Conference Minister's Corner 07-22-2025
- Rev. Gordon Rankin
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
General Synod 35 is now in the books. I always find it an impossible task to summarize five days of General Synod content, so I won’t even try to do so. But let me see if I can at least offer you a few highlights from the New Hampshire Conference delegation's perspective.
The New Hampshire Conference was definitely in the house. Our delegation was comprised of 13 Delegates, myself as an Associate Delegate, Cameron Keller as staff support, and several Synod visitors. Beyond many, many hours of plenary sessions, your Delegates attended committee meetings, hearing, workshop, presentations at specialized meals, participated in demonstrations, and worshiped together with another 2,000 folks from across the United Church of Christ.
We heard our General Minister and President, the Reverend Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson provide a State of the Church address.
We elected the Reverend Shari Prestemon as Associate General Minister for Love of Neighbor and Co-Executive for Global Ministries.
We learned that a search process for a candidate for the position of Associate General Minister for Love of Church will be held in the fall and a special virtual gathering of Synod will be held early in 2026 to elect this candidate.
We considered, discussed, and passed 12 resolutions. Among these resolutions are two that entered us into Full Communion agreements with other denominations: the Evangelische Kirche of Deutschland and Iglesia Evangelica de Puerto Rico. Two resolutions spoke to the harm being done to immigrant communities by current immigration policies. One of the longest discussed resolutions addressed the genocide that is currently occurring in Gaza and the United State complicity in what is occurring. If you visit generalsynod.org, final version of these resolutions as passed by General Synod should be posted in the next couple of weeks. And if you have questions about any of the Synod resolutions, any of our delegates would be willing to speak with you.
We passed a motion to combine the Penn West, Penn Central, Penn Northeast, and Penn Southeast Conferences into one Keystone Conference.
We passed two amendments to the United Church of Christ By-laws. One adjusts the terms for United Church of Christ Board Members and members of the General Synod Nominating Committee. The other adjusts the terms for those serving on the United Church Funds Board. A proposed amendment to the UCC Constitution, which would have altered the election process for Associate General Ministers, was defeated with approximately two-thirds of the assembly voting in opposition to the amendment. (Just in case you believe that General Synod passed everything that is proposed to it, please know that is certainly not true.)
We celebrated the publication of the new Manual on Church. We learned that Pilgrim Press is developing a new UCC Book of Worship.
We looked toward the celebration of the United Church of Christ’s 70th Anniversary in 2027 and learned that in 2028 General Synod 36 will be held in the birthplace of the United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio.
All of that, and I think it is safe to say that we all had our fill of Kansas City barbeque.
-Gordon
