November 2022 Welcome

By Phillip Lund

Rev. Phillip Lund

Rev. Phillip Lund, Congregational Life Consultant

Last month I had the privilege of attending the Liberal Religious Educators Association's (LREDA) Fall Conference in Birmingham, Alabama: Faith Made Real: Living the 8th Principle. The trip was personally meaningful to me for a few reasons: I have never been to Alabama before, and it was a chance for me to see in person some of my Congregational Life colleagues, like our Regional Lead David Pyle and former MidAmerica staff member Nancy Combs-Morgan. I also had the opportunity to visit Bryan Stevenson’s Legacy Museum in Montgomery. (You can read more about the Legacy Museum in this previous MidAmerica Messenger article: “A Youth Group Trip to the Legacy Museum.”)

The highlight of the conference, though, was hearing from one of the conference’s main presenters, Dr. Paula Cole Jones. You may recognize Paula’s name from a couple of different initiatives going on in our association. She is one of the instigators of the 8th Principle of Unitarian Universalism movement and a member of the UUA’s Article II Study Commission. Paula gave us updates on both initiatives, including news that a full draft of Article II would be available in November. You can read more about the Article II Study Commission’s work including a link to the full draft and information on registering for feedback sessions. If you are interested in finding out how our Principles and Purposes will be affected by the work of the Commission, you will want to check this out.

You will also want to check out the other opportunities this month, including the Neurodivergence for Religious Professionals class, the grants available from the Midwest UU Conference, news about the UUA’s Common Read, and much more!

And remember, your MidAmerica Congregational Life staff is here to help. As always, feel free to reach out to us with your questions and comments.

About the Author

Phillip Lund

Phillip Lund has almost twenty years experience serving congregations in the areas of faith formation and spiritual growth, first as a religious educator in Bloomington, Indiana, New York City, and Chicago, Illinois, and most recently as a congregational life consultant working for the MidAmerica...

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