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Volume 2, Issue 2

Ecumenically Yours

In the evenings after the last session of each day, there was a Coffee House with entertainment which included the singing of songs both inspirational and simply humorous, one night even included a salsa dancing demonstration.  A nightly feature of the Coffee House was the Opera, a presentation spearheaded by the talented Ruthie Munk. In this Opera, new words were set to familiar songs, and we watched as two singing households confronted the practical realities of inter-denominational life.
If ecumenism is fundamentally about relating to one another in Christ, that is not only what we learned about at this conference, but what we experienced.  "Father, Make Us One!"
-Heidi Fenton      Heidi has just finished a year serving on staff with UCO, for which we are deeply grateful to her. She will be living in Ann Arbor and returning to school for a graduate degree in Theology.
In an answer to prayer, the treatment for Hodgkin's disease Heidi underwent was a success. Heidi's attitude and faith during this ordeal was inspirational for all of UCO.

individual level.  Rather than leaving ecumenism entirely to the theologians hashing out the differences, let us begin to share in our similarities.  God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Worship. Intercession. Service.
The days were broken up into talks, men's and women's sessions, workshops, times for prayer, and times for recreation. We were privileged to have Brother Charles Simpson speak to us on Friday and Saturday nights, hammering home the nitty-gritty truths of ecumenism.
The workshop series was a particular treat. Participants could choose to attend one track for three out of four days and get a condensed overview of another track on the fourth day.  This structure allowed the workshops to have greater depth--and the topics certainly benefited from that depth.  The topics ranged from "Answering the Skeptics," which provided practical advice for dealing with Christians who do not understand ecumenism, to "Catholic and Ecumenical," which was a look at ecumenism from the perspective of Catholic Church teaching.

Hawaii. Detroit. Ottawa. Mexico. Miami. Costa Rica. Scotland. Lutheran. Roman Catholic. Baptist. Greek Orthodox. Presbyterian. Evangelical. Of these and more, one prayer: "Father, Make Us One."
This was the 2002 Ecumenical Youth Congress, held in Adrian, Michigan. 
Youth converged from all over the globe and all over the denominational spectrum to spend five days praising God together and learning more about what it means to be a Christian with a heart for the unity in the Church for which Christ prayed. For many of those attending, ecumenism was transformed from something incidental to something central, from something to be left to others to something that is a responsibility of the individual--me.
We became aware that ecumenism is not simply a matter to be discussed in technical dialogues by trained theologians, nor can it be reduced to minding one's own denominational business and letting others mind theirs--you go to your church, I'll go to mine, and ne'er the twain shall meet. Ecumenism is about fellowship, and fellowship first occurs on an

Prayer Requests

groups be formed well, and that He would provide stability and protection in all our relationships.
4. Staff: Brian and I are fresh as co-leading chapter directors and Amy Birk and Janice Firn will be on staff for the first time; both while taking classes. Pray that our transition into doing this work would go well and especially that we would learn how to listen to the Lord's promptings in direction for UCO.

-Brian Lalonde
UCO Co-Chapter Director

nual "Essentials" course. Pray for the new students we'll be inviting as well as for attendance from our UCOers. We hope old-timers will benefit from the material along with new folks. Dr. Dan Keating will deliver a good share of the course with help from other speakers as well.
3. Growth: UCO is blessed this year with some incoming freshmen that are already connected with our life. There are also many young Christians returning - each of whom can grow in the area of personally hearing the call to Discipleship and love of the Lord. Hopefully this will be fostered in the context of new small groups. Pray that these

Coming off summer into fall is always exciting; you're soaring from good summer households, no classes, and ready for students to come back. Let's give thanks to the Lord for a great summer, but also pray for help in the following areas of UCO life. Take some time to lift these up as you read them, and please continue to persevere in prayer for us throughout the term:
1. Evangelism: Ask that our UCO students would hear the great commission and openly live the Gospel to those around them. Also, that the extra efforts of the Evangelism Team would be fruitful. 
2. Fall Course: We ask for your prayers again for our an

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