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 Schedule is linked in the registration form.  Optional Thursday evening event on 10.31.24 is included in registration.

Early Bird Registration is available through 09.30.24
Discounted Lodging is available through 09.30.24

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)

Financial support is available.
For individuals or churches in need of assistance contact lisa@michucc.org before 09.30.24

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:

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.

At the Risk of Stating the Obvious – by Lillian Daniel Michigan Conference Minister

At the risk of stating the obvious, the United Church of Christ is a Christian denomination.

We have always been followers of the way of Jesus with a deep passion for bringing the Bible to the people, willing to stand up against the excesses of our own extended church family, but with humility because you never know who God will speak through next. Our ecumenical passion was bigger than the rest of Christianity’s. We are always reaching out to other Christians, including those who dismiss us. We are rebellious reformers, but also the first to call the warring factions together, trusting in the promise “that they may all be one.”

Ecumenically, we stand in the Reformed tradition that was not very traditional when it started. Some of our forebears were willing to be burnt at the stake so that people could read the Bible for themselves in their own language. The reformers didn’t do it to draw attention to an educational equity issue, or a justice issue, or even a class revolution, although all those things can spring forth when people try to follow Christ because the Holy Spirit is never asleep. But let’s be clear: the motivation of those early reformers, and to the current reformers who gather under the UCC tent to worship something other than themselves, was not to boost a political party, or to be first among ecclesiastical franchisees to produce the next spiritual happy meal, or even to create a list of “historic firsts” for a marketing campaign that I imagine our forebears would hate. They risked their lives and their relationships with the institutional church, not to create a new list of merit badges for secular forces to run through the church for some higher good. No, they did it all so that future generations could hear and read the gospel of Jesus Christ as they had. They were willing to bet it all on the idea that God was still speaking. And they didn’t make that up as a tagline, they found it in their worship and practice as Christians.