Featured Resource: Amplifying the Charge
“Amplifying the Charge” Equips Congregations to Explore Article II Changes through Learning and Worship
Amplifying the Charge is the latest offering from the UUA to help congregations engage with the proposed Article II bylaws revision.
Amplifying the Charge is a four-week, small group ministry discussion series paired with resources for worship. The materials invite Unitarian Universalists to learn more about our theology, practice, and governance and to engage with our personal experiences of faith, spirit, and humanity.
In anticipation of the upcoming vote on the bylaws at General Assembly, Amplifying the Charge supports learning, reflection, and faithful conversations for individual and collective discernment. Its creation was led by QuianaDenae Perkins, a third-year seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry and the Learning Resident for the UUA Mid-America Region.
Download Amplifying the Charge (PDF, 33 pages). Engage your congregation’s religious professionals, worship team, lay leaders, and others to integrate four weeks of worship resources and four weeks of small group ministry into your spring congregational calendar.
CER Leadership Skill Ups
March 5 - What is Shared Ministry, Really? This is a more and more common concept in Unitarian Universalism, and it can mean anything from staff collaboration to laity empowerment to even more! Are we talking about the same thing? What are we hoping for? And what does it take to make shared ministry work?
The Central East Region team is excited to announce our monthly Leadership Skill Ups for Changing Times series next year! These are drop-in calls for all congregational leaders where you can learn a new skill - or fine tune an old one - with CER staff and other leaders doing similar work in other congregations. Calls alternate monthly between Tuesdays and Thursdays – mark these dates on your calendars and stay tuned for topics as they emerge – and let us know what topics would be helpful to you. All times are 7-9 pm ET.
- Thursday, April 4 - From Resistance to Resilience: Managing Change in Changing Times.
- Tuesday, May 7 - Watch This Space! Topic to be determined when we see what the world is like in 2024
Link: Join the Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 996 0084 2058, Passcode: 493257
Faithify Pause for March and April
Are you considering a Faithify, UU Crowdfunding campaign in March or April? Please note that we will be taking a seven-week pause in launching new campaigns starting March 6th. No submissions will be reviewed in the period from March 6, 2024 through April 28, 2024.
Faithify campaigns and the Faithify website will operate as normal otherwise.
Campaigns approved before March 6th can be open and running during our new campaign pause period. Please submit your new campaigns by March 5th for review by our staff.
Why are we taking this pause? Faithify staff will be on sabbatical, so we are streamlining our services during this block of time. Questions? Contact info@faithify.org
Worship and Small Group Content Curation Opportunity Available
The UU Addictions Ministry is seeking someone to curate a collection of worship resources addressing addiction. We are looking for readings, prayers, poems, sermons, songs, and offertory words that address addiction. Whole services encouraged. This project seeks to make it easier for congregations to lead worship and talk about addiction. A stipend of $2500 will be provided for the work.
We are also seeking someone to create a small group ministry guide for use in UU congregations. We are looking for 3 one-hour sessions that can easily be picked up for any small group. Multi-platform and online options encouraged. Guidelines for the scope of the project will be provided. A stipend of $2500 will be provided for the work.
Proposals for worship materials and small group ministry sessions need to be sent to the Unitarian Universalist Addictions Ministry by March 15, 2024. Please send along a proposal and a resume to uuaamt@gmail.com. Responses to proposals will go out by April 1, 2024. Once a proposal is approved, final submissions need to be made by May 15, 2024.
New “Path to Membership” Training Drops March 15!
Tending Congregational Life: Guiding the Membership Journey is our first post-lockdown “growth and vitality” resource, in collaboration with the UU Association of Membership Professionals (UUAMP). Instead of focusing on growth for its own sake, we focus on the transformative power that Unitarian Universalism has in people’s lives and how our congregations can be provide a welcoming and inclusive experience for everyone who comes through our doors. This training is designed for application across your ministry teams. Learn to work together to reinforce life-affirming and creative frameworks and use practical tools for welcoming and inclusion, connection and belonging, all as foundational to a membership journey in your congregation. Let us know you are interested now and we’ll send you a notice when the training is open and a promo code for $5 off the price (good until March 31st).
Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary
![Two hands holding a rainbow flame one hand has the trans flag colors [blue and pink] the other the non-binary flag colors [yellow, black, purple and black] with text reading: Building beloved community beyond the binary. Subline reading A place to find community with transgender, nonbinary folx and our allies a conference for us to gather, learn, and grow.](/files/styles/max_320x320/public/2024-02/Screenshot%202024-02-06%20at%203.39.11%E2%80%AFPM.png?itok=xlR_TU1x "Copyright UUA")
Join us Saturday, April 27, 2024, at the Beyond the Binary: Building Beloved Community Event. “A place to find community with transgender, nonbinary folx and our allies. A conference for us to gather, learn, and grow.”
Registration is open!
In person sessions will be hosted at First UU Society of Syracuse, NY and there will be some online components.
Learn more at the on the event page.
Last Stretch Success: Tips & Tactics for Completing Your Pledge Drive
(previously Canvass Clean Up webinar)
March 14 and April 25, 2024 online, 7:30-9 pm ET.
Within a cultural context rife with greed-flation, fluctuating predictions about economic stability, and generational trends full of shifts and shockwaves of uncertainty—leaning into the spiritual value of generosity can be a tough mandate! And still, in this context more than any other, we know that how we steward our collective resources is a moral issue for our times. Join UUs from across the country in conversation about how we harness generosity to resist scarcity mentality and pledge our way into new possibilities for a more prosperous future together.
Register today for this two-part webinar: come ready to share ideas, commiserate, and celebrate as we make our way towards the pledge drive finish line! Learn more about Last Stretch Success and register. Registration closes on March 12th!
Mosaic Virtual Spring Gathering
Saturday, March 16, 2-3:30 pm ET
The Mosaic is a hub of connection, resources, and support for Unitarian Universalists dismantling racism and oppression. Through resources, programs, trainings, and gatherings, The Mosaic fosters belonging and liberation in Unitarian Universalist congregations and communities. Our work for collective liberation can be as colorful, multi-faceted, and diverse as the tiles of a mosaic. Together, all of our contributions create something beautiful.
Join us as we worship together and discern our way forward as an association of congregations committed to dismantling racism and oppression in all its forms. We hope you will join us as we recommit to a more inclusive and liberated Unitarian Universalism. Registration is coming soon!
Leadership Essentials for Inclusive Communities
Learn how to communicate and implement ways to create creative and life-affirming community… at work, at home and at church!
Topics will include thinking in systems, effective communication, collaborative project planning, and inclusive decision-making.
Saturday, April 13, 2024, 09:00-3:30 PM ET at the UU Society of Oneonta, NY. Registration is open!
GA 2024: Love Unites, Stories Ignite
The Ware Lecture for GA 2024 will be presented by Julia Watts Belser. Julia Watts Belser (she/her) is a rabbi, scholar, spiritual teacher and a longtime activist for disability and gender justice. She is Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, as well as core faculty in Georgetown’s Disability Studies Program and a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Her work brings ancient Jewish texts into dialogue with disability studies, feminist thought, queer theory, and environmental justice ethics. She is a cultural historian of rabbinic Jewish literature and a contemporary Jewish feminist theologian who draws disability arts and culture into provocative conversation with Jewish tradition to challenge structural violence, deepen our capacity for social justice, and honor the sacredness of disabled people’s lives. Learn more about the Ware Lecture.
More GA Details
- Are you looking forward to GA 2024? This year it will be all virtual! Our theme is Love Unites, Stories Ignite. Watch this video to learn more. GA Registration is open!
- Interested in being a volunteer? There are lots of opportunities. Learn about available jobs and how to apply at the GA volunteer page. Volunteers receive a reduction in or free registration.
- The tentative program schedule is now available! There are many opportunities for networking, to hear featured speakers and engaging in General Sessions and business.
Save the Date for Voter Mobilization Organizing School in DC
Saturday, April 27, 10:30 to 3:00 PM at All Souls Church
Whether your congregation has a long history of voter mobilization or you’re just starting to think about it, we hope you’ll join with other UUs from DC, MD, and VA for organizing school! We are all more effective when we gather together in our power.
