MINUTES

CAUCE

Date | time9/13/2016 10:00 AM | Meeting called byCoordinating Committee

Attendance: Karen Ziel, rosemary Lamie, Tracy Fouke Bausum, Cindy Cole, Cheryl LaGrange, Dawne Quinn, Barbara Collins, Jana Russo-Priestley, Tracy Gormley, Georgette Huie, Gwen McCann.

Time

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Items in red require follow-up

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Owner

10:00 am / Dawne was delayed and Gwen started the meeting at 10:10.
Gwen provided a devotional prayer which we all shared together. / Dawne and Gwen /
10:05 am / Continuing Education-share ideas around fall events and sign up For our October offering.
Gwen asked us to share a fall program you may be doing (or thinking of doing!) - a Bible workshop, your Bible presentation, Communion Workshop etc. / All /
Cindy: They have started a gift giving and pastor visit for new babies. The gift is the “Frolic Bible” from Sparkhouse and “Butterfly Fish” CD from Saltproject.org. She is planning a God’s Paintbrush lock-in; Doing a Veggie Tales “Drummer Boy” program and has established a Godly Play Rotation Workshop in the Mission Room for all ages. They had a very successful VBS this summer.
Tracy B: They had Cool Camp Sundays in the summer which were intergenerational and included a drumming circle, Rescue Dog, balloon art, and even included some retired pastors doing nature presentations, etc.
Karen: Has recently became the acting co-chair for the CE Committee at her home church. She is trying to fill a void left by two “resignations” and be helpful to her congregation. She has resourced some programs using some special books: “God and Goodnight Moon - Finding Spirituality in Storybooks for Children” a great family event resource, “Stories for Growing” about the benefits of storytelling, “Doorbell Rings” by Pat Hutchins, etc. Karen asks for our prayers for her and her church!
Cheryl LaGrange: Starting Rotation. 24 teachers. 3 workshops. Have been able to designate three rooms – drama, video and games. Great energy. Well received. Cheryl is volunteering 25 per week.
Georgette: Went to NYE at Disney. A very affirming experience for her kids. Dawn and Georgette talked about maybe West Hartford and Rocky Hill doing a trip together in the future.
Gwen: Did a mission trip sponsored by GROUP and although the theology is different than ours, in this setting Gwen was able to manage it and it was a very good experience for her group. Karen shared an alternative to GROUP called Reach Beyond Mission. The advantage of these trips sponsored and run by an organization is that it is easier for a CE leader to participate and even the large size was comfortable and inspiring for the kids. Cindy also mentioned “Urban Spirit” in PA.
10:15 am / Approve minutes and reports
  • Minutes of May 3rd meeting (NEAUCE) were approved after the spelling of Dawne’s name was noted and corrected. Rosemary needs to send minutes of the CAUCE meeting held at NEAUCE to those who did not receive them.
  • Registrar’s report – 30 supporting members.We should each look at drop box and note our own renewal dates. Need to upload new photos for the new brochure. Need to save and print the listings of members in Drop Box for ourselves.
  • Treasurer’s report – Balance $1532.62 which is very good!
/ Rosemary
Tracy G.
Georgette /
10:25 pm / Read our vision statement:
CAUCE will foster communities that affirm, equip, support, develop, and
advocate for leaders of faith formation / All /
10:25 pm / Report from Karen Ziel
First, noted that LOGOS Productions went out of business. Among other things, they published the “Come Join the Circle” curriculum.
There is a great downloadable PDF for the “White Privilege Let’s Talk” curriculum which is available now. There are 4 sections. Read the stories and reflections. Powerful. Very well done. It is good for use by individuals or small groups. Groups are advised to have a behavioral covenant. Karen has a suggested one and will share it with us.
Strategic Initiatives in Faith Formation – See Mentoring and Faith Formation identity on the website ctucc.org. Ashley Grant and Cindy Cole are the digital ministers. Not launched yet. The vision for this whole initiative is to cultivate, encourage, and equip Christian formation leaders in shaping faith and discipleship with people of all generations.
There will be sections on the website including Stories; Growing Together (both Shared Reading and Stepping Stones); Mentoring will be Peer to Peer. There will be training in early November.There will be a bulletin board for events, etc. and Resources for Formation.
The List Serve server is dying. Fido may go over to Google Groups. Go to and Karen will add your Gmail to the group. Especially good for crowdsourcing. Tell our folks in the Regions to sign up also.
Karen will send out letters to 12 potential mentors; 6 are needed. Let Karen know if you know someone who could use a mentor.
Karen also discussed the Survey Results. 60 responses were received. Of those 20% are full time.Karen will send us a link to the PDF with the results. / Karen Ziel /
10:45 am / CAUCE 2016-2017
Stepping Stones: Two have been developed for the near future. Ideally we would have 6. Debby Kirk will do one in November. January in Guilford, there will be one on Rotation. As for moving around the state, Karen would like to continue having at least one maybe two in Southington as it is “centrally located”. Rosemary Lamie offered to help facilitate one in Fairfield.
Annual Event/Retreat; Web presence/social media are covered in the survey results. We should be prepared to discuss the surveyat our next meeting as it will inform our future programming.
Meeting dates and times: 2nd Tuesday. 9:30 am coffee and catching up; Meeting 10 – 12 noon. Next meeting is October 11 at the conference office. / Dawne and Gwen /
11:30 am / Closing Prayer/Lunch / Gwen and Dawne /
Submitted by Rosemary Lamie