September 26. 2025

Something For the Moment 

Because we live in a world of information overload, we try list time-sensitive things first:  

Sing Out Love: Announcing a new benefit of membership! 
The UUA’s new virtual hymnal, Sing Out Love, will soon be available to UUMA members who aren’t eligible to participate in a congregational plan. This multimedia resource is packed with new music (over 60 new songs–and more coming every month), and its features are so abundant that it might be helpful to explore it with official tour guides. Rev. Erika Hewitt (Lead) and Camille Hatton (Project Manager) invite you to join them for a 45-minute Zoom tour of Sing Out Love. We’ll demonstrate some exciting features, help you feel confident using Sing Out Love, and then spend time answering your questions. Our time together will also include a discussion of the agreements and boundaries entailed in this UUMA subscription. Click on the date to register and receive link information. 

• Tuesday Sept 30, 2025: 5-6 ET / 4-5 CT / 3-4 MT / 2-3 PT
• Tuesday Oct 7, 2025: 12-1 ET / 11-12 CT / 10-11 MT / 9-10 PT

Don’t miss these other UUMA offerings happening soon! 

• Find-A-Minister Tool Intro Session: Wed, Oct 1: 12 noon ET, 11am CT, 10am MT, 9am PT

• Immigrant Support Groups Forming: We are pleased to announce that we will be experimenting with offering facilitated support groups for immigrant members of the UUMA. Click here for information! Please share with colleagues who they think might be interested.

Something for the Journey
Rev. Chris Rothbauer, Secretary, UUMA Board

This month, my congregation welcomed a new intern minister. It’s an exciting time for us: though the congregation has a long and proud history of nurturing future ministers, it’s the first time we’ve welcomed someone to learn with us since before the pandemic. My folks are excited, remembering how to best be with a future leader and learn from them as much as he will undoubtedly learn from us.

It’s also the first time I’ve supervised an intern. I love the idea of helping mentor the next generation of our leaders, to the point some of you might have seen me furiously posting to the UUMA Colleagues Facebook page, checking my gut instincts against the current reality for Unitarian Universalist seminarians.

I’m learning that being a good supervisor is about realizing how much I don’t know.

It’s funny, it’s only been about twelve years since I was in seminary myself, going through the very program my intern is in. So much has changed. MFC requirements are different from what they once were. The seminary coursework has shifted to reflect best practice. Most of all, a global pandemic shifted the skills needed to be an effective minister in today’s world.

Even more than a decade into this calling, there’s still so much for me to learn about this path we’ve all chosen or, at times, has chosen us. I remember when I first graduated seminary, I felt like I’d never have all the answers or know how to do everything. Today, I have no doubt that will be the case. Hopefully I’ll still be learning from colleagues new and old long into retirement. That’s why I’m so passionate about continued education: there’s still something for each of us to learn.

As a member of the UUMA Board, I’m so grateful our association is dedicated to nurturing the continued development of Unitarian Universalist ministers at every stage of their career. From the Ministerial Formation Network to regional and local gatherings as well as the upcoming UUMA Institute and the UUA’s Meet the Moment cohorts, there are so many ways to connect and deepen our calling.

Will you join me in January at the UUMA Institute in Albuquerque? Just like I’ll learn so much from our intern over the next couple of years, we have so much to learn from one another.

I hope to see you in Albuquerque!

Something for Formation

This past week the MFC sent out a letter to all Internship Supervisors. With permission we have shared the beginning of the letter here and the full text on uuma.org (must be signed in as a member) 

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Dear Internship Supervisors,

Greetings from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee! As part of our move to more transparency in the processes of the MFC, we wanted to write to you to give you some updates on the ways in which the MFC process has changed since you met with our committee (whether that was four or forty years ago). We hope that this communication is welcome, and will help you best serve your intern in their ministerial formation.

First, allow us to introduce ourselves as the newly-elected co-chairs of the MFC. We are Alison Aguilar López Gutierrez McLeod and Michael Tino. Alison (she/her) is a restorative justice/ restorative conflict facilitator for a non-profit in San Diego, CA. She has been a UU religious educator for 17 years and has served in a variety of roles within LREDA and the UUA. Michael (they/them) is part of the Lead Ministry Team of the Church of the Larger Fellowship. They have been a UU religious professional for 27 years, and have been an ordained and fellowshipped minister for 18, during which time they have supervised six interns. They live in Peekskill, NY.

We are especially glad to be able to thank you for your service to Unitarian Universalism. We hope that being a teaching minister is invigorating for your ministry. We hope that it helps inject new ideas and perspectives into the life of your congregation, and that it keeps you in touch with the leading edges of our faith.

Read the full letter at uuma.org . . .

Something Extra

UUA Transitions Office Listening Session: To say the least, these are dynamic times for the ministry.  Patterns and practices that have held us in good stead over time are shifting and even our understandings of formerly clear categories are changing.  The leadership of the UUA and UUMA have been hearing from folx about these changes with a specific focus on shifts in settlement and transitions. In response we are holding a listening session on October 17th from 12-2pm ET / 11-1pm CT / 10am-12pm MT / 9-11am PT in the hope that we can hear more. Click here to learn more about the session and to register.

Meeting the Moment: FACT Survey Coming to Your Congregation’s Inbox!

On October 1, your congregation will receive an invitation to participate in a national study of religious life in America. It is the eighth such survey in the Faith Communities Today (FACT) series, begun in 2000, which provides religious leaders of all traditions critical information about the changing nature of congregational life. Unitarian Universalist congregations participated in 2022, and you can view the resulting report, 2023 FACT Survey on UU Congregations; Emerging from the Global Pandemic. You can also watch a video and see key takeaways.

This survey can be completed by you, church administrator, a staff member, and/or lay leader. It will take approximately 20-25 minutes to complete. This link offers a PDF download of this 2025 survey. The link to the live survey will arrive October 1 at the email address your congregation uses for Congregational Certification.

Your responses about your congregation are completely confidential and will contribute to a better understanding of UU congregations and how they operate. The deadline for completing the survey is by November 14, 2025. Aggregate results will be shared about Unitarian Universalist congregations who respond before General Assembly 2026.

— Patrice (PK) Curtis, UUA