Visit to Lithuania Revitalizes Resilience of Smallest CCP Plan

In September, Thomas Kemper, a consultant for the CCP program, traveled to attend the 2023 Lithuania District Conference. In one of the conference sessions, time was dedicated to discussing matters related to the CCP program, but the session primarily served as a time for spiritual renewal and fellowship.

The meeting took place in the city of Kaunas, home to the first Methodist church in the Baltics (then Tsarist Russia), built in 1910. Although Lithuania is the CCP’s smallest pension plan, the rebirth of the church after the communist regime is a testament to the strength of the congregations’ faith.

Presiding over the opening worship led by District Superintendent Reverend Remigijus Matulaitis, Bishop Christian Alsted of the Northern Europe Central Conference (which encompasses the Scandinavian and Baltic regions) pronounced, “The CCP program enables the modest United Methodist Church in Lithuania to care for our clergy and employees in their retirement in significant ways beyond the meager public pension in the country. I am profoundly grateful that our connection through Wespath has made this possible.”