The Rev. William Green

Denomination: United Church of Christ (UCC)

Raised in Venezuela, William Green was educated at George School (Society of Friends), Oberlin College and Yale Divinity School. He is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ and a pastor who has also held regional and national church positions in the U.S. His work has included inter-faith and interdenominational work, community organization, political candidacy, along with fundraising. He speaks Spanish, and brings cross-cultural sensitivity to his work.

In 2005, he was one of the founders of the  United Church of Christ's "God is Still Speaking" Writers Group. Among many other publications, the "Stillspeaking" writers produce online daily devotions available to subscribers at no cost and now reaching over 20,000 readers.

In 2010, after writing "52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving" and while continuing with other devotional writing, he decided to focus his experience on church revitalization. His concern is missional clarity, spiritual growth, and financial development. This inspired the founding of the Long Looking consultancy. Along with congregational stewardship development in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, he has worked on strategic financial planning in California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New York.

Incorporated in all Long Looking work is a two-fold emphasis on (1) the guidance of the Spirit through prayer and meditation; and (2) how faith thrives in the pluralistic and secular environment found as much within as outside the church. This is the "soil" in which a congregation flourishes or withers.

In the fall of 2011 Green began additional work as the Director of Strategy and Development for the Moral Courage Project, a new Muslim reform-based multifaith initiative. The project emphasizes "speaking truth to power" that violates personal dignity and integrity. It inspires and equips participants to move beyond tolerance to direct engagement with the "otherness" often dividing church, nation, and world. It was founded by Irshad Manjimuch in demand as a public speaker and teacher.

 

Articles by The Rev. William Green

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William Green: Spiritual Exhaustion

Thursday March 28, 2013
If we're to move ahead we need a shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold. That's the way God's power reaches us.

William Green: Where Does Your Heart Lie?

Saturday March 09, 2013
We can think more about what to say than about why we want to say it. Is it because I actually care about another's feelings - or because I want to be forgiven for something mean and hurtful I've done?

William Green: We're Like God

Thursday February 14, 2013
How often do we jump to faith and trust without giving our own divine likeness its full due? We're like God not just when we're loving and confident but when we're anxious, even angry. Can that be expressed in our prayers and at church in more than ritual confession and petition?

William Green: Getting It Together

Thursday January 31, 2013
We can't know God's love if we overlook parts of ourselves we'd rather weren't true. Sooner or later that trips us up.

William Green: Strength

Thursday January 17, 2013
I have learned from Paul that faith doesn't rest on being optimistic. It doesn't rest on what I can conceive and believe. And it doesn't rest on hope or love or good intentions. It rests on God.

William Green: Honest Agnostics

Thursday January 03, 2013
It's natural to want to know more than we do, especially regarding matters of life and death and how God can allow suffering and evil. Can we respect, not just resent, what we can't comprehend””and move ahead?

William Green: Chosen for Peace

Saturday December 15, 2012
Being chosen by God involves sharing God's blessing, not monopolizing it or wielding it over others.

William Green: Hassles

Friday December 07, 2012
May we have "the strength and wits" to make it through everything that's coming up between now and Christmas! Much lies ahead before we celebrate the birth of Jesus, "the Son of Man."

William Green: Inoffensive Faith

Tuesday November 27, 2012
I've come to find Christians unwilling to speak of Jesus for the sake of not offending others similarly narrow-minded. I'm reminded of an old Pogo cartoon where Pogo says, "I love the world. It's people I hate."

William Green: Hitting the Target: Veterans Day

Monday November 12, 2012
Veterans we honor today made themselves vulnerable. They confirm what civilians, including our leaders, often forget under political pressure. More often than not, weapons and the most righteous wars miss the target””and end up targeting us instead if not the whole world, given nuclear capacities. Innocents on all sides die in the wake.

William Green: Voting and Trusting

Monday November 05, 2012
Voting and trusting are not the same thing. We vote for leaders we consider the best. We trust in God whose ways will prevail over any leader’s violation of them. Political prudence and expedience are no excuse.