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Opportunities for Connection
CER Update ~ November 2025
Please note there is no Newsletter in the month of December, we'll be back the week of January 5th.
Reads UU Institute Part of the Unitarian Universalist Association
Featured Resource: UU Institute
Congregational Life Online Leadership Courses. Transform yourself and your congregation to ensure that liberal religious values will have more impact in the world. Deepen your faith, connect with other UU leaders and grow your congregation.

Courses range from safety policies, stewardship, leadership development, board basics, to the membership journey, intercultural skills, creating covenants, youth advisor training and more. Every area of congregational life is represented. Courses range in cost from free to $30 per person. Registration for the site is free. Learn more!
Blocks with leadership words on it. Reads Leadership Learning Opportunities
The Congregational Life Staff are offering a number of opportunities for congregational leaders to develop skills and network.

Congregational Leaders Conversation
November 18 (monthly, generally 4th Tuesdays), 7:30-9pm ET.
Making changes in congregational life can be challenging. Yet as uncomfortable as change may be, it is one of the few constants in our lives and the life of our UU communities. It is, in fact, a necessary element of our Living Tradition. The changes we choose that help us to amplify our deepest values are good for our congregations and good for the world.
Two members of the UUA’s Normalizing Change Wave Cohort will join us for an exploration of how change happens in congregations. These changemakers will share their stories and learnings about the nature, sustainability, and joy of change-leadership, and you’ll be invited into the conversation. Register for Congregational Leaders Conversation

Lead with Love Conference
The Lead with Love conference is an in-person event as part of SR’s Leadership Experience. Save the date, February 7, 2026, in Greenville UU Fellowship, Greenville, SC. Registration will be open soon. Details at the UUA website.
small Congregations Month - March is small congregations month. Over the course of the month participants are invited to take part in a webinar series that is intentially desgined to support the vitatlity of small and lay-led ocngregations. Save the dates! March 3rd, 12th, 18th and 24th
Meet the Moment is a movement-wide framework helping Unitarian Universalists to collaboratively analyze, discern, and take values-based action in response to today’s religious, cultural, generational, and political realities.

Normalizing Change in Congregational/Communal Life Wave Cohort
Saturday, November 15, 2025, 2 pm ET, 4 hours with breaks.
Making changes in congregational life can be challenging. Yet, as uncomfortable as change may be, it is one of the few constants in our lives and the life of our UU communities. It is, in fact, a necessary element of our Living Tradition. On Saturday, November 15th, we invite all UU congregational/communal leaders to join the Normalizing Change Cohort in exploring the nature of change. Cohort members will share their knowledge and experience during times of change in their UU communities. Change work is easier with partners. Come and meet some of your partners. Come and get some tips on leading for change. Come and share ideas with others. Come and have your cup filled a little so that the work of change can be exciting once more. The changes we choose that help us to amplify our deepest values are good for our congregations and good for the world. We hope you will join us in this rich discussion! Details on the event webpage.
Winter Institute 2026
Winter institute is back for 2026. Come join us for this relaxing weekend in UU community, February 13-16 at Salt Fork State Park in Cambridge, OH. The event page and registration will open in the first week of November. Early bird registration runs through January 15 and rooms must be booked directly with the Lodge by January 15 to be part of the block. Learn more on the event page.

Summer Institute 2026
The Summer Institute Planning Committee is pleased to announce that the 2026 Theme speaker will be Rev. Susan Ritchie, speaking on Co-Creating Hope: The Art and Beauty of Resilience. Join us at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, July 5-11, 2026. Like the theme? You can submit a t-shirt design for 2026. Learn more at the CERSI website.
Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary April 18, 2026
Please sign up to learn more about being a satellite Congregation on Saturday, April 18, 2026, during the Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary (BBCBB) event in Syracuse, New York. Satellite Congregations will create and hold space for transgender people in the community to come together and connect with one another. They will also create and hold space for allies who want to learn how to better support transgender people in their families and communities. In this session, Congregations will learn the how, when, where, and all the details of being a satellite congregation for the BBCBB.   

