Once again, we are looking forward to gathering for two days of renewal and fellowship at  CCIW FALL WOMEN’S RETREAT.  The planning committee comprised of Jane Cahill, Jacqueline Myers, Heather Rinderer, Nina Scattergood, and Pearl Witte have set the date for Saturday, September 30 at  9:00 AM through Sunday, October 1 at Noon. Our theme is Season of Life: Living in Love.

The leadership team will gather on Friday to begin set up and preparation to receive others.  If it best suits your travel arrangement, you may also arrive after 6 PM on Friday to enjoy the beauty and the serenity of the Camp Walter Scott and spend the night. The cost for Friday night accommodations is an additional $20.00.  On Friday, there will be no scheduled activities and dinner is on your own.

On Saturday the event will begin with a hot breakfast, registration, and welcome at 9:00 AM. Throughout the day, we will explore our theme Seasons of Life: Living in Love with our keynote speaker Rev. Melissa Ebken and other leaders as we explore scriptures, make crafts, pray for and with one another, and more. Nina Scattergood will be our music leader and Jacqueline Myers will be leading crafts. The evening will conclude with dinner and time to connect with your prayer partner and others. The event will conclude on Sunday with worship and brunch. An offering will be received during worship and donated to Camp Walter Scott to be used for artwork for the Camp that features women of the Bible.

Fee for the event is $75 with overnight accommodations on Saturday in the Retreat House or a cabin, (you can request to stay in a yurt or hogan), or you can make your own reservations in a local hotel or motel.  Commuter fee is $55.00.

As always, the health and safety of our participants are always a concern. If you are ill the day of the event, we request that you stay home this year. We will refund your registration and see you next year. Overnight accommodations will be arranged by travel groups. Travel groups will be identified through the congregation that is listed on the registration form. Should there be questions about accommodations, Beth Rupe will contact you prior to the event or during Saturday morning check-in time.

REGISTRATION FOR Sept 30 – Oct 1, 2023  FALL WOMEN’S RETREAT

Friday Night Lodging ($20.00)

Saturday and Sunday (overnight stay) $75.00

Saturday and Sunday (Commuting) $55.00

REGISTRATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Download Registration PDF

Once again, we are looking forward to gathering for two days of renewal and fellowship at  CCIW FALL WOMEN’S RETREAT.  The planning committee comprised of Jane Cahill, Jacqueline Myers, Heather Rinderer, Nina Scattergood, and Pearl Witte have set the date for Saturday, September 30 at  9:00 AM through Sunday, October 1 at Noon. Our theme is Season of Life: Living in Love.

The leadership team will gather on Friday to begin set up and preparation to receive others.  If it best suits your travel arrangement, you may also arrive after 6 PM on Friday to enjoy the beauty and the serenity of the Camp Walter Scott and spend the night. The cost for Friday night accommodations is an additional $20.00.  On Friday, there will be no scheduled activities and dinner is on your own.

On Saturday the event will begin with a hot breakfast, registration, and welcome at 9:00 AM. Throughout the day, we will explore our theme Seasons of Life: Living in Love with our keynote speaker Rev. Melissa Ebken and other leaders as we explore scriptures, make crafts, pray for and with one another, and more. Nina Scattergood will be our music leader and Jacqueline Myers will be leading crafts. The evening will conclude with dinner and time to connect with your prayer partner and others. The event will conclude on Sunday with worship and brunch. An offering will be received during worship and donated to Camp Walter Scott to be used for artwork for the Camp that features women of the Bible.

Fee for the event is $75 with overnight accommodations on Saturday in the Retreat House or a cabin, (you can request to stay in a yurt or hogan), or you can make your own reservations in a local hotel or motel.  Commuter fee is $55.00.

As always, the health and safety of our participants are always a concern. If you are ill the day of the event, we request that you stay home this year. We will refund your registration and see you next year. Overnight accommodations will be arranged by travel groups. Travel groups will be identified through the congregation that is listed on the registration form. Should there be questions about accommodations, Beth Rupe will contact you prior to the event or during Saturday morning check-in time.

REGISTRATION FOR Sept 30 – Oct 1, 2023  FALL WOMEN’S RETREAT

Friday Night Lodging ($20.00)

Saturday and Sunday (overnight stay) $75.00

Saturday and Sunday (Commuting) $55.00

REGISTRATION DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Download Registration PDF

Being a pastor is no easy task in our time. Institutions are weaker, budgets are in decline, people are uninterested, and commitment is wavering.

But these are only symptoms of a bigger issue.

This presentation will seek to peer beneath the symptoms and explore why many pastors find them-selves in an identity crisis. The presentation examines what living in a secular age does to pastoral identity and how pastors can find new footing within it.

This event is intended to enrich the lives of all clergy, as well as lay leaders and anyone involved with church planning.

