A gathering of United Church of Christ clergy was hosted April 20th at Black Lake Retreat Center in Asheboro by Catawba College. The gathering was to inform church leaders of a new program, DISCOVER, being offered through Catawba's Lilly Center and to provide an enrichment session on the need for hope, action and accountability within the UCC denomination.
The Reverend Larry Bolick was the emcee for the event that brought approximately 35 individuals to the retreat center long affiliated with the denomination.
Christopher Gratton, a 2015 Catawba alumnus and the director of Catawba's Theology Institute, shared information about the new program, DISCOVER. DISCOVER, funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., is a program to educate middle and senior high school youth about theology and ministry and to help prepare the next generation of leadership for the Church. DISCOVER is a part of the Lilly Endowment Inc.'s High School Youth Theology Institutes Initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues, and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service. DISCOVER will make it possible for 120 middle and senior high youth, some from UCC churches to attend a week-long experience.
During the enrichment session he offered, the Rev. Dr. Edward Davis called on his fellow ministers to demand accountability within their pastorates and to encourage hope and action as means to help grow membership in their churches.
