(If you'd like to leave a note in remembrance of Sue, visit this News Story and leave your comment at the bottom.) 

Susan Dickerman served on the staff of the Massachusetts Conference for 26 years, most recently spearheading the Pastoral Excellence Program. She had resigned at the end of the year to work with a new Lilly Grant to expand that program to other Conferences and denominations, but then resigned from that position due to a recurrence of the cancer she had overcome several years ago.

Susan joined the Conference staff in 1986, serving as staff to the Annual Meeting worship planning committee. She organized the worship and program components of Annual Meeting for much of her tenure, including for the 200th Anniversary Celebration that brought 11,500 people to the DCU Center in Worcester in 1999 and the Amistad Celebration that brought 8.000 people to Boston in 2003.

Dickerman was also well known in the Conference for her work in leading hundreds of churches to adopt safe church policies, her work with Christian Educators, and her role in coordinating countless gatherings and colloquies for clergy and lay leaders. She coordinated the strategic planning process that led the Conference to adopt the Vision for Growth and Renewal in 1999, and followed that by successfully co-writing the grant application to the Lilly Endowment that led to the formation of the Pastoral Excellence Program.

Dickerman also served as Christian Education Director at the Edwards Church in Framingham.

“It is impossible to summarize the impact Sue Dickerman has had on the churches, the leaders, the teachers and the staff of the Mass Conference over her 26 years of service,” Antal said of Susan when she left the Conference staff.  “Sue’s life and ministry testify to how God’s presence becomes visible in relationships. Her personal vitality and courage have inspired countless ones of us to take on enormous challenges and dream unlikely visions of how God’s kingdom might show up – right here; right now.