Category Archives: Uncategorized

DO IT!

It’s that time of the year when the annual UCC Yearbook is organized! Whether you have reported for your church before or this is your first time, we have lots of resources for you to help make the process convenient and straightforward. This is a great time to review what happened in your local church and see a snapshot of the past year.

Additionally, yearbook reporting is done through the Engage website and can be accessed by following the login instructions.

Login site: engage.suran.com/ucc/s/login 

This year’s access code for reporters is: newyearnewdata2026
The “national” UCC has also organized resources, including a video overview of the yearbook reporting process! These resources can be found on their website.

Important Deadline: April 10th – Yearbook Reporting Closes

If you have any questions about registering a reporter for your local church, please contact Kimberly Poisson.

The Maine School of Ministry (MESOM) Update

 

MESOM Sunday – Give on Feb 22!

Congregations across Maine, along with dedicated individuals, will take part on MESOM Sunday on February 22nd, lifting up theological education for the life of the church.

Each year MESOM raises its own support from small grants and tuition, generous individual donors and churches. Church gifts collectively may provide as much as $20,000 toward the overall operating budget of $70,000. That goal will involve each local church passing the basket, gathering those envelopes, or offering our QR code online. Thank you!

We are inspired by all of the students and certificate grads who are guest preachers this weekend, sharing the good news of mentors and instructors who accompany lifelong learners especially in rural and remote areas. MESOM continues to grow our number of enrolled students, and to multiply offerings for those curious to go deeper in aspects of faith seeking understanding.

Give Online HERE.  Specify “Maine School of Ministry” on the Designation Line.

MESOM Upcoming Classes

Spring Semester 2026:

  • Intergenerational Spiritual Care and Nurture – Instructor Debbie Gline Allen (Zoom: Feb-May)
  • Organizing for Relationships and Repair – with Malcolm Himschoot and Chrissy Cataldo (Zoom: Feb-May)

The latter includes:

  • Wabanaki REACH leading “De-colonizing and the Role of Faith Communities” a two-part workshop over Feb. 28 and Mar. 7 (9:00-12:00) on Zoom.

Fall Semester 2026 – Spring Semester 2027:

  • New Testament: Gospels and Acts – Instructor Paul Day (In Person)
  • Leadership in Anxious Times – Instructor Todd Weir (Zoom)
  • New Testament: Hard Questions – Instructor Kelsey Wallace (Zoom)
  • History of World Christianities – Instructor Leah Rumsey (Zoom)

Tuition for a typical semester course is $375. MESOM semester courses are 24 real-time contact hours, with additional readings and assignments.

  • If you need a partial scholarship, please email Dean Malcolm Himschoot to make your request, mhimschoot@maineucc.org.

More information: www.maineucc.org/mesom/ 

 

Webinars on the “MANUAL ON LOCAL CHURCH”

Over the last several years, manuals have been created by the national setting of the church which attempt to describe/suggest/advance practices and standards of the wider church and local congregations.  The newest of these is the MANUAL ON LOCAL CHURCH…click blue link to download and to access interpretive resources.

Join us on ZOOM as we explore the Manual on Local Church.

Associate Conference Minister, Rev. John Fiscus will be facilitating the conversation,  with emphasis on the Church Code of Conduct and the Marks of Effective Congregations.  Please choose one of the two scheduled sessions and email us to save your space at Conference@maineucc.org
Sessions:
Thursday February 19th 6:00 PM or
Saturday February 21st  9:00 AM
These meetings will be via Zoom and an E-mail link will be sent in advance of the session.

2026 Fellowship Dues Rates and IRS Mileage Rates

2026 Fellowship Dues for the Maine Conference will be $20.43/member.   Conference Dues fluctuate year to year by the federally-established COLA rate, unless changed by special vote of the Conference at Annual Meeting.  

2025 Fellowship Dues for the Cumberland Association are  $2.10/member.  (Many churches do add Conference and Association Dues together to make one line item for their budgets, but we want you to know how the dues are actually assessed.)

2026 Fellowship Dues for each church are calculated on the number of members reported as of December 31, 2025.  Membership MUST be reported to the UCC via the UCC Data Hub by each church.  If you do not file your statistics with the UCC data hub, your church’s dues will be calculated on the most recent statistics you have filed on the Data Hub.  Data Hub reporting is done in January or February each year.

2026 DUES for both Association and Conference will be invoiced to churches in the Spring, and are due May 15th.  

Debra DeLong is our Cumberland Association Treasurer. All Maine Conference and Cumberland Association dues  (also Scholarship Fund donations) should be sent to Deb at her address -152 Puritan Drive, Westbrook, ME 04092. Her email address is djgdelong@gmail.com. Checks should still be made payable to the Cumberland Association and mailed to Deb’s home address.  She then forwards the Conference Dues to the Conference. 

For 2025, the standard mileage rate for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) is 70 cents per mile for business miles driven.  Rates for 2026 are expected to be announced in December, 2025; check IRS.gov for 2026 rate.  The tax-deductible mileage rate for volunteers (not employees) driving in service of charitable organizations:  $.14/mile (set by federal statute, not the IRS, and does not change annually).