Featuring Andrew Root

Andrew Root (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He writes and researches in areas of theology, ministry, culture and younger generations. His most recent books are: Churches and the Crisis of Decline (Baker, 2022), The Congregation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2021), The End of Youth Ministry? (Baker, 2020), The Pastor in a Secular Age: Ministry to People Who No Longer Need God (Baker, 2019), Faith Formation in a Secular Age (Baker, 2017), and Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Fortress Press, 2018). Some Of his newer releases: When Church Stops Working and The Church After Innovation

Get the PDF Flyer

AIM Conference

Registration Form and Fees due by Sept. 25, 2023

Speaker:  Andrew Root (Ph.D, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul. MN.

Registration Fee  (Clergy and Non-Clergy) includes Wednesday dinner and Thursday lunch.  It does not include Thursday breakfast or hotel reservation.  You will be responsible for contacting Starved Rock Lodge or a hotel of choice, hotel information below.

• Clergy Registration Fee:  $150.00
• Non-Clergy Registration Fee:  $95.00

Meals for Guest/Partner 

• Wednesday Dinner:  $36.95
• Thursday Lunch:  $17.95

2024 AIM Membership Dues:  $25.00

Hotel Information

Starved Rock Lodge: 1-800-868-7625 $160 plus tax for single/double occupancy (rooms available until Sept. 3)

Additional lodging is available in Oglesby, about 15 minutes from Starved Rock Lodge

Days Inn: 815-681-7739

Best Western:  800-780-7232

• Angelique Byrd
• Tom Yang
• Katherine Ball

The School for Ministry invites you to Beyond the Red Blue Divide: Into the Purple Zone with Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, professor of Preaching at Lexington Theological Seminary.

SESSION 1: Ministry in a House Divided: Finding the Purple Zone

Red state/blue state politics threaten the foundations of our democracy and tear the fabric of our churches. Congregations and church leaders need new perspectives and insights for navigating this difficult time. Rev. Dr. Schade will offer an overview of “the purple zone” based on her longitudinal research of nearly 3000 clergy and 1000 laity from 2017-2023.

She will then introduce a method for engaging issues of public concern called the “sermon-dialogue-sermon” process which enables congregations to find the values that bind them together and respond faithfully to God’s Word.

SESSION 2: Preaching Across the Divide: Strategies for Sermons in The Purple Zone

The challenge of preaching across the red-blue divide in our churches is fraught with risks, but also offers opportunities for proclaiming the gospel and building community in profound and contextual ways. Informed by insights from her longitudinal research of nearly 3000 clergy and 1000 laity from 2017-2021, Rev. Dr. Schade will help you think strategically about your sermons in the midst of this fractured time. Based on her book Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), Dr. Schade offers a way to approach preaching in this politically divisive climate using two tools she developed: a “dialogical lens” for interpreting scripture, and the “Five Paths for Prophetic Preaching.” Participants will workshop upcoming lectionary texts for preaching using these tools.

SESSION 3: Navigating the Red-Blue Divide: Clergy and Congregations in Collaboration

How can clergy and laity work together to navigate the political divides that plague our society and our congregations? What are ways that congregations can support their pastors when they preach and teach about the social issues that affect the people of God?
Participants are invited to include congregants in this session. In this conversation guided by Rev. Dr. Schade, we’ll discuss challenges and opportunities for building relationships of trust and dialogue so that both pastors and parishioners can feel heard, respected, and held in God’s grace.

Learn more about Rev. Dr. Leah Schade here.

The CCIW/CCMR Transformation team is excited to invite you to join us for a retreat November 6-8 at Pilgrim Park near Princeton, Illinois.. During our time together, we will pause to reflect, gather to learn, and join together as we journey on a path to transformation.

This retreat will feature:

• Time to rest, reflect, and relax.
• Prayer.
• Good food.
• Silence.
• Meditation.
• Art.
• Engaging, Interactive keynote sessions.
• Music and Singing.
• Small-group discussions.
• Time to refresh your spirit.

Plus, there will be opportunities to:

• Meet with a spiritual director.
• Meet with a clergy coach.
• Walk a labyrinth.
• Enjoy a campfire.
• Form a transforming clergy cohort.

Our keynote speaker is Kinsie Tate. Rev. Kinsie Tate is the Founder and Executive Director of Restore Clergy, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support clergy with programs that improve wellness to cultivate faithful and sustainable ministry. She is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and has a private practice where she has facilitated growth and transformation for clients for over a decade. She completed her Master of Divinity at Phillips Theological Seminary and was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 2007. She served as an associate minister for 3 years prior to returning to complete her Master of Education in Applied Behavioral Studies at Oklahoma City University in 2010. She became a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oklahoma in 2012 and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in California in 2021. She was certified as a Truce Coach in 2022. She lives in California with her spouse, who is United Methodist Clergy serving in a local congregation, and their 3 school-age children.  

Registration Information

Date – November 6-8

Time – 4:30p-11a

Location – Pilgrim Park: 26449 1340 N Avenue, Princeton, IL 61356

Cost – $75 – Double Occupancy / $100 Single Occupancy

Covers registration for the event, 2 nights lodging, and 5 meals

Deadline – October 22, 2023 (hard deadline)

The Regional Youth Council invites all CCIW Youth in 6th to 12th grade and adult sponsors to join us for fellowship, spiritual growth, worship and fun.