December 13th, 2024

Something For the Moment 

Something for the Journey

Melissa Carvill Ziemer, Director of Ministries and Programs

So far, 183 of you have completed our post election survey about your needs and concerns given the next presidential administration in the United States. Thank you! You have given us some really clear information. More than ¼ of us are concerned about physical safety, digital security and access to healthcare and insurance for ourselves and our families. Nearly half of us are concerned about physical safety and digital security for our congregations, and another ¼ have legal concerns for our congregations. Your UUMA is already focused on collegial care as one of our priorities and we will continue to deepen and expand that work.

We are currently in the midst of discerning our other programmatic priorities given what you have shared with us. One thing that is clear is that we will continue to rely on partnerships with our colleagues who work on the UUA staff as well as in other Unitarian Universalist institutions and organizations. The UUMA works best when we have strong relationships with strategic partners who can work with us to help you keep learning and growing and being supported to be the best minister you can be. One thing many of you told us in the survey is that you have similar thoughts about the networking and collaboration that is needed among lay leaders and between congregations. We will strive to find ways to support you in that vital work. We cannot squander our energies maintaining silos and duplicating efforts. This is a time to deepen partnership, share resources and harness our energies in support of the values we proclaim. Together. That is how we will move forward.

Something for Learning

Do you want to have a deeper understanding of how to lead justice-centered experiential education programming? Do you want to create relationships with a cohort of like-minded religious professionals and have your own experiential education opportunity? Our colleagues at the UU College of Social Justice are offering a terrific program for religious professionals – come learn more!

Have you been wondering about the difference between learning pods and communities of practice? Wonder no more! A community of practice is a group of colleagues focused on learning more deeply about any given topic. A learning pod is a smaller group of colleagues within a community of practice that is meeting on a regular basis to engage the action-reflection-action cycle. These pods and communities help with our own faith formation and inform how we support and collaborate with other religious professionals and lay leaders. We will begin organizing these groups in January; here is an opportunity to indicate which topics are of interest to you.

Something Extra