April 27th is a chance to gather in person for spiritual grounding, relationship building, and concrete skills training–all towards the goal of engaging as many people as possible in the 2024 election. We strongly encourage congregations to send teams of at least 3 people to help build momentum. In general, now is an excellent time to gather your team, confirm commitments to engage, and start remembering and testing your team's muscle memory from prior elections or joint projects. This Organizing School will help feed and support this process. Congregations that start in the Spring are best positioned for success later in the year!
The event is jointly sponsored by the Reeb Project for Voting Rights of All Souls Church, UUs for Social Justice (UUSJ), and UU the Vote. Also, it just so happens that Saturday, April 27 is the 100th Anniversary of regular worship services being held in All Souls' current building, so refreshments and tours will be offered from 3:00-4:00 PM as part of our 100th Anniversary weekend. And if that’s not enough, from 4:00 - 5:30 PM there will be a free concert featuring choir members from all DMV-area congregations, following a day-long singing workshop! We’ll provide recommendations for area restaurants to visit afterwards, so you can make a day of it if you like! The registration system for individuals will be up and running shortly. Details can be found on the CER website.
Side with Love March Events - Skill Up, Mixers, Webinars
Each month the Side with Love team offers a wide range of events on a variety of topics. Here is what is scheduled for March.
Green Sanctuary 2030 Orientation
March 6 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join the monthly orientation session to get a better understanding of the program and learn how your congregation can engage in ongoing climate action. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice can transform your congregation through climate justice! Register.
UU the Vote 2024 Launch
March 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
We are entering the work of UU the Vote 2024 grounded in the current political and spiritual conditions of our faith and national community. The work that is needed in 2024 will require us to anchor in our power and connect authentically to mobilize UUs, voters, and our local communities. UU the Vote 2024 is an ambitious strategy to grow a powerful pro-democracy majority. This year we will build our commitment to democratic practices and recommit to showing up for social movements building infrastructure and relationships to sustain us the beyond the electoral year.
Join us for our launch, Thursday, March 14th from 4–5:30pm PT / 7–8:30pm ET, as we highlight our upcoming work. You’ll learn about our work with State Advocacy Networks and their partners in key states, key ballot initiatives, political education and spiritual grounding opportunities and our mass voter contact program. Learn more.
Side With Love Monthly Mixer
March 18 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET
We know that these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.Monthly Mixer Registration is open.
Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominantly White Congregation
March 20 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community. Sign up.
UU Stop Cop City Monthly Action Huddle
March 21 at 11am PT / 2pm ET
Our huddle this month will focus on writing letters to those imprisoned for protesting Cop City in Atlanta. Writing letters to folks locked up is a ministry, a political act, and a great way to invite new folks into decriminalization work. As always, we’ll also review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. Register for UU Stop Copy City today.
Faithful Grounding
March 28 at 5:30pm PT / 8:30pm ET
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register now.
Spiritual Deepening through Worship and Small Groups
Registration is now open for the spring session of Spiritual Deepening through Worship and Small Groups, presented by Congregational Life in conjunction with the Center for Congregational Spirituality.
This four-session course will lead participants through a process of planning a liturgical year that is authentic to their congregation, gathering resources on the year’s seasonal themes, integrating those themes through communal spiritual practice in worship, creating opportunities for spiritual practice in small groups, and inviting participants to engage in individual practices centered on the theme.
The structure of the course will include both on-demand videos and in-person virtual sessions beginning with a 90-minute session at 11:30am Eastern on Saturday, May 4, and continuing each of the following Saturdays until May 25, 2024. While the course is open to individuals, congregations are encouraged to have two to four people participate. The registration fee is $350 for 4 people, $300 for 3 people, $225 for 2 people, and $125 for one person.
The course is compatible with a variety of UU Holidays, Holy Days and Worship Themes, including Earth-centered Wheel of the Year celebrations and monthly theme-based subscription services like Soul Matters or Touchstones.
For more information on Spiritual Deepening through Worship and Small groups, visit the Congregational Spirituality website.
