For Years to Come

The theme for the forty-ninth Annual Meeting of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 28 June through 1 July 2003, is FOR YEARS TO COME, a phrase taken from the hymn, “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past,” English Congregationalist Isaac Watts’ masterful interpretation of Psalm 90. It is hoped that the theme FOR YEARS TO COME will serve as a catalyst to inspire our association of churches to engage the future with renewed vigor.

As continuing Congregationalists, we have spent much of the past half century defining ourselves in negative terms as people who stand in opposition to those who chose another fork in the road of the Congregational Way. And when we have tried to describe ourselves positively, we have many times merely been extolling our past, a fine and noble tradition to be sure, but hardly sufficient in and of itself to sustain us as a lively ecclesiastical movement in the modern world.

The time has come for Congregationalists to focus on the future, not the past, and the 2003 Annual Meeting in Milwaukee is the place for us to begin to formulate a new vision. Building upon the glorious groundwork laid by our forebears, we need intentionally to concentrate our energies on the task of determining how we can continue to be a dynamic covenanted people FOR YEARS TO COME as we endeavor to develop new and exciting ways to serve as God’s agents in the years ahead.

At the Annual Meeting our business sessions, our worship services, our addresses and lectures, our seminars, indeed our entire time assembled together in fellowship as committed Congregationalists will all focus on forging from our fine foundations innovative, creative, and challenging opportunities for reinvigorating our Congregational Way in the twenty-first century so that, in the words of Isaac Watts’ hymn, we may truly make our God, our help in ages past, our hope FOR YEARS TO COME.

The 2003 Annual Meeting itself will feature a broad range of worship experiences, seminars, and speakers in addition to the requisite business sessions. The meeting will commence with a constituting prayer by Lois Heilmann, recently retired secretary to the Association, and an address by the moderator. The Congregational Lecturer will be David Maitland; the Bible Lecturer will be Peter Gomes; and the Banquet Speaker will be Martin Marty.

David Maitland is Chaplain and Professor of Religion Emeritus at Carleton College. A graduate of Amherst College, Union Theological Seminary (where he worked closely with Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich), and Columbia University, he was ordained to the ministry by the Suffolk South Congregational Association in Massachusetts. He has a keen appreciation for issues relating to the history of Puritanism and education in America. The author of several books, including Against the Grain and Looking Both Ways, he brings to his scholarship an insightful understanding of the issues related to the modern human condition as seen in the context of a lifetime of active ministry.

An authority on Puritanism, David Maitland will deliver the Congregational Lecture.

Paul Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church at Harvard University. A graduate of Bates College and Harvard Divinity School, he is an ordained American Baptist minister and one of the most acclaimed preachers in America. He has published numerous papers, sermons, and books, including The Good Book (A New York Times best seller) and The Good Life. A native of Plymouth, Massachusetts, he knows as much about the Pilgrims as anyone and is a veritable storehouse of information concerning English and American Puritanism. He was included in the 1999 premiere issue of Talk magazine in its feature article, “The Best Talkers in America: Fifty Big Mouths We Hope Will Never Shut Up.”

Acclaimed preacher Peter Gomes will give Bible Lectures.

Martin Marty is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, of which he is also a graduate. Known for his forty-five years as an editor and columnist for The Christian Century magazine, he is an ordained Lutheran minister and one of the most sought-after commentators on the American religious scene. He has written more than fifty books (including Righteous Empire and Pilgrims in Their Own Land) in the fields of American religious history, comparative studies of international themes (e.g., fundamentalism) and theology. He was awarded the National Medal of Humanities and won the National Book Award.

Banquet speaker Martin Marty is well known for his 45 years as editor of The Christian Century magazine.

These outstanding speakers and our customary opportunities for meaningful fellowship should encourage all Congregationalists in our Association to make special efforts to attend our Annual Meeting in Milwaukee this summer. Plan NOW to be present so that all of us can join together in making this meeting a time to announce to the world our concerted intention to remain vibrant witnesses to the Congregational Way FOR YEARS TO COME.

As Moderator, the Rev. Steven H. Ware Bailey will address and preside over the 49th NACCC Annual Meeting.

The popular Resource Room will return for the third year.