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Opportunities for Connection
CER Update ~ August 2025 |
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Featured Resource: Worship Resources
Does your congregation need resources for your Worship Services? We have those!
Sermon of the Month Subscription Service
Designed for small congregations, lay-led congregations, congregations with part-time ministry, and any congregation that is seeking resources for worship, Congregational Life’s Sermon of the Month Series is a monthly subscription service that provides recorded sermons congregations can download and use for worship. Along with a transcript of the sermon, each month’s offering will include suggested readings and hymns. Check out the archives to see our past offerings. Currently accepting subscriptions for the 2025-26 church year.
WorshipWeb is a part of the UUA website and has a collection of readings, story, sermons and even entire services for worship committees to use in their worship services. You can search by topic, keyword, part of the service (i.e. chalice lighting, benediction, opening words), holiday or author. It even has images you can use on a variety of topics. |
Central East Region staff are offering an online program to renew your relationships and purpose as leaders, help you assess your congregation’s energies and needs, and set goals for your next year.
We still have one option open! For teams who wish to work at their own pace but start off the weekend with us, we offer a live kick-off session on Friday, August 22 (6:30-8PM), and will offer you materials and videos to use in your self-facilitated retreat later that weekend. Registration is open.
Our blog on Board Resources has more suggestions for individual and group trainings that you may want to check out as well. |
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The Gathering by Side with Love on August 11, 8 pm ET
The Gathering is a monthly virtual event from Side With Love, designed to offer:
- Spiritual Grounding – Strengthen your heart and spirit for the work ahead.
- Political Analysis – Understand the threats to democracy and justice.
- Collective Action – Organize with others to block anti-democratic forces and build a just and loving world.
This month, we follow up on June’s conversation about power with deeper teaching from Side With Love's Nicole Pressley and we'll spotlight a campaign by UUs in Georgia, as their state is facing a critical moment in its climate future—move towards cleaner and renewable forms of energy, or double down on the use of toxic coal and fossil fuels that will come with a hefty financial and environmental price tag. Georgia Power is trying to pursue the latter, and make Georgia families pay the costs. Learn how the UU Georgia Legislative Action Network, Side With Love, and Georgia Interfaith Power & Light have been organizing together to Claim Our Power in this critical moment. Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones, minister in Gwinnett, Georgia, will ground us with music and prayer. Register here.
Upcoming topics for The Gathering:
- Monday, September 8th: Solidarity with Deepa Iyer
- Monday, October 13th: Land
- Monday, November 10th: Elections
- Monday, December 8th: Theology
If you are congregational staff or board member, don't miss Now What: The Gathering for Congregational staff and board members on Wednesdays after the Gathering at 1 pm ET. Register for Now What. |
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Supportive Adults for Youth Ministry In-Person Training
Want to grow a community of spiritually grounded, safe adults for youth in your congregation? Lifespan Faith Engagement invites you to a one-day immersive gathering for those curious about youth advising or becoming more supportive adults. Explore trust, spiritual depth, and inclusive facilitation through hands-on activities and conversation. You’ll leave with tools to lead youth group gatherings and deepen intergenerational community. Optional pre-work, in-person training with UUA and local leaders, and a follow-up worship integration included. Snacks, supplies, and encouragement provided. Email youth@uua.org for more information and to book a training.
Youth & Emerging Adults Grants Application Live
Please share with youth and emerging adults! UU congregations, communities, or individuals who have projects or events that center the spiritual needs of UU youth, and/or emerging adults can now apply for Seed Grants and Partnership Grants by visiting the UUA website. You can request up to $3,000 to support a group of UU youth, emerging adults, or young adults with funding for a specific project or event and $500 to support a UU emerging adult (18-24) or young adult (18-35) group to get started or gain momentum. The deadline is August 15th for September 15th funds disbursement.
From the UUA Global Connections Office:
This September we will have an online exchange group for young adults ages 19-25 with young adults from the Rissho Kosei-kai (RKk) in Japan to form the Cross-Cultural Exchange Small Group. This small group has space for six North America participants from the USA and Canada.
The small group will meet 3 times with Japanese students, and 2 times with just the North Americans for reflection. Together they will:
- Share their spiritual and faith journeys with each other
- Experience & learn about a different culture and religion
- Cultivate new connections
3 Exchange Sessions are set on Fridays, September 5, 19, 26, at 8:00 - 9:30pm eastern. Register by August 25. Participants will receive a $100 stipend to get dinner/snacks during the sessions! |
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Do you have questions about what makes a pledge drive effective today? Join us for a three-session webinar designed for stewardship teams engaged in a spring pledge drive. We will explore current congregational giving trends, pledge drive practices that are working, and examples of real UU congregations who have experienced pledge drive successes. Register one time for all three sessions! Note, Congregations must register as teams, with three people per congregational team. Don’t know your team members yet? Register anyway and send your team the registration form when you know. Register and learn more here.
