by: Regan Saoirse
Our Kansas Oklahoma Conference Annual Meeting just happened at the end of September in Oklahoma City. This year’s theme, Better Together, is based on Ecclesiastes 4:12 - A three-ply cord doesn’t easily snap, and we celebrated and leaned into the power of our connection to one another, and the gifts, talents, and passions we bring together for the work that God is doing in us, and through us, as a conference.
We are grateful to Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City for their hospitality—providing the perfect setting for us to be better together.
Pictured above, left to right: Tim Wetzel, Paul Beck, April McNeil, Khalani Britt and Regan Saoirse
Tim Wetzel, Paul Beck, April McNeil, and Khalani Britt represented First Congregational of Topeka and Regan Saoirse attended as clergy. They attended the plenary sessions as well as workshops about various topics related to the UCC and our mission.
The biggest discussion happened, of course, during the budget review. For a year or two now, Rev. Rachael Pryor has been a part-time Associate Conference Minister funded for a limited term that will end soon. Her work has made possible the clergy retreats that have been so crucial to church and minister revitalization post-pandemic. Her work included developing clearer, easier-to-use materials and process for folks discerning a call to ministry; offering a new clergy retreat and boundary training model that received very positive feedback; and building a new structure for hosting annual meeting in a local church, especially the "Holy Conversations" format of small group discussions that helped build new relationships across the Conference.
The people at the conference became so energized to continue Rev. Pryor's initiatives that they called out new or additional pledges to the KO Conference directly. I want to ask you to consider a one-time or monthly donation to the Friends of the KO to contribute to the innovative fresh ways we think about church in Kansas and Oklahoma. Let us be good neighbors as God calls us to be. Give to Friends of the Conference.