It's the start of the new year and congregations are returning to more regular programming. What are your congregants looking for this fall? Did you know that the UUA has a wide range of resources that can engage individual UUs, committees or entire congregations? Here are some suggestions for you to explore:

Worship

Looking for Worship help? Here are some ideas to help your congregation craft meaningful worship.

• New! Sermon of the Month Series Subscription Service, Offered by Your UUA Congregational Life Field Staff: Monthly sermons (and suggested hymns and readings) from a variety of speakers created monthly for your use. $350 for 12 sermons, $50 discount for Honor Annual Program Fund (APF) contributors.
• New! Worship for Transformation (Training) with Rev. Erika Hewitt, convener of WorshipWeb. Learning tools for Worship Teams to develop tools and frameworks to craft meaning-full, sensory-rich, and holistic worship experiences. $30 per participant.
• New! Spiritual Deepening Through Worship and Small Groups, from the Center for Congregational Spirituality and the MidAmerica Region. Develop a liturgical year for your congregation, plan worship services centered on spiritual practices, and go deeper with small group spiritual companioning. $350 for teams of four, $300 for three, $225 for two, and $125 for individual registrations.
• Tried and True! Meaningful Worship for Small Congregations video with Rev. Sarah Schurr. Center your worship planning with this review of some basics. Free, 16 mins.
• Tried and True! The Shared Pulpit: A Sermon Seminar for Lay People. A workshop guide to develop preaching experience among lay people. This 8-session seminar includes a leader's guide, readings, sample sermons, and exercises to help first-time preachers polish their craft. $14 per book.

Social Justice

Social Justice is your area of need? Have you checked out the Side with Love website? You can learn more about the UUA's focus areas or participate in support and community groups. Each month they offer all sorts of gatherings and resources including:

• Skill Up Trainings on a variety of topics like Risk Discernment for Congregation (Oct 15)
• Support gatherings such as UPLIFT Trans/Non Binary+ gathering spaces and Green Sanctuary gatherings
• Find the monthly schedule on their website

There is even a listing of all events to find things near you and you can submit your congregation's events for inclusion. Be sure to visit the Action Center to find out how to get involved.

Safety Issues

If your congregation is struggling with safety issues, updating or creating safety policies and thinking about how to protect your members as things in our country become more polarized, we have resources here as well.

• The UUA has a series of safety guidelines and recommendations that any congregation can use to start creating safety policies or use to review them. These recommendations include all different areas of safety from building issues, handling money to youth and child safety.
• UU Institute has an on demand course, Fostering Safer Congregations, you can take at your own pace. Take it on your own or bring a team from your congregation along.
• There is an upcoming workshop, Threats from Without, Care from Within, Oct 21, 2023, 12-6 pm ET, online, to learn about safety issues around outsiders being unhappy with our congregational stance on various issues. Registration is open.
• You may also want to check the Side with Love webinars page for past webinars on similar topics.

Some other resources include LeaderLab for addressing most areas of congregational life, WorshipWeb for worship resources and Tapestry of Faith for curriculum for all ages and the UUA's Common Read.

If you have an area of congregational life you need resources for that we haven't address here, please reach out to your primary contact for more assistance.