Live info session: Monday November 24th 7:00 PM - 8:00PM ET. Please fill out this form if you are interested in hosting BBCBB this year and did not host last year. We will forward your information to your regional staff. They will reach out to you! Please register by Monday, November 17th. Learn more on the event page.
Where Do We Start?: Exploring Sing Out Love (the UUA Virtual Hymnal)
Designed for congregations without professional music staff, and led by Rev. Erika Hewitt and Sing Out Love composer Soren Austenfeld, this webinar will help worship leaders and choir members choose, learn, and teach some of the 60 new hymns in Sing Out Love. 

Our hour-long program will begin with a brief tour of Sing Out Love, including a way to find new songs that are easy to learn. Soren and Rev. Erika will then provide tools & strategies to both learn new hymns and teach them in worship, using hand-picked examples from the hymnal. Our final ten minutes will focus on participants' questions. 

Please join us at either of these times:
  • Sunday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern
  • Tuesday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern

By signing up, you'll receive a reminder and a Zoom link for both sessions. The Zoom link will be sent on Friday, November 7th and again on the mornings of Sunday, November 9th and Tuesday, November 11th. Learn more about Sing Out Love at the UUA website.
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From the UU Mental Health Network
The Unitarian Universalist Mental Health Network is running a “Become a Companion” Workshop on Saturday, November 15 from 1:00 to 4:00pm ET. Companionship is a dynamic and inspirational model that empowers everyday individuals to support those experiencing emotional or mental distress. Through a three-hour interactive training, participants gain the essential knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to build authentic relationships with people in need.

Registration is required for a $30 fee. Email questions to the UU Mental Health Network. For more information watch this short video (Vimeo).

EQUUAL Access Sermon Contest
The EqUUal Access Carolyn Cartland Sermon Award Contest is accepting sermons on disability-related themes and topics. The entry deadline is May 1, 2026.  A cash prize of $500 will be awarded and presented as the online annual EqUUal Access celebration.  For more information the see Sermon Contest Entry Information.
Side with Love Logo, heart on a gold background.
The Gathering by Side with Love on November 10, 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.
Upcoming topics for The Gathering:

Upcoming Gatherings

Side with Love News & Resources
Purple background with the words Better together blog, headshot of Lenore Bajare-Dukes and the Better Together chalice logo
Practicing Faithful Change (and gardening)
by Lenore Bajare-Dukes

For this week’s blog, we invite you to take in a story or two from CER’s Lenore Bajare-Dukes, which was originally shared as part of the Exploring New Models for Faith Development & Religious Education Wave Cohort (part of the UUA’s wider Meet the Moment process).

You can take this story in a lot of directions. Feel free to use it as a tool for your own spiritual reflection. Or as a leader, to think about what adaptations this moment in time is inviting from you.
CER Events at a Glance
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 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 December 1 for grants to be awarded in February 2026.

Congregation News & Events
  • Congregations are hiring, check out the UU Job Board to see what is available.
News from the UUA
Faith Communities Today Survey Reminder, Survey Due November 14th
UUA congregations are being asked to participate in a national study of religious life in America. The Faith Communities Today (FACT) series, begun in 2000, provides critical information from 25+ different faith groups about the changing nature of congregational life. Congregational Administrators, Board Presidents and Ministers received a link to the survey on 10/1, followed by a reminder on 10/21. The survey is completely confidential and the combined results will be published early next year at www.faithcommunitiestoday.org. In the late Spring, the UUA will also host a learnings conversation for our communities. Thank you for helping be sure our congregational information is reported!

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 for 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.

New publications from the UUA - Available order is The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide, edited by Sofia Betancourt. Available for pre-order is Tend to Your Spirit: Mindful Living with Chronic Illness by Julianne Lepp and Florence Caplow. Check out the UUA bookstore for all Beacon Press and Skinner House books.

The UUA is hiring for several positions. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage.
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This email was sent to congregational leaders, committee chairs and staff. Unsubscribe and Manage Email Preferences from the UUA Central East Region.
Central East Region
PO Box 425, St. Clairsville, OH 43950

Unitarian Universalist Association
24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210-1409