Their website now reads this way regarding the National Gathering:

"National Gathering Rescheduled
The FWC national gathering, originally scheduled for First UCC New Knoxville, Ohio July 2-4, has been rescheduled.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause those who had planned to attend. All who had preregistered to date will receive notice of the rescheduling, and may transfer their registration to the new event or request a refund."

First, let it be noted that New Knoxville was NOT where this was originally scheduled. This is, in fact, the third congregation at which the event was to be held. When members of the church asked the pastor to reconsider his willingness to host this event for this group, the pastor uninvited Faithful and Welcoming. As of now, they have no one who wants to host their event, and they are left with no choice but to cancel the event. They may indeed find a place, but it will be their fourth (that we know about). And there are fewer and fewer places willing to ally with them.

Ok, I should stop and rewrite this article. I have been logging on to the website as I write this to make sure I have my information straight, and as I finished that last paragraph this appeared on their website:

"New National Gathering Plans
We believe the rescheduling is of the Lord, and we invite all who can to join us at Shepherd of the Hills in Bechtelsville, PA (Penn Southeast Conference) August 4-5, 2006. The board of the church has enthusiastically and unanimously extended their invitation to us, and our plans are firm. Within one week, we will post registration information on our web site.
Because we have revised the event theme and purpose, we will not be paying for keynote speakers, so we have reduced the price of attending the event to $25 per person, with a 20% discount ($20 per person) for five or more registrations from one church. The cost includes two meals (Friday and Saturday lunch) on site -- other meals and lodging will be on your own."

I won't rewrite, but will continue from this point so that you get the same sense that I have gotten about how crazy this is, and how hard it is to keep up with what is going on and how to interpret it.

Also new is this statement about the intent of the gathering:
"Although FWC has been created for those who choose to stay, we are aware that many individuals and congregations are still wrestling with their decisions. Therefore, we are creating a gathering for all relevant voices to address the critical question, "What is our future in the UCC?""

This is a laying down of the gauntlet. It is a dramatic shift, not so much in their intent (for this has been the intent all along) but in their need to keep it a secret any longer. They are now actively searching for churches who wish to leave, and providing space and voice for them to do so.

A little further down the page is a heading that reads "Why discuss the option of leaving?", and therein will be found and invitation to join their chat room so that you can share your thoughts about this. The invitation reads this way:

"FWC believes all of us should be in conversation with each other, and should listen to one another's concerns and options."

All of us?

Well, no, not really. Just a couple of paragraphs later this can be found:

"To comment in an open forum on the future in the UCC for those who consider themselves evangelical, traditional, conservative, or orthodox, visit the FWC web page."

So, is an "Open Forum" by definition open only to those of a particular theological bent?

And as if that were not enough, the next paragraph includes this:

"If you are supportive of the principles of FWC, you may join the FWChurches Yahoo! chat room or the FWClergy chat room - the latter is by invitation to clergy who register as FWClergy on the web site."

So, we have gone from "all of us should be in conversation" to "Those who consider themselves evangelical, traditional. Conservative, or orthodox," to "If you are supportive..., by invitation only."

It should also be noted that they are reporting on their website that all of the keynoters are being uninvited. Actually, that is an assumption. What they write is this:
"Because we have revised the event theme and purpose, we will not be paying for keynote speakers."

That means no Presbyterian Layman; no Exodus International.

Instead, they will "...invite national and regional UCC leaders to share with us why they want us to stay in the UCC and how our voices will be heard and valued." I will be most curious to see whom they invite.

OK, enough on Faithful and Welcoming.

I started this article wanting to write about the difference we were making as we work to expose those bent on attacking Mainline Churches.

I received correspondence from a member of one our St. Louis area churches who began reading the site a number of weeks ago when a friend of hers called and told her to read my Feb. 13 article (The Role of the Pastor in an Attack: the Aggressor). Her friend was upset that I mentioned her pastor Mark Friz by name. Her friend then wanted her to call me and ask me to stop writing about Mark.

This woman wanted to write and tell me that it was at that point she started reading the Talk2action website. She called her friend back and told her she would not ask me to stop writing, and she began reading the site every week.

It was when she read last week's article (A Church Fights Back) that she wrote to me. It dawned on her how important it was for key Lay leaders to stand up and defend their church against attack.  She recounted in her mind how some members of her own church had begun to hint at dissatisfaction with the UCC, and how in her own church strong leaders stood up to them; and how she was going to commit herself to the defense of her own church from any further attacks.

This is why we write: to inform and empower leaders within their own churches. Too many attacks occur without full knowledge of who and what are behind them.

We are making a difference.

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