April 5, 2024

Something For the Moment 

• Registration for Ministry Days opened on Monday. Sign up today.
• Remember finances should never be a barrier to participation in your professional association. The deadline for the first round of scholarships for Ministry Days is April 15. Apply Here. Interested in support our scholarship fund? Make your donation here. 
• Board Dialogue Sessions are coming up on April 26 at 12pm ET/ 11am CT/ 10am MT/ 9am PT and May 21 at 8pm ET/ 7pm CT/ 6pm MT/ 5pm PT. Advocacy will be our focus for the April session and preparation for the Annual Meeting will be our focus in May. Click either date to register!

Something for the Journey

Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer, Director of Ministries and Programs

Did you know that Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister for Public Theology and Transformation at Middle Church, will be preaching for our opening Ministry Days worship? That is just one of many good reasons to sign up to join us soon. In just a few days time, nearly 100 of you have already registered to participate. Thank you! If you are not among that number, we hope you will be. There are a range of ways to participate – you can join us fully online, or with a group of colleagues at a sponsored Watch Party if one is scheduled near you. If not, you are welcome to connect with colleagues driving distance from you and arrange for a pop up watch party so you can participate in Ministry Days with others. We also have two attendance options in recognition of the diverse and varied schedules you all hold. However you may be able to participate, we hope you will join us as you can and we encourage you to prioritize participating in our two Collegial Conversation times. 

Our Collegial Conversations will take as common ground the Context Statement we prepared for our discussions. Building from this context we will have 18 different break out spaces for conversation about particular dimensions and contexts of ministry. Our goal for those times is to engage in the kind of imaginative, exploratory conversation that can help us support one another in nurturing healing, flourishing, liberatory ministries for today and tomorrow. Prior to Ministry Days we will have other conversations about the landscape of ministry at our Annual Meeting. We’ve also been hearing of chapters and clusters that are taking the Context Statement as a starting place for local conversations and we encourage that too. Feedback from one chapter that hosted such a conversation offered that our recording of the statement was a little fast and wondered if we might re-record more slowly. That was an easy yes. Here is a new slightly slower audio version. We look forward to being in conversation together.

Something Extra

Community Ministers Retreat: You can still register for the community ministers chapter retreat and receive the link to the video and resources from the first Pre-Retreat. For more information about the retreat series and to register, click here.

Collegial Conversation: Building Good Relationships Between Parish and Community Ministers: A panel of colleagues in the parish and community will come offer us their reflections on building good relationships with one another when they are called/affiliated/connected with the same congregation. There will be time for you to share your thoughts and to ask questions as well. Click the date to register: Wednesday, April 24, 2024, 7-8:30pm ET/ 6-7:30pm CT/5-6:30pm MT/ 4-5:30 PT/ 1-2:30pm HT

Good Offices Training: Learning to Support Colleagues Whose Lives are Touched by Addiction: This training was rescheduled to be held on Thursday, April 25 at 12pm ET/ 11am CT/ 10am MT/ 9am PT. We hope as many Good Offices people as possible will plan to join us.

Something for Formation

Internship Clearing House: Did you know about this application portal for 2024/25 Internships? Nearly two dozen sites are already listed including the DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) Learning Fellowship designed to foster growth, learning, and leadership within their culturally specific ministry setting. This remote program, spanning one year with an option for a second (upon mutual agreement), is tailored for seminarians, students, and UUs discerning religious service who are eager to deepen their BIPOC engagement with Unitarian Universalism through theological reflection, creativity, and community involvement. DRUMM is hoping to have two paid ($1750/month stipend) 20 hour/week fellows in 2024-2025 who will gain foundational skills in worship, pastoral care, community organizing, and anti-racism/anti-oppression.

Read the full position description here. Applications will be considered starting April 12.