Tag: UCC

2022 UCC Southern Regional Women’s Retreat (Oct 14-16)

2022 UCC Southern Regional Retreat
October 14-16, 2022
Camp Weed & Cerveny Conference Center – Live Oak, Florida

Greetings to the UCC Women of the Florida, South Central, Southeast, and Southern Conferences!!

Have you ever attended one of the Southern Regional UCC Women’s Retreats?  If you have, I expect you will be coming to Camp Weed and Cerveny Conference Center in Live Oak, Florida October 14-16, 2022.  You value the inspiration, camaraderie, making new friends and reconnecting with old ones, learning new skills, and listening to God in a natural setting.

If you have never been to our retreats, you are in for a treat!  We are meeting in the same beautiful northern Florida setting on a small lake where we met in 2013.  It has a lovely chapel looking out on the water, nice two-bed rooms with private baths, an inspiring outdoor patio area with rocking chairs overlooking the lake, a large dining room with great food, and trails through the woods.  A perfect spot to retreat from our everyday lives. 

Our keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, Associate General Minister, Wider Church Ministries and Co-Executive for Global Ministries.  She is a dynamic speaker and a friend to all.  Her rich experiences and leadership qualities are most impressive, and she has been a part of the Florida Conference over the years. 

The retreat will begin on Friday with dinner and go through Sunday morning breakfast and closing worship.  Your registration fee includes two nights lodging, and meals Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast. 

With the reality of COVID and many health concerns, our retreat last October was held virtually.  We have high hopes of meeting in person this year but continue to be cautious.  The Early Bird Registration, due by June 15, includes a $20 discount off the Final Registration, due by September 1.  Registration for a double room is $175 for Early Bird and $195 for Final.  Additional prices are on the registration form and in the information document.

For more information about the retreat, please click here.  You will find on-line and paper registration forms, an information document, a resource list for “Who’s at the Table” (Racial Injustice & Racial Inequalities), directions for knitting or crocheting boobies (service project), list of items for hygiene kits for Church World Service (service project) and flyer to post to promote the retreat.

 We hope to see you in October as we share a weekend of inspiration, fellowship and friendship.

Southern Regional Planning Team
Clarice Mitchell, Southeast Conference
Betty Griffin, Southern Conference
Jasmine Quinerly, South Central Conference
Leslie Etheredge, Associate Conference Minister, FL Conference, UCC
Barb Coons, Registrar, Southwest Region
Dyanne Edds, Co-Chair, St. Petersburg
Bunny Gruntler, Co-Chair, Miami
Vonshelle Beneby, St. Johns Region
Ginny Sommerville, Gold Coast Region
Marty Synott, Central West Coast Region
Rhea Taie-Tehrani, Miami-Dade Region

You may also contact Registrar Barb Coons at 239-549-8283 or [email protected]


Click here for a flyer for the event or see below!

UCC 3-Day Retreat

Pastor Carla and Yesenia will be serving on the team for this event and invite you all to join us.

Please see the flyer here or continue reading below for more information.

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Be still and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10

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North Texas Journey #17
A Three-Day Spiritual Renewal Retreat
Thursday, September 29 – Sunday, October 2, 2022

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Leadership Team
Spiritual Leader – Rev. Nikki Stahl
Lay Leader – Cathy Hansen
North Texas Journey Administrator – Stephanie Hudson
North Texas Spiritual Leader – Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson

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Location – Camp Crucis, Granbury, TX

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A ministry of New Church, UCC & The Brazos Valley & North Texas Journey Communities.

Is it Time to Take a Journey?

Perhaps you’ve been hearing about The Journey.  The program is being finalized and the Journey Team is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to share this incredible weekend experience with you.

What is The Journey?

The Journey is a spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders.  The Journey experience is a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of talks and activities led by clergy and lay persons.  Themes of God’s grace, disciplines of faith, Christian discipleship, and what it means to be the church will be explored.  ­The weekend is wrapped in prayer, meditation, special times of worship and daily celebration of Holy Communion. 

The “Journey Community” is made up of those who have attended a Journey weekend or a similar weekend offered by many other denominations.  The Journey Community supports the weekend experience through prayer and other acts of love and self-giving.  The Journey will begin on Thursday evening and conclude mid-afternoon on Sunday.  The weekend is open to adults over 18 years of age and offers the experience to open and affirming groups throughout Texas. 

The three-day Journey experience and the follow-up groups strengthen and renew Christian people as disciples of Jesus Christ and as active members of the body of Christ in mission to the world.

For more information, or to request a Reservation Form, contact:  www.thenewchurch.com/journey

FAQs

What:   The aim of the Journey is to inspire, challenge, and equip local church members for Christian action and leadership.

Who:   The Journey is for church persons and is designed for active church members and leaders who want to rekindle their faith or renew their vision.

Where:   Camp Crucis is a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Ft. Worth and is located in Granbury, Texas. 

How Many:  North Texas Journey #17 is limited to 30 attendees.  Your reservation provides you a spot for the weekend as space permits.

How to Participate:  You can find an application here:  Journey (thenewchurch.com).  If you have any questions, contact Stephanie Hudson, the North Texas Journey Administrator ([email protected]) or the Lay Leader for Journey 17, Cathy Hansen ([email protected]).

Cost:  If your application is submitted by August 15th, 2022, the cost for The Journey is $225.  After August 15, the fee is $250.  The cost covers your room for the retreat, daily meals, snacks, project supplies, and much, much more.  There are scholarships available.  Please contact the Journey Administrator ([email protected]) or the Lay Leader for Journey 17, Cathy Hansen ([email protected]) for more information.

The deadline for submitting applications is September 15, 2022.

