Kneebone ordination
Ordination and Installation this Sunday for Pastor Kneebone
By Kathy Bottorff
November 20, 2012
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Rev. AnnMarie Kneebone |
First United Church of Christ, Plymouth, and Grace United Church of Christ, Culver, are pleased to announce
the Service of Ordination and Installation on Sunday afternoon, November 25th at 3:00 p.m. for Pastor Ann
Marie Kneebone.
The celebration will be held at Grace UCC in Culver, 307 North Plymouth Street. The public is invited.
During the ceremony, AnnMarie will be ordained as a minister in the denomination by the Northwest
Association of the Indiana-Kentucky Conference of the United Church of Christ.
Following ordination, the Rev. AnnMarie Kneebone will be installed as the called pastor serving both
Plymouth and Culver congregations.
Growing up in the Roman Catholic faith tradition, AnnMarie felt a call from God at an early age.
A gifted dramatist and musician, AnnMarie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Writing for the Arts from
Western Michigan University and a Master of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary.
Prior to ordained ministry, AnnMarie worked in both church and secular organizations to reach out to those who
are suffering. From stage-managing the City of Chicago’s celebration for World AIDS Day, to joining Katrina
Hurricane Relief, to training Christian Peacemaker teams, or to serving as a voice for those whom society has
marginalized, Pastor AnnMarie has poured out God’s gifts in her life as a balm for those in need.
As a pastor she has worked with small churches in transition, served as pastoral counselor for hospice care,
ministered to teens and young adults, led worship and children’s church in Chicago area nondenominational,
United Methodist, and American Baptist churches, and served on UCC denominational committees.
Born and raised in Michigan, AnnMarie comes from Elkhart, Indiana, where she was a member of First
Congregational Church (UCC).
Her former pastor, the Reverend Anne Cubbage will present the message in the afternoon service.
The Reverend Dr. Eva Buthy, Chair of the Northwest Association’s Committee on Ministry and the Reverend
Dan Barnum-Steggerda will participate in leading the service of ordination along with other area UCC
clergy. Pastor Emeritus of First United Church of Christ, and former interim pastor at Culver Grace UCC,
the Reverend Dr. Ronald W. Liechty will also participate in the service of ordination.
Following the ceremonies, participants are welcome to share in a meal held in Zion Hall in Grace Church.
For further information about the celebration call 842-2331. Sunday morning services at Grace Church begin
at 9:45 a.m. with education classes following; Education classes at First UCC begin at 9:30 a.m. with worship
at 10:45
Kneebone ordination in Culver was historic event
November 25 saw what may be an unprecedented event at Grace United Church of
Christ in Culver: the ordination of its pastor to the status of minister -- which means
church members can call her "Reverend" AnnMarie Kneebone now.
Kneebone began her time at both Grace and First United Church of Christ in Plymouth
(the two churches are "yoked," or share a pastor) in June, 2011 as an interim pastor.
She says in the UCC tradition, a potential pastor attends seminary and then takes on
the status of a "person in discernment" with the Northwest Indiana Association of the
Indiana-Kentucky Conference of the UCC, through the recommendation of a local church,
which in Kneebone's case was the First Congregational UCC Church in Elkhart.
Then, she says, the candidate spends a few years in discernment, during which "it's all
about covenant: creating relationships and accountability, as well as the fact that each
church is autonomous.
That, coupled with a commitment to accountability and covenant is what keeps us
strong."
Kneebone developed relationships in the Association with various governing committees,
primarily the Committee on Ministry, writing a paper and going before an ecclesiastical
council where she was asked a number of questions, theoretical, theological, and
practical.
"There's a lot of getting to know you through that process, to see if you're a qualified
candidate for ordination," she notes.
She was then voted to be ordained, pending a call to a specific church, which can be
initiated in a variety of ways.
Grace and First United Churches were actively looking for a minister while Kneebone was
acting as interim, and followed up on a few potentials, without really making a connection.
"The churches (Grace and First United) here felt a connection to me in a way they felt
was important enough that they contacted the council and asked if I could be a
candidate," she says. "Because of our unique situation of our being yoked, the
conference said they would shift my title from interim pastor to designated pastor...you're
not saying, 'Yes, I'm committed to being here,' but I'm more than interim."
That was in July, and Kneebone was asked if she felt God was calling her towards those
churches, something she says was initially unexpected for her.
Kneebone's ecclesiastical council was held at First UCC in Plymouth. On Decision Sunday
in October, the vote took place regarding her status: at Grace in Culver just after she'd
left for First UCC in Plymouth that Sunday morning, and at First UCC after she'd finished
the service there.
"I got to take a walk (while they voted)," she laughs.
Culver's Grace congregants headed to Plymouth where the two churches shared vote
counting tasks (and lunch, whose preparation was also shared by both churches'
members).
The results of that vote, of course, culminated on Sunday, Nov. 25 with Kneebone's
ordination, which she felt should appropriately be at Grace, since the events leading up
to it took place at First UCC.
Technically, two major events took place that day: not only Kneebone's ordination, but
also her installation to both individual church bodies. While both Grace UCC and First UCC
have been the sites of ministerial installations in the past, Kneebone doesn't believe
actual ordinations have taken place at either.
During ordination, the Northwest Association ordains the minister, says Kneebone, though
the Committee on Ministry is also a part of the ordination, and each entity has a
representative. Plymouth's own Rev. Ron Leichty -- as pastor emeritus at First UCC and a
past interim pastor at Grace -- did an exhortation during both the ordination and i
nstallation. Representatives of both churches, as well as clergy from other area churches,
also participated.
"That's a lot of what the UCC is about," says Kneebone, "is participation and collaboration,
as well as accountability and covenant. So having all those people represent those
different groups is a representation of our polity and focus."
There were also many special people to Kneebone in attendance Nov. 25, including the
person who first encouraged her to attend seminary (who journeyed here from the
suburbs of Chicago), Kneebone's best friend since first grade, her 85 year old father, her
brother and sister-in-law and their children, and others.
"So the intensity of that ceremony was high because of all the input from everybody's life
into mine," she explains, "which culminated in this recognition of being called by God,
and they were witnesses.
"The process of being ordained is like many other processes: you have things that show
your aptitude and abilities. But then the witnesses there that day (of ordination) from
the actual committees I talked to, to those longtime friends and mentors, and having
both churches come together at one site and be witnesses too, and say together,
'We agree we want you to become our pastor.
"The church was pretty full that day," she acknowledges.
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