Wisconsin Gospellers in Concert, featuring “Nothing to Hide” exhibit

The Wisconsin Gospellers, a multi-style Gospel singing group, will be in concert at St. Stephens UCC, 902 E. 2nd St. in Merrill on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, at 6 p.m. The concert is free but free will offerings are welcome.
Members of the Gospellers come together from across the state of Wisconsin to spread the good news through music and to build relationships between churches and communities. The Wisconsin Gospellers is a choir ministry affiliated with the Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ (UCC). The choir was founded in 2007 by Fritz West, in response to an invitation from the West End Gospel Singers in Eberswalde, Germany. Fritz recruited Martin Ulrich as musical director and rallied lay singers from around the state for monthly rehearsals. The West End Gospel Singers have toured Wisconsin and northern Ilinois three times, and the Wisconsin Gospellers traveled to Berlin-Brandenburg in 2008, 2012, and 2016.

From the start the Wisconsin Gospellers have:

• Been an expression of the long-standing partnership between the UCC and Germany’s Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK);
• Understood themselves as called to share God’s Good News through the powerful language of gospel music; and
• Embraced the mutual hospitality and fellowship of what Germans call Kirchengemeinschaft (full church communion). For them, Kirchengemeinschaft often includes joint rehearsals and concerts, homestays, shared meals, and exploring local culture.

The Wisconsin Gospellers also understand gospel music as a way to build bridges in Wisconsin. They regularly hold a mid-winter workshop at Cedar Community near West Bend, and rehearse - thanks to the hospitality of traditional congregations - in churches across the state.


The choir continues to welcome new members - and new partners. In 2017 they traveled to New York City to help the New York Conference UCC kick off its own state-wide gospel choir, and in 2019, the Wisconsin Gospellers spent 2½ weeks in Germany’s Hesse and Rhineland regions.
The choir is affiliated with the Wisconsin Conference UCC, but is entirely self-supporting, primarily through membership dues and free-will offerings.

“Nothing to Hide” exhibit

St. Stephens is hosting the concert as part of their efforts to welcome people to tour the Family Diversity Project’s “Nothing to Hide” exhibit, which is open for viewing in the church lobby and Kuck Lounge.
This photo-text exhibit presents photographs taken by Gigi Kaeser and interviews conducted by Jean Beard and Peggy Gillespie, with families whose lives are affected by schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, anxiety disorders, and other brain disorders. The photos and text in this exhibit dispel harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and myths about mental illness. The exhibit will be in the lobby and Kuck Lounge throughout September and is brought to St. Stephens by the WISE Team.
The Welcoming Inclusive Supportive and Engaged (WISE) Team at St. Stephens has also redecorated a seldom used room in the church to become the “Serenity Room,” complete with a relaxing mural painted on the wall by Bailey Iwen, a comfortable love seat and reading chair, a table for jigsaw puzzles, adult coloring pages, and other aides to a contemplative, calming atmosphere.
The goal of the WISE Team is to normalize talking about mental health issues. “The Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund reminds us in her writing that mental health issues are not a ‘casserole’ illness,” said Paula McIntyre, Chair of the WISE Team. “No one brings a casserole to the house when a husband or father has a breakdown that lands them in the behavioral health hospital.”
“We hope to get to the point,” McIntyre said, “where church members speak as openly about themselves and loved ones going through a tough mental health issue as they do when someone is having knee surgery.”


The public is invited to attend the Gospellers concert on the 14th, take time to view the Nothing to Hide exhibit, tour the church’s new Serenity Room, and enjoy light refreshments and fellowship after the concert.
For more information, go to: familydiversityprojects.org.