Maine School of Ministry(MESOM) Updates

…from the Dean of the Maine School of Ministry— 
Rev. Dr. Malcolm Himschoot

The Maine School of Ministry runs five classes a year for anyone who wants to learn more about theology, including the heritage, practices, and possibilities of Christian faith. Our classes are taught by passionate practitioners and scholars of ministry, with experience across the globe and around the state.

Upcoming Courses & Offerings

Spring Semester 2025:  Introduction to Islam, a global religions course taught by Aida Mansoor, and Building Up a Thriving World:  Applied Ethics for Christian Churches, taught by Anne Dunlap.            The above are Zoom classes offered from February to May.  The course on Islam also involves in-person field trips to connect with Maine’s Muslim communities.      Tuition fee for each course is $350.  Scholarship assistance may be available from both the Cumberland Association and the Maine School of Ministry.

For more information, go to maineucc.org/mesom/

2025 Fellowship Dues Rates and IRS Mileage Rates

2025 Fellowship Dues for the Maine Conference will be $19.87/member.   Conference Dues fluctuate year to year by the federally-established COLA rate, unless changed by special vote of the Conference at Annual Meeting.  

2025 Fellowship Dues for the Cumberland Association are  $2.10/member.  (Many churches do add Conference and Association Dues together to make one line item for their budgets, but we want you to know how the dues are actually assessed.)

2025 Fellowship Dues for each church are calculated on the number of members reported as of December 31, 2024.  Membership MUST be reported to the UCC via the UCC Data Hub by each church.  If you do not file your statistics with the UCC data hub, your church’s dues will be calculated on the most recent statistics filed.  Data hub reporting is done in January or February each year. The Maine Conference Midweek News, which comes out on Wednesdays, will feature directions during January and February–or go to the Conference website: maineucc.org.

2025 DUES for both Association and Conference will be invoiced to churches in the Spring, and are due May 15th.

Debra DeLong is our Cumberland Association Treasurer. All Maine Conference and Cumberland Association dues  (also Scholarship Fund donations) should be sent to Deb at her address -152 Puritan Drive, Westbrook, ME 04092. Her email address is djgdelong@gmail.com. Checks should still be made payable to the Cumberland Association but mailed to Deb’s home address.  

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, the standard mileage rate for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) is 67 cents per mile for business miles driven.  Please check IRS.gov for 2025 rate.  The tax-deductible mileage rate for volunteers (not employees) driving in service of charitable organizations:  $.14/mile (set by federal statute, not the IRS, and does not change annually).