All are welcome to attend Carson’s ordination in-person or to watch the livestream.
Congrats, Carson!
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Want to Shrink That Tax Bill? Revisit Gifting
Two popular giving strategies that can help you to save on taxes next year and support our mission.
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Elderhood Concept in Retirement for Clergy – A Pilgrimage
Zoom Workshop: Wednesday August 3, 2022, 1-3pm AZ / 2-4pm NM-EP
Presenters: Donna Cavedon and Rich Doerrer-Peacock
We’re all aging! In addition to complaining about it (LOL), we can explore how we can enrich our senior years with opportunities to approach life more deeply and to make this stage profoundly fulfilling in its own way. Join us in learning more about the concept of elderhood which offers wise, sacred, and innovative new possibilities for this last stage of life. We'll also exchange our own ideas and experiences about how we can enhance life, for ourselves and others, as we continue to mature.
Read MoreDecentering Whiteness
Rev. Dean Hokel and Rev. Drew Terry will be offering a "De-Centering Whiteness" 6-hour class for clergy. This is a basic course (via Zoom) that will employ a series of readings, videos, and small group discussions around issues of race in our culture and within one's own sense of identity and experience.
Registration is limited to nine people in order to maximize time that participants can share and explore deeply their own racial biases and identities, and discuss with each other.
Read MoreCornerstone
“The Holy Spirit informed me that I have a duty and responsibility to address the mental health crises through a pastoral response,” says Dr. Thomas. “I believe that am charged to provide my Cornerstone student interns to serve your congregation by supplying 7 sessions of professional, HIPPA compliant compassionate relationship counseling (family, marriage/couples, any relationship) at no cost to the client. The sessions will be conducted through our HIPPA compliant Video platform called Simple Practice.”
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National ONA Gathering Registration Now Open!
From the UCC Open and Affirming Coalition:
Join us Aug. 5-7 for our first National ONA Gathering since 2019! Our virtual event celebrate the 50th anniversaries of the ONA Coalition and Bill Johnson's ordination as the first openly gay man authorized to serve an historic Christian church as a minister of word and sacrament.
From Friday to Sunday evenings, our celebration will offer inspiring worship, powerful testimonies, and stories from our growing movement. We'll honor the past, lift up the present, and claim our visions for the future.
Read MoreBatWorld was great!
We had a great Pilgrimage to Batworld last night. Some of us met here at the Phoenix Batcave (near 40th St. & Camelback), hosted by Scottsdale UCC, and another group met at a bat bridge in north Tucson. Wonderfully valuable & vitally important creatures, yet very misunderstood.
Read MoreBill Johnson 50th Ordination Anniversary
On June 25, 1972, the United Church of Christ made history when William R. Johnson became the first openly gay man ordained to ministry in an historic Christian church. Bill’s ordination, by the Golden Gate Association in the Northern California/Nevada Conference, opened doors for a new generation of openly LGBTQ leaders in our church.
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Comprehensive Sexuality Education for 55+ Adults
Join participants throughout the Southwest Conference for a 6-session online series for adults ages 55+. Topics include:
Sexuality and Aging
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Intimacy and Boundaries
Body Image
Upcoming Webinars and Events from the UCC
Check out some of the UCC digital programming coming up soon.
Read MorePILGRIMAGE TO BATWORLD invitation!
We invite you to plan with your families, church friends, or youth groups to find a bat colony location near you and gather around dusk on Friday, June 24, to be pilgrims, visitors and learners to the BatWorld. If that night doesn’t work for you, choose another.
But…why BATS?!
Read MoreRegistration now open for ‘provocative’ all-UCC summit
Registration is now open for a major United Church of Christ summit “to imagine a church alive and vital in the world.” It will be held Sept. 19-21, online and in-person in St. Louis.
Read MoreHybrid teaching and learning in local church to be focus of UCC event
The world of hybrid learning will be the focus of a two-day event for people who teach in local churches of the United Church of Christ.
“A New Turn: Hybrid Faith Formation” will take place online Wednesday, June 8, and Thursday, June 9. Its sponsor is the Association of United Church Educators. People can register here.
“The pandemic has shaken up everything we once knew about church ministry, and we are now facing a new turn,” said the event’s lead organizer, the Rev. Kim Nagy. She is minister of faith formation at Kent (Ohio) UCC and vice chair of AUCE’s Board of Directors. “This virtual conference will help leaders live into this new era of ministry.”
Read MoreUpcoming Webinars and Events from the UCC
Check out the June webinars: Thursdays for the Soul, Bold Climate Action, and Juneteenth.
Read MorePride Sale for ONA Webinars
During Pride month, three of our most popular webinars are on sale. For just $35, an unlimited number of members of your church can participate from their own computers or devices.
ONA 101 and ONA and the Bible are for congregations taking their first steps towards, or just curious about, an Open and Affirming Covenant.
Bending Gender is for both ONA and not-yet ONA churches: with transgender and nonbinary Americans under attack in many states, it's time for congregations to understand how to welcome trans and nonbinary seekers into their congregations.
Read MoreSWC Offers Members Professional Coaching
Since 2020, the Southwest Conference (SWC) has provided parish clergy access to professional coaching. Now the SWC is making coaching available to local church leaders, chaplains, committees, teams, and congregation members in the Conference! We have a coach on staff to make that possible.
Last month, Rev. Dr. Bill Lyons, our Conference Minister, completed 64 classroom hours of training for certification as an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Level 1 coach.
Read MoreMoving Again
The SWC has been renting office space at the United Methodist Center since last summer. However, trustees for the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church (DSCUMC) will recommend the sale of the United Methodist Center at this month’s DSCUMC Annual Conference.
The DSCUMC notified SWC staff of the likely building sale in late March. Since then, staff has discussed our space and place needs considering information and feelings shared with Conference leaders in 2021. Many options were explored, including sharing space with several of our ministry partners. A plan that will provide stability while meeting our needs and stewarding our resources responsibly was recommended by the Conference Minister with staff support and reviewed by the Executive Board.
Read MoreOpen position at Hope House of Sedona
The position of House Manager is a live-in position managing day to day operations of a group residence. Hope House of Sedona (hereafter referred to as Hope House) is a transitional housing program providing temporary housing and support services for homeless children and their families living in the Sedona-Oak Creek School District.
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Six weeks in, churches continue to respond to New Mexico’s largest-ever wildfires
As New Mexico’s worst wildfires on record continue to rage, area churches — some in close proximity to the fires — are pitching in on relief efforts.
The United Church of Christ Disaster Ministries team is offering grants to families already affected by the fires and inviting gifts to support them.
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Covenant Service with the newest SWC congregation!
3pm AZ / 4pm NM-EP on Sunday, June 12 at Toafa O Le Talalelei Samoan Congregation!
26831 N. 191st, Wittman, AZ
We’re excited to invite all in the Southwest Conference to attend the joyful covenant service to officially welcome our newest congregation, Toafa O Le Talalelei Samoan Congregation, as our newest church, along with Pastor Tula Maga!
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