52nd ANNUAL NEAUCE CONFERENCE
May 4 - May 6, 2023
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation." Mark 16:15
Pilgrim Pines Conference Center - 220 West Shore Road - Swanzey NH, 03446
Regisration closes April 26, 2023.
Greetings NEAUCE Community,
The time is finally here! NEAUCE 2023 is IN PERSON at beautiful Pilgrim Pines in Swanzy NH.
Registration is open for the 52nd Annual NEAUCE Conference. Join your fellow colleagues for amazing worship, fellowship, and rich discussions.
This year is all about Innovation! We are listening to New Voices from Beyond Church Walls!
In the early summer of 2022, we asked Faith Innovators to send in proposals telling us about the exciting ministries they are doing and how they are doing it. We chose four Faith Innovators to join this year’s conference. They will present their ministry in a panel format; you will then have two opportunities to meet with our Faith Innovators for a more in-depth discussion.Your NEAUCE Planning Team
Regisration closes April 26, 2023.
Keynote
Sam Eaton
Sam is a powerful voice for his generation as an innovative leader and sought-after communicator. In 2016, after losing five people to suicide in his hometown, he founded Recklessly Alive, an organization sprinting towards a world with zero deaths from suicide. His first book, Recklessly Alive immediately became an Amazon Best-Seller. Sam has captivated audiences at over 100 events across the U.S. encouraging everyone he meets to chase a life that is fully and recklessly alive.
Faith Innovator:
Dawn Orluske
Dawn Orluske is a Member in Discernment with the Hampshire Association of Massachusetts. She is a member of Haydenville Congregational Church. She has been serving the Cathedral in the Night Community for seven years. She has recently expanded her work into the Manna Community Center, where she works to empower those who are experiencing housing insecurity and poverty. When not at work she finds sustenance and connection to God through yoga,mushroom hunting and hiking the hills of western Massachusetts.
Faith Innovator:
Rev. June Cooper
Rev. June Cooper is Christian ministry, activist and justice educator. She currently serves as the Theologian in the City at Old South Church in Boston’s Copley Square. In the fall of 2021 she convened faith leaders in the Boston area to respond to the encampment of people who are unhoused in the area of Boston called, Mass and Cass. She co-founded and leads, Faith Leaders for Housing Justice, a collaborative effort to address this pressing humanitarian crisis in Boston. Rev.June also conducts Civil Rights Pilgrimages in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama and Boston.
She holds a Masters in Divinity for Andover Newton Theological School, a Masters in Social planning from Boston College, School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Science from Newton Collège of the Sacred Heart. She holds many awards and honors
Faith Innovator:
Kerry Stewart
Kerry has been serving the First Congregational Church of Branford CT since 2020 as the Faith Formation Coordinator and is a 2021 graduate of the SNEUCC Faith Formation Leadership Program. After a 20+ year career in Healthcare Management she heard God's Call to Ministry. Her passion is for making messes and instilling a love for faith filled community in our children, youth and families.
Faith Innovator:
Laurie Chipman
Laurie began her ministry in September of 1995 in the United Methodist tradition. The second church she served was federated UMC and UCC. Now in her 14th year with First Congregational Church of Essex Junction, Vermont, she is proud to say she is a member of the UCC, living into the words ‘all are welcome’. She has learned a lot from these three churches, covering all ages from nursery to adult. She has recruited and worked alongside youth and adults for faith formation, vacation bible camp, mission trips and youth events (local, regional and national). She and her husband have two grown sons, one on the west coast and one close by in New York state, along with their partners and a grandson to each. She loves to camp, tend to her perennial gardens, travel and stay in touch with family and friends.
Faith Innovator:
Eliana Canas Parra
I grew up in Colombia and, after a couple of years living in the USA, I moved to Middlebury, Vermont in 2018. Back home, I had graduated with an English major and was teaching English as a Second Language. The love of languages and teaching inspired me to do an exchange program in New Hampshire, which led me to have some teaching connections in Vermont. I earned a Master’s Degree in Spanish Literature from Middlebury College, and work part time as a Spanish teacher in Addison Central School District in Vermont.
I started attending the Congregational Church of Middlebury, Vermont in the Spring of 2019, and in 2022 I stepped in as the Director of Children and Youth Ministries, a role that has been my joy since it involves both, my love for God, a spiritual life and ministry, and my love for education. In my time in the church, I've served on the Board of Membership and Communications, the Green Team, as a Sunday School teacher and as a Youth Group Leader. I love working with children and youth, and I love being with people, especially where there is a heart for service and for helping one another. In my free time I enjoy spending time in the woods, doing photography and art, reading and catching up with friends and family.
Special Guest Speaker:
Andrew Wicks
Andrew Wicks is a Connecticut native and lifelong UCC member. He is an Authorized Minister in the UCC and has a passion for working with youth and young adults, especially in the areas of mission and service. He has served in a variety of UCC settings including 4 local churches in Connecticut and at Silver Lake Camp and Retreat Center. In 2013 Andrew founded Incredible Days to offer teambuilding and group programming services to support local churches. Over the last 10 years Incredible Days has grown to work with a network of churches, schools, camps, community groups and others to provide top notch service learning and teambuilding experiences. Andrew lives in Glastonbury, CT with his wife Rachel and spends his free time traveling, skiing, playing soccer, and reading.
Special Guest Speaker:
Rev. Dr. thom bower
Rev. Dr. thom bower recently celebrated 20 years of ordained ministry. He has served the church in many ways: seminary professor, youth minister, custodian, and variety entertainer. He holds a doctorate in religious education, and is chair of the Board of Directors for the Association of United Church Educators (AUCE). In the past ten years he has focused in interim and transitional ministries: he is currently Transitional Pastor of Faith Mennonite Church in Minneapolis. In his spare time he likes to build LEGO castles and dreams of running away with the circus – again.
Worship Leader:
Rev. Dr. AbbyLynn Haskell
Rev. Dr. AbbyLynn Haskell is delighted to join us as our worship leader for our event.
Abby's passions include:
- preaching wherever 2 or more are gathered
- listening to stories, telling stories and teaching storytelling
- sailing
- finding the joy and miracles of God in this one "wild and precious" life
Abby has been serving churches in the Maine and New Hampshire Conferences since 1999. She runs BroadReachMinistries.com a sailing retreat ministry with her husband Bob.
She is thankful for God's sacred blessing that has lifted and grown the faithful of all dedicated to the work of the NEAUCE ministry.
Musical Leader:
Dave Talmage
Dave Talmage lives in Newmarket NH where he is the Musical Director at Newmarket Community Church, serving alongside Pastor Patty Marsden and leading the choir. In addition to church music Dave is known in his home area as a bluegrass musician playing many instruments, especially fiddle and banjo. Musical education is also an important part of Dave’s life, leading Band class at Saint Patrick Academy in Portsmouth and teaching guitar at Academy of Creative Arts Trinity in Haverhill MA.
Regisration closes April 26, 2023.
Contact
Jessica Moore
NEAUCE
207-632-5544
dawne.quinn@whfirstchurch.org