Author Webinar
Join OWL Taking Flight for conversation with children’s author/illustrator Airlie Anderson on January 3. Register here.
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Conference News
UCC Mental Health Network resources for navigating the holidays
The UCC Mental Health Network wishes you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year! While we hope that you all will stay safe, healthy, and joyous. We know that this year has generally been challenging for all of us, including those of us who live with mental health challenges, neurodiversity, and trauma. We have compiled a few tips and links to utilize as resources in navigating the holidays.
Read MoreEvaluation for Healthy Ministry Modules
Since 2018, in the Southwest Conference we have offered Boundary Awareness training in a modular format that requires taking the four modules once within a 5-year unified cycle for everyone. The first cycle ended in December 2022, and in January 2023 we began a new unified cycle began.
This is a survey to offer an opportunity for us to receive feedback on this system, and what your experience of the modules were. We obviously want them to be as useful and relevant as they can be to our clergy. This will help us know how to best improve, adapt or maintain good quality in our required boundary training experience. Thank you for giving your input!
Rev. Dr. Barb Doerrer-Peacock
Associate Conference Minister
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Bridge Associate Conference Minister positions with the SWC
The job positions have been posted online and are available on the UCC Ministry Opportunities page. Click the links below to go directly to the posting; once there, click the blue button to view the job description details.
Bridge Associate Conference Minister for Search and Call and Congregational Transitions
Bridge Associate Conference Minister (Authorization, Accountability, & Discernment)
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Planning our 2024 Annual Meeting—want to join the team?
Have you ever attended an event and thought that it might’ve been better with YOUR special touch? Do you have gifts that you could bring to a planning team that would make a large gathering feel more polished or go more smoothly or be more organized or simply BETTER?
Or maybe you’re an event planner and already have pulled off successful gatherings!
The Southwest Conference staff is putting together a planning team for our 2024 Annual Meeting. Our theme is “Expanding the Table: Creating a Tapestry of Voices and Experiences” to be held April 26 & 27 at Shepherd of the Hills UCC in Phoenix, Arizona.
Read MoreChristmas Fund
Offering date: December 24, 2023
The Christmas Fund has been caring for active and retired clergy and lay employees of the United Church of Christ for over 100 years, providing emergency grants, supplementation of small annuities and health premiums, and Christmas “Thank You” gift checks each December to our lower-income retirees.
The Christmas Fund for Veterans of the Cross is managed by the Pension Boards. Get information here. Get promotional resources here.
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Theology of Gender and Sexuality and other courses
On the UCC website, it states,
“Gender & Sexuality Justice Ministries seeks transformative justice for our faith communities and congregations by just action and love for all. ~ We believe in the justice-oriented ministry of Jesus and act with those facing systemic oppression at the intersection of gender & sexuality to offer care, sex positive education & curriculum, gender & bodily autonomy education & programming, policy & advocacy and partnership and outreach opportunities.”
For those seeking greater knowledge and depth in addressing this important justice issue, PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc. offers a course where participants from across the country have a place to gather in online conversations. Go to PATHWAYSTheological.org to register or to find out more about the course, Theology of Gender and Sexuality.
There is still time to register for this course as well as UCC Polity and History, and several other courses which begin in early January 2024.
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Global H.O.P.E. Blue Christmas Service
Join us on Tuesday, December 5, 4pm ET (2 pm MST) for a virtual worship service with Team Global HOPE at UCC National Ministries for a Blue Christmas worship service.
Blue Christmas services traditionally provide space for those who don’t feel so “merry and bright” during the holiday season. This service seeks to recognize and stand in solidarity with the experiences of those aggrieved or displaced by disaster or forced migration in 2023, as well as those who are grieving. We remember that we are called to stand in solidarity with the captive and the oppressed, the grieving and the suffering, and work together with God’s guidance to create a just world for all.
UCC Clergy, members, and choirs engaged in humanitarian ministries across the denomination will be providing reflective liturgy, music, and prayers during this event. This event will be recorded for later availability or use in local Blue Christmas events.
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Abolition Advent Calendar: Freedom for All Bodies
Join the Movement invites exploration of liberation with second-annual Abolition Advent Calendar. Learn more here.
Read MoreSWC Annual Meeting Planning Coordinator position open
After bidding a fond farewell and sending well wishes to our Annual Meeting Planning Coordinator for the past several years, Karen Richter, we are now in need of another individual to plan, organize, and execute our Annual Meeting.
View the job description here.
Please pass it along to anyone you think would be a great fit! If that’s you, please apply!
Read MoreWatch: Trans Day of Remembrance vigil holds space, calls for solidarity
To mark Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), the United Church of Christ hosted a vigil Nov. 20 to collectively hold space for remembering the names of trans siblings — those known and unknown — who have been lost to violence.
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Conference Ministers share lament, commit to action for Trans Day of Remembrance
In observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20, the Council of Conference Ministers of the United Church of Christ have released a letter lamenting for and confessing to harm caused to trans and nonbinary youth and adults, as well as pledging a commitment to action and solidarity. Read it here.
Read MorePATHWAYS Theological Education - Online and Progressive
“Affordable, Accessible, Awesome”
Are you busy with work, family, caring for others, standing up for justice but need a moment each day to deepen your faith and explore ways to hold on in a broken, fearful, too often violent world? We invite you to check out our online courses where community grows, questions arise, peace comes, and faith deepens. Courses offerings can be found on the website here. Now is a good time to look ahead to the 2024 course schedule and contact PATHWAYS with any questions you may have. Whether you would like to take one course or a whole program, PATHWAYS welcomes you.
Heidi Hulme writes, “I have never been one to do things “traditionally,” and PATHWAYS allowed me the opportunity to continue to prepare my alternative path to ordination, while allowing me to serve a church, and be a wife and mother. … I am grateful for this experience and education; it has blossomed my ministry, and changed my life.”
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NEW SCHOLARSHIP: The Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship Fund for Disabled Theologians of Color
The United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries (UCCDM) board is delighted to announce the creation of a new scholarship fund: the Fannie Lou Hamer Scholarship Fund for Disabled Theologians of Color. This endowed scholarship will assist those who identify as people of color with disabilities in pursuing theological study at any level. By creating greater access to theological education, we hope that scholarship recipients will enrich the church through their engagement with disability, race, and theology.
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Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil
Plan to attend the Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil on November 20th, hosted by Gender and Sexuality Justice Ministries.
Read MoreFranklinton Center Litany for Sunday Nov. 19 or 26 in celebration of 152 years
We invite all SWC congregations to share the following message and litany from the Board and Staff of Franklinton Center at Bricks during their Sunday worship services on Nov. 19th and 26th to commemorate the 152nd anniversary of the Franklinton Center.
Read MorePhotos from the 2023 Clergy Retreat
Our SWC clergy RESTED and RESISTED at the 2023 Clergy Retreat!
Read MoreSWC Nominating Committee seeks recommendations
Our conference relies on the dedication of individuals serving in crucial roles to oversee our operations and programs. The Nominating Committee is committed to identifying and placing people with the right skills and talents in these vital positions. We invite your assistance in this process.
Read MoreClara Sims' Ecclesiastical Council
Congratulations to Clara Sims on her upcoming Ecclesiastical Council!
Sunday, December 17, 2023, at 03:00 PM Arizona/New Mexico/El Paso
Register to attend on Zoom HERE. More details soon.
Read MoreCelebrating Our Ministers: A Grateful Tribute
A special message of acknowledgment and appreciation from our Transitional Conference Minister, Dr. Toni.
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