Session dates & times:
- Tuesday, October 8, 2025, 7:00 PM — 9:00 PM ET
- Tuesday, October 22, 2025, 7:00 PM — 9:00 PM ET
- Tuesday, October 29, 2025, 7:00 PM — 9:00PM ET
Registration closes: Friday October 3rd. |
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Join us July 5th-11th at Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, for a week of community, fellowship, networking, fun, music and so much more. Our theme speaker is Rev. Susan Ritchie. More details coming this fall!
Have an idea for an afternoon workshop or a morning workshop? The SI Planning Committee is looking for great ideas for our adult morning seminars or afternoon workshops. Please propose your great ideas by October 31!
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October 3-5, 2025
Come shape the future of UU faith development! All who've benefitted from and care about UU faith development are welcome: parents, youth, adults, lay leaders, volunteers, and religious professionals. This summit will focus on the faith formation needs of this current moment and your particular context - both big-picture models and specific activities and topics. Come share what you know, learn from each other, and help us map the landscape of innovations that are working in UUism.
- 10/3 Friday night: 7-9 Eastern
- 10/4 Saturday: 12 – 4:30pm Eastern
- 10/5 Sunday: Pre-created resources for your congregation's Sunday service and community engagement
Watch for registration links coming soon! If you have questions, please reach out to Erica Baron, ebaron@uua.org |
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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
by Rev. Alia Shinbrough
“Love says: “I am everything.” Wisdom says: “I am nothing.” Between the two, my life flows.” –Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, I Am That; trans. Maurice Frydman.
Music for the journey: STLT #108 My Life Flows On In Endless Song (YouTube)
I write to you with some bittersweet news: I will be leaving my position with the Central East Region on August 1, 2025.
It has been a privilege to work with many of you over the last year and a half. I have learned much in this time with the Region and the UUA, about you who faithfully serve in our UU congregations, and about myself as I fit into a lineage of dedicated UU professionals serving within, among, and beyond our institutions. I’ve been honored to witness a faith that grows in unexpected places, which flourishes in difficult terrain, and each day inspires us to seed more love and justice across our relationships.
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The following events sponsored by CER are upcoming in the region. For full details and a complete list visit the CER Calendar Page. Also, please note, if you are mailing a check to the regional office to pay for your registration, you must write the name and date of the event in the memo line. Otherwise we may not get it properly credited.
If you are looking for Sparks Modules for Religious Educators or Our Whole Lives Trainings, check the full calendar on the UUA website.
If your congregation or cluster has an exciting project that could use funding from our Chalice Lighter Program, our next Intent to Apply deadline is August 1 for grants to be awarded in October 2025, December 1 for grants to be awarded in February 2025.
Congregation News & Events
- Cultivate Creativity, Compassion, and Community: A Thoughtfully Curated Arts-Based Summer Camp Experience at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Ages 6–12 | August 18-22 | 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Learn more.
- Congregations are hiring, check out the UU Job Board to see what is available.
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Learn to Facilitate a Grief Group
The UU Mental Health Network is seeking compassionate, reliable, adult volunteers to serve as Internet Grief Group Facilitators. Training consists of live, online sessions held once a week over the course of 12 weeks. Dates have not been selected yet, but the training will likely commence in September. If you're interested in learning more, please contact uupeergrief@gmail.com.
If your congregation is struggling with how to respond in this moment, please check out the UUA's Resilience Hub. This is a location where we are gathering resources to help congregations build strong, connected, and resilient communities.
The Spark RE and Music Leadership Professional Development Programs provide Unitarian Universalist Religious Professionals learning communities where they can easily access applicable skills and tools for religious leadership. Courses are also open to interested lay leaders. Check out the lists of classes, these are great resources!
The UUA has a Disaster Relief Fund for those who want to make a donation to help congregations who have faced losses due to tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and more. Please donate if you can. Learn more about the work of the Disaster Relief Fund. We are Better Together.
The UUA is hiring for several positions including for our open CER Staff position. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage. |
Central East Region
PO Box 425, St. Clairsville, OH 43950
Unitarian Universalist Association
24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210-1409 |
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