To care for the UCC clergy and churches in Michigan.

Welcome to the Michigan Conference

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Michigan Conference, where, when you’ve seen one church, you’ve seen one church.  We have churches by cherry orchards, rust belts, tourist towns of fudge shops and food deserts without grocery stores, vacation mansions alongside a serious shortage of affordable housing, and pure recreational lakes down the road from cities whose drinking water is dirty. From city apartments, farmhouses, lake cottages, vacation mansions we make our spiritual homes together in 135 churches that include all the rich contrasts of our beautiful state.

Since becoming Conference Minister in 2022, you can see from my speaking schedule that I have spent most weekends visiting them. I can testify that no matter the size or setting, you will find a fascinating and faithful spiritual home here, whether you are looking for a place to worship or a place to preach. We can have the oldest congregation in a small town and be the first in that same town to welcome the queer community. We have new church starts without the burden of a building, meeting online or in coffee shops. We have historic churches whose stained glass windows, woodwork and masonry are a blessing of art and transcendence to their communities. We have congregations that are unapologetically black and congregations that have Alpine festivals. 

In large cities, rural villages, sprawling suburbs and fertile forests, our churches bear witness to the God who is still speaking, who desires justice and who welcomes all, no matter what, no matter who, no matter where you are on life’s journey. In the Michigan Conference, our Christian tradition may be two thousand years old but our thinking is not. If that sounds like you, come join us. 

Peace and Blessings, 

The Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel

2024 Michigan Conference Annual Meeting

Registration is now open for the Michigan Conference Annual Meeting November 1-2, 2024.

Join us as we welcome UCC General Minister and President Karen Georgia Thompson for worship on All Saints Day and celebrate our past, present, and future together as the Michigan Conference.

Full Event Draft Schedule can be found HERE.  Optional Thursday evening event on 10.31.24 is included in registration.

Online Event Registration ends 10.14.24

ONSITE Event Registration Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is a flat rate of $175.00                 (does NOT include lodging)

Leadership Lunch with Lillian Daniel – the first Wednesday of the month at noon ON ZOOM

Join us live on Zoom the first Wednesday of each month as we invite experts from across the Michigan Conference, UCC denomination, and beyond to discuss issues that are impacting the church today.  Topics and guest speakers are generated directly by requests and conversations with leaders in our local churches.  

Registered participants on Zoom receive a monthly email with the recording along with additional resources shared during Leadership Lunch.

Recordings are archived on the Michigan Conference UCC YouTube Channel in the Leadership Lunch Playlist.

Past topics include:

Antiracism, Annual Meeting, Out of Control Building Budgets, Church Bylaw Challenges and Solutions, Pronouns in Church, Child Connected Church, “The God of Wild Places,”  Digital Security, Mental Health for Church Leaders, Shrinking Budgets, and more…

Caring Clergy Conference Communities

Conference Staff offers four monthly drop in groups on Zoom

Groups meet on Wednesdays from 12:00noon – 1:00pm

Pastors and MIDs may join these Caring Clergy Communities on Zoom any time.

First Wednesday Leadership Lunch with Lillian Daniel

Second Wednesday Book of the Month with Jenn Ringgold

Third Wednesday Clergy Cafe with Cheryl Burke

Fourth Wednesday Spiritual Practices for Pastors with Lawrence Richardson

Member in Discernment (Second Thursday and Third Monday) and Retired Clergy Cafe (First Thursday starting May 2) are also available for drop in.

From a High Speed Train in Germany – by Lillian Daniel Michigan Conference Minister

I am writing to you from a high speed train in Germany after visiting the Michigan Conference’s partner church in Northern Pomerania, because in my first year in this job, I promised someone I would do it. I remember hearing about how our Michigan church members poured decades into a partnership, with musical and youth exchanges, but like so many things in life, it had languished in recent years. They were tired but they didn’t want the program to die and by the end of our conversation, I didn’t either.

Besides, I also knew I could use the education. You see, in my thirty years of parish ministry, all four of the historic churches I have served were born of the Congregational tradition, which is only one of the five streams that make up our denomination (Congregational, Christian, Afro-Christian and the two German streams Evangelical and Reform.) So I know the stream that came from the pilgrims in England, but as I visit our UCC churches in Michigan, about half have their historic roots in Germany, with names like “Salem,” “Bethlehem,” and “Saint Paul’s,” started by farmers who may have first worshipped in a humble cabin. Their beautiful larger sanctuaries were built later by the next generation of woodworkers and bricklayers, extended families who came here to make a new life. Many of our churches held German language worship services until World War II made that untenable. The suspicion and prejudice they received as German immigrants, even those who had been here for generations, caused many to switch to English only, and to place an American flag in the sanctuary as a sign of their loyalty to the place that was now their homeland. These are the stories I have learned in my visits in Michigan, and they made me long to learn the story behind that story in the land in which it began.