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

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…

2024 Michigan Conference Annual Meeting

A Warm Welcome in Northern Michigan

The Michigan Conference 2024 Annual Meeting, which took place at Crystal Mountain Resort, Crystal Center, in Thompsonville, MI, October 31 – November 2, 2024 and had 126 attendees.

Keynote presenter, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, and Ecumenical guest, Rev. Mark Laird Executive Minister to three Regional Councils, United Church of Canada, rooted the meeting in a spirit of shared ministry and vision for what is possible for the future of the church.

Six workshops offered learning opportunities about Antiracism, the Cornerstone Fund, Ministry for Older Adults, Poetry as a Spiritual Practice, Reproductive and Sexuality Justice Theology, and Vitality and Legacy.

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.

Love and Lament from a Minister in a Swing State

Following the results of Election Day on November 5, 2024, Community Renewal Society Board Member and Michigan Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel shares her reflection from in a swing state.

In my role as Michigan Conference Minister, I hosted a “Post-Election Reflection and Online Communion” for our pastors and church members. There wasn’t much shock about the results—after all, we live in Michigan, where the country’s division is our local reality, embedded in our towns and within our churches. But there were a few pastors new to the state who were feeling surprised, scared, and rewriting their sermons for that Sunday.

My heart went out to them because they reminded me of myself, back in 2016, as a pastor who had recently moved to Dubuque, Iowa, from Illinois and was also truly shocked at those 2016 election results. Little did I know that, in the weeks that followed, I would discover my new Iowa congregation was much more politically diverse than I’d imagined. My carefully planned 2016 post-election sermon, as well as my long-scheduled, pastorally sensitive “drop-in” hours the day after the election, were all based on the idea that I would be comforting Republicans—not the other way around!