2021 Southern Regional Women’s Retreat

The Planning Committee for the 2021 UCC Southern Regional Women’s Retreat has been hard at work. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee postponed the in-person retreat originally planned for October 2021 to October 2022. A virtual afternoon retreat was added to the schedule for this October. The Committee would like to invite you to participate in a 

Virtual Retreat on ZOOM
October 2, 2021 – 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

We will have a chance to fellowship and worship with old and new friends from all parts of the Southern Region (area from Texas to Virginia). Our guest speaker/presenter for both retreats will be Rev. Dr. Georgia A. Thompson, UCC Associate General Minister of Wider Church Ministries and Co-Executive for Global Ministries.You are encouraged to watch at home or any location you select, by yourself or with a group of fellow UCC Women. The cost is $15.00 for mailed registration or $16.00 online registration. For a flyer, mail-in registration form or to register online, click here.

UCC Webinar – They Knew: 50 Years of the US Government Causing the Climate Crisis

Submitted by Rev. Brooks Berndt, Minister for Environmental Justice, Justice and Local Church Ministries

UCC Webinar— They Knew: 50 Years of the US Government Causing the Climate Crisis 

The UCC’s next Creation Justice Webinar will feature one of the leading voices in environmentalism over recent decades: James Gustave Speth. Among his many accomplishments, Speth served the Carter administration, founded the Natural Resources Defense Council, and spent ten years as Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. In August, he is releasing a new book entitled, They Knew—The US Federal Government’s Fifty-Year Role in Causing the Climate Crisis. Naomi Klein has described it as “a damning record that will become a potent tool for justice.”

Even if you can’t make the scheduled time of 1 pm ET on Wednesday, September 8th, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording.

Register now!

The U…C…What?!

The U…C…What?!  For those not familiar with us, it can be a little confusing!:

               “Oh, yeah…You’re Unity, right?”    Nope.  We share their focus on community, positivity, and education, but that’s not us. 

            “So, then, you’re the Unitarians?”   Nuh uh.  We share their value of other religions and spiritual paths, but that’s not us.

            We are the United Church of Christ. 

            “Wait!  You mean the ones who don’t use music instruments or allow women to preach?”   Nope.  While we love our conservative brothers and sisters (and man, can they sing!), we are waaaaayyy on the other end of the political and theological spectrum.

            The United Church (pause here) of Christ, is a Protestant (like Methodists and Lutherans) denomination that began when 4 denominations united in 1957.  There are tons of us in the Midwest, Northeast, West Coast, Hawaii (yes, please!), and we’re growing in the South. 

            We’re about as far left as you can go and still be considered Christian.  Our Unitarian friends affectionately joke the UCC stands for “Unitarians Considering Christ” because we are similar, just with a much heavier emphasis on Jesus (as Trinitarians, we’re big fans of the Holy Spirit, too!)

The UCC is a mainstream Christian denomination with deep roots in social justice, peace movements, activism, and support for the environment. Our ancestors were educators, abolitionists, civil rights and healthcare advocates, and folks of radical love and extravagant welcome.

            We ordained the first openly gay man in 1972, voted to affirm full rights and participation in the Church and society for transgender persons in 2003, and became the first mainline Christian denomination to support equal marriage rights for all in 2005. 

            We’re relatively light on dogma; extremely light on judgment (we try hard never to be but, hey, we’re human); and heavy on standing with people Jesus hung out with—those cast to the margins by society, those treated as any way less than, and those oppressed (like Dr. King, we even try to love the gremlins in our own and others’ hearts that lead us to oppress others).

            We often say, “Jesus didn’t turn anyone away, and neither do we.”  Micah 6:8—seek justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God—sums up what we seek to do, pretty well.  We’re imperfect, ever-growing, and try to have a hella lotta fun together along the way.  So, come hang out awhile, let us love on ya, and see if maybe we, and the UCC, are for you.

Peace, Pastor Carla

Info from the Conference and National Offices:

UCC Webinar—What’s Possible?:Faith and
Climate Policy in 2021 -January 13, 2021

After the Georgia Senate runoff election on January 5th, we will know the legislative landscape for the new Congress. What will be possible for climate policy? Aside from congress, what might President Biden accomplish through executive orders? This webinar will address these questions with an eye toward what faith communities can do to put their values into action in pressing for the kind of climate policies urgently needed in this time of crisis and inequality. The featured panelists will be Anthony Rogers-Wright from the Climate Justice Alliance, Emily Wirzba from the Environmental Defense Fund, and Clarence Edwards from the Friends Committee on National Legislation.Even if you can’t make the webinar’s scheduled time onWednesday, January 13th at 1 pm ET, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording of it.Register at https://www.ucc.org/event/whats-possible-faith-and-climate-policy-in-2021/


Save the Date – January 27, 2021 – 6p CST
Quarterly Just Peace Webinar

The UCC Just Peace Committee is inviting you to the next quarterly Just Peace Webinar to take place on January 27 (7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT/2 p.m. HT).Details and log-in instructions will be sent in the New Year but please mark your calendars now!The topic will be, Wheredo we go from here? How do we engage? What should be our Just Peace priorities in 2021 as individuals, congregations, Associations, Conferences and the National Setting. What might we expect in our global community? And, finally, let’s talk and share ideas and plans.


Save the Date
UCC 2021 General Synod
July 11-18, 2021

Our first ever virtual Synod promises to be an exciting time of connection, discernment, and renewal with special opportunities for youth and young adults!Learningmore about your denomination’s process, leadership, and your covenantal siblings across the country has never been easier or more affordable. Find out more at http://www.generalsynod.org/welcome-message/

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