturday. “And lame; and limp. But it is a small, committed community of people of conscience who can turn this country around.”

UCC President and General Minister Rev. John Thomas said before the Synod that he hoped the focus on faith in the public square would lead to a sense of renewed energy in his flagging church.

“There’s always been a strong public face to the United Church of Christ,and we’re reclaiming that,” Thomas said.

But after the crowds disperse and UCC members return to their heartland churches, how will the church use the synod’s momentum to revive their church, which has seen deep drops in membership and donations in recent years? As one Synod attendee muttered, “Yeah, this is inspiring. But now we go home to an empty church.”

Some of those gathered here said they must bottle the passion of Moyers and Obama to build up the church “member by member.”

Others said the church’s witness in the wider world will bring seekers to its pews. And still others said the UCC must take a step back from progressive politics to heal divisions caused by the church’s 2005 endorsement of gay marriage.

During his speech on Saturday, Obama spoke of his journey from a community organizer in Chicago to becoming a UCC member. He also cited the UCC’s history as “troublemakers,” from the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights movement.

“My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want, but I won’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I go out and do the Lord’s work,” the senator said.

The Rev. James Fouther, pastor of the United Church of Montebello in Denver, said Obama’s “struggle to express his faith and use his faith in the public square” was inspiring.

“Pastors have to use that same kind of passion he used in grassroots organizing to build up the church one by one, member by member, until we build up that groundswell,” Fouther said.

Likewise, Peg Schemmel of Bismarck, N.D., whose husband heads the UCC’s Northern Plains Conference, said Moyer’s and Obama’s energy has given the church a jumpstart.

“Where our job comes in,” she said, “is to keep it moving.”

But not everyone was happy with the synod’s political tone on Saturday.

The Rev. Koloman Ludwig, 61, is pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Whiting, Ind., a church that joined the UCC with the German Reformed Chuch in 1957.

Ludwig said he “doesn’t do politics in church” because it would divide liberals and conservatives in his congregation.

“To me the problem is, with so many political overtones to the church, you begin to lose people who don’t have the same political orientation,” Ludwig said, “and to me that’s a great sadness.”

However, Ann Plumley, an interim pastor in Keene, N.H., said the UCC’s advocacy for progressive causes is “a true essential of the faith.”

“We need the mix of politics and religion to live in the freedom God intends for us,” said Plumley, 53.

KRE/RB END BURKE600 words

Photos of Obama and Moyers at the UCC are available via https://religionnews.com.