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Welcome Oneida!

The newest member of the NACC family is Oneida United, in Hagarsville, Ontario. To let them know how pleased we all are, please drop them a line at RR 3, Hagersville ON N0A 1H0. (Since this is being emailed out on February 14, perhaps a Valentine's card would be appropriate!)

Christian Resources Online

Thanks to a good deal of hard work by people like Carole Burton and Lester Settle, you can now go to our website, www.unitedrenewal.org/nacc/nacc.stm, for NACC-recommended resource materials. Both print and audio-visual resources are listed there, often with thumbnail descriptions and evaluations. A number of valuable links are also provided, and you have access to the holdings of the Yoke Study Center and the NACC tape library. Materials are categorized under such headings as Bible Studies, Children's Materials, Marriage Programs, Countering Religious Pluralism, Healing of Homosexuality. Also there is information about programs like Natural Church Development and Lay Witness Week-Ends. This is a truly rich resource, so please use it! Coming Soon to a Church Very Near You? The following report has come in from one of the NACC regions. The correspondent (a regional officer) attends a non-NACC congregation, and he has asked that the account be anonymous. (It has also been edited for brevity.)

Our Presbytery asked congregations within its bounds to reply to this question: "If a same-sex covenanting service were requested of your session (or equivalent) or of your minister, would you approve it?" In order to forward a response, our Council set aside two evenings for discussion and education "in a spirit of openness and respect."

At the first of these, our Associate Minister, who I feel is all ready to conduct such a service, introduced us to two covenanting services from the new UC service book. Word for word, they sounded like real marriages to me. The Chair of Outreach also read a statement saying that we don't like homosexuals and we exclude them from activities in our church. (We have several in our choir and several more in the congregation, so I don't know how this very active woman can say what she did.) This [guilt trip] seems to be part of the homosexual agenda.

Then a lady from our Alpha group was given time for a statement she had prepared, and it said everything the NO side wanted to hear. There were 3 others who added their voices to the NO side. A father of an adult gay son and a young lesbian, who is in a relationship with a woman in our congregation, also gave their stories. There was one other speaker who was sympathetic. This was followed by a very passionate video about a rural church in N.B. that agreed to allow their minister to conduct a (so-called) covenanting service.

After the video no more discussion was permitted, and the call for the vote was made. I felt that I didn't have to add any more discussion anyway. Everyone in the room was given a ballot, and the result, 45 NO, 40 YES and one blank. 50% plus one was needed for a majority. We will be quiet for awhile now... I thought you would be interested in our decision. Blessings to you all, and thanks for your support.

Snappers

• This year's NACC AGM will be in Prince Edward Island, May 17 and 18. Our gracious hosts are the folk of Central Trinity United, Breadalbane. If you have matters you'd like discussed, please contact one of your regional officers.
• The NACC runs a quarterly pastoral relations service designed to help orthodox ministers and pastoral charges get in touch with each other. Congregations do not have to belong to the NACC to participate. A new wrinkle: Joint Search Committees sometimes find it hard to pursue several critical issues with prospective ministers, and we now offer charges a handout on how to ask appropriate questions about some of these. (To register for the service or to get a copy of the handout, contact the editor.)
• The NACC is a member of the Association for Church Renewal, a coalition of mainline church renewal leaders in the US and Canada. ACR is sponsoring a major conference: "Confesssing the Faith" in Indianapolis, October 24-26. Plenary speakers include such important names as Thomas Oden, Edith Humphrey, Maxie Dunnam, and Jerry Kirk. Highly recommended! Your church office has more information, or you can contact the editor.
• Since income tax time approaches, clergy and church treasurers may wish to check the CCCC Bulletin (Nov., 2001) for "Clergy Residence Deduction Refresher". If desperate, contact the NBs editor.
• Renewal-minded UCWs and other women's groups may wish to check out Renew Network, a United Methodist organization for evangelical, orthodox women. For programs and materials, write Box 889, 133 Clarkesville St, Cornelia GA 30531 USA, or visit their website www.renewnetwork.org.

As always, God bless. Geoff