Turning Points in UU History - Online Class Open to All
Wednesdays, April 3 to May 8
7:00pm-8:15 pm CT on Zoom
The Faith Forward program out of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas is excited to offer an online session of our “Turning Points in UU History” series for all congregations! This series explores turning points and controversies in our history, delving into the complexities of these historical moments through primary texts, to understand how they shaped Unitarian Universalism and how we relate to our faith today. Free for current Faith Forward congregation subscribers; $100 for non-subscriber congregations (no participant limit) or $25 per person. For more information or to register, email Faith Forward Coordinator Rev. Lora Brandis at lbrandis@dallasuu.org. Deadline to register is Monday, April 1st. Please share this invitation with your congregation!
Better Together Blog: Leaning into Being Resilient and Emergent in Times of Unexpected Growth
by Rev. Sana Saeed
Unitarian Universalism is often referred to as a living faith. For me that means that Unitarian Universalism is in constant motion and changes through the times we live in. Change is constant in life, and nowhere is this more evident than within congregations. When new individuals join a community, whether they are seeking spiritual fulfillment, a sense of belonging, or simply exploring their faith, it inevitably brings about a series of transformations. While change can sometimes be met with resistance or apprehension, leaning into widening the welcome is essential for the vitality of any congregation.
Read the rest of the article and sign up for our weekly email!
You may also be interested in: If we ran every meeting as if a toddler would be present… by Lenore Bajare-Dukes.
News from the UUA
Seminary Scholarships available! Are you, or is someone you know, a lay leader in Unitarian Universalism who will be entering the first year of seminary in 2024, or is undertaking undergraduate work to prepare for seminary? The Rev. Chuck and Nancy Thomas Scholarship honors Rev. Chuck Thomas’s career and his family’s commitment to lay leadership in Unitarian Universalism by awarding this scholarship to one such student each year. Thomas Scholars qualify for this award by demonstrating their outstanding commitment to Unitarian Universalism as lay leaders. For more information and to apply for this and other ministerial scholarships available from the UUA, please visit the UUA website. Applications will be accepted beginning February 15, 2024 and must be submitted no later than April 15, 2024.
The Renaissance and Music Leadership Professional Development Programs provide Unitarian Universalist Religious Professionals learning communities within which they can easily access applicable skills and tools for religious leadership. Courses are also open to interested lay leaders. Check out the lists of classes, these are great resources!
The Sermon of the Month series is a monthly subscription service providing recorded sermons that congregations can download and use for worship. Along with a transcript of the sermon, each month’s offering will include suggested readings and hymns. Speakers will be members of the Congregational Life staff, other UUA staff groups, or guest preachers from around the country. The subscription costs $350 for 12 monthly sermons that can be used at any time. Annual Program Fund (APF) Honor Congregation will receive a $50 discount. For more information at the UUA Sermon Series webpage.
The UUA has a Disaster Relief Fund for those who want to make a donation to help congregations who have faced losses due to tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and more. Please donate if you can. Learn more about the work of the Disaster Relief Fund. If your congregation needs assistance, you can apply for a grant on that webpage. We are Better Together.
Virtual Guest in Your Pulpit! The UUMA has a list of virtual speakers, check it out to see who is available! Visit the Virtual Guest in the Pulpit Database to see who is available. Also, don't forget to check out the CER Guest in Your Pulpit program, which includes both lay and professional worship leaders.
New publications from the UUA - Check out the New Pamphlets from the UUA: Environmental Justice Pamphlet; The Work of Antiracism Pamphlet Pack; Unitarian Universalist Views on Sex Pamphlet; and Worship in Unitarian Universalist Congregations Pamphlet. Now available for pre-order is Seeds of a New Way: Nurturing Authentic & Diverse Religious Leadership edited by Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Nancy McDonald Ladd.
The UUA is hiring for several positions, including CFO and several positions in other regions. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage.
Calendar Items and News
For events, webinars and congregation news and events visit the following pages:
- CER Calendar of Events and Webinars
- Find your CER Primary Contact
- Chalice Lighter Grants - March 1 is the deadline for Intent to Apply Applications for the June 2024 grant awards. Check out the winter call. The following deadline for Intent to Apply is August 1 for grants to be awarded in October 2024.
- News Section for Congregational Stories and Articles
- Better Together Blog
- Congregational and Affiliate Group Calendar
- UUA Jobs Board for congregational job postings of all types