Tools, Books and More Books – For Your Ministry

This month’s newsletter featured two exciting reads for your ministry. One has been around for some time and was featured in February’s Leadership Lunch. The Black Utopians by Aaron Robertson is a reflection “on a diverse array of Black utopian visions, from the Reconstruction era through the countercultural fervor of the 1960s and 1970s and into the present day.” This novel showcases, among other things, a well-known and highly regarded UCC Congregation known as the Shrine of the Black Madonna. While diving into the journeys of several individuals, Robertson shows the power of the enduring fight against systemic racism.

Among an array of congregational resources, upcoming Mitten Project trainings, and new grants available to support clergy education, Conference Minister Lillian Daniel also debuts her own novel, to be released on April 6th, 2026. Defrocked –  Good News from a Bad Pastor for a Better Church is a story of accountability and redemption, where Daniel reminds us that “the ditch is the place to which the gospel speaks most deeply”.

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