Policies
Bylaws
To read the 11-2018 PWC Bylaws, please click here (DOC).
Compensation Guidelines
The Compensation Guidelines are created by the Conference Church and Ministry Committee. Although they are considered guidelines, the Committee affirms the importance of compensating our pastors fairly, which includes not only monetarily, but through encouraging vacations, continuing education, etc.
Click here to download the 2025 Compensation Guidelines.
UCC Health Rates
The Pension Boards is no longer mailing out rate information, but they have provided a rate calculator directly on their website: https://pbucc.org/index.php/rate-locator. Please visit this site, key in the requested information, and you should be able to learn the current rates for both the Pension Boards’ health and dental plans.
Child Protection Laws
PA Govt Volunteers info (Click to download PDF)
PA Govt Employee Contact FAQ (Click to download PDF)
PA Child Protection Laws Updated 4-2022 (Click to download PDF)
Financial Controls
Many local churches ask questions about how to protect themselves and their volunteers from issues around the subject of improper handling of offerings or other monetary gifts. The Insurance Board has an excellent series of flow-charts to assist local churches in maintaining sound financial controls (Click here to download). Also, we recommend the following points of wisdom that have been offered on this subject:
- Have two signers on checks.
- Be sure someone other than the Treasurer receives, opens and reviews the bank statement in a timely manner.
- Make certain that payroll withholdings are properly deposited and filed in a timely manner with IRS and other government agencies.
- File IRS Form-1099 for any non-employee receiving $600 or more.
- Always have at least two individuals who count offerings. Use preprinted tally sheets that require signatures.
- Deposit offerings in the bank immediately; do not take them home or leave them in the church office.
- Verify deposit slips with bank statements.
- Provide receipts/contribution statements to all donors.
- Secure financial records, software back-ups and sensitive data to prevent loss due to theft, fire or natural disaster.
- Perform an annual audit.
Safe Conduct Policy
Social Media Policy
COVID-19 Resources
COVID-19 and the Church's Response (PDF)
PWC Videos During COVID-19
March 16: Watch Video
March 22: Watch Video
March 28: Watch Video
April 5: Watch Video
April 6: Watch Video
April 7: Watch Video
April 11: Watch Video
April 17: Watch Video
April 25: Watch Video
May 2: Watch Video
December 22: Watch Video
2024 Pastoral Ethics
According to our 2017 resolution (Pastoral Ethics Requirements Resolution Final 2017.pdf (pennwest.org)), this year’s Pastoral Ethics program is a Continuing Education event focusing on Child Sexual Abuse/Elder Abuse. In Pennsylvania, clergy are mandated reporters, and as such, should receive training in reporting. To that end, our Penn West Conference Committee on Ministry is recommending for our 2024 program that all our pastors receive such training.
The course we are recommending on child sexual abuse in PA is reportabusepa.pitt.edu. If you live in Maryland, we recommend bcac-lms (reportabusemd.com). You will need to create a password to log in, and either course takes somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3 hours to complete. It is well worth your time. For training in elder abuse, we recommend this course: Guest Registration | Pennsylvania Department of Aging Learning Management System (pda-lms.org). Please make sure you take the one titled “PS Mandatory Abuse Reporting Training Course” not the one titled “Elder Abuse Awareness Training.” You’ll need to create a password for it, too, and it should only take about a half-hour to complete; again, it is well worth your time.
You can do these trainings on your own time and at the end of the training, you can print out certificates of completion. If you send us copies of the certificates along with your 2024 Informational Review form: PWC Informational review.pdf (pennwest.org), you will satisfy the pastoral ethics requirement for this year. You may send them to us by email at andrea@pennwest.org; david@pennwest.org or by mail at Penn West Conference UCC, 312 S. Maple Ave., Greensburg PA 15601. There are no costs to access any of these trainings. The child abuse trainings may be exited at any time if you need to and the program should let you pick up where you left off. So you don’t need to have several uninterrupted hours in order to complete it – you can do some now and some later.
Because these trainings are about reporting abuse, some of the content may be more difficult for some of us to process emotionally. For that reason, I ask you to be attentive to your emotional responses to the training and if you feel the need to talk with someone, I encourage you to do so. You may decide that you want to speak with a trusted colleague and/or other professional about it. If you need professional resources (I share this by way of information, not by way of recommendation), the counseling resources that we have utilized here in the Conference include the Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute (HOME (pittsburghpastoralinstitute.org)), the Samaritan Counseling Center in Pittsburgh (Samaritan Counseling, Guidance, Consulting | Counseling in Greater Pittsburgh | 202 Beaver Street, Sewickley, PA 15143, USA), and the Samaritan Counseling Center in Lancaster (Samaritan Center (samaritanlancaster.org)).
If you do not choose to take these trainings, because this is a continuing education year, you are also free to write a 2-4 page paper on any analogous experience in this area or on any continuing education experience that you have had recently, and that, in addition to completing your Informational Review (PWC Informational review.pdf (pennwest.org)) will also satisfy the requirement.
