Engaging in the broader UU community is a great way to understand UU values and enhance your personal spirituality. The UUA has been releasing their programs for the September start of the church year and the line-up is fantastic. As your board president, I find these programs a great way to understand what UUs everywhere are doing to engage in social justice work or how we can cope with the challenges of our time with our UU principles in place. Attending these programs helps me feel part of a bigger picture and makes me feel less alone. It also reinforces for me that what we are doing in Hendricks County, Indiana, is significantly important, needed, and valuable. 

Here are a few links to help you find these programs. 

• For Congregation Leaders – who is a congregation leader? Well, in our lay-led church, YOU ARE. Check out this newly released collection of events from Side With Love curated for leaders like you. Find out more about the Green Sanctuary program, the Solidarity Summits, UU the Vote and so much more. 
• The Gathering – I’ll never stop talking about how important The Gathering is to connection to the broad UU faith. It inspires me and broadens my horizons. Please let me know when you have joined one live! They are also available to watch by recording on this page. You do need to register for each monthly session – the Zoom link is unique each month for security.
• Mid-America Programming – the Mid-America Region staff of the UUA offers a number of ongoing programs for congregational leaders. We need your presence at these productive sessions, learning how to build a better church! If you have questions on whether you should join, talk to me (Rosie). Spoiler alert: the answer is yes, do it. :

In addition to programs designed to help you live your values and connect with other UUs, there are also a number of programs to build our church community to represent UU values publicly. I would like to see us participate in these programs, but we need volunteers to take primary responsibility for each of these. What I find exciting and inspiring about these certifications is that it’s work we are already doing. In some cases, the guidelines will help us be more intentional in the work we are doing and will make it easier for us to accomplish the work. 

If you are looking for a way to engage in our church community and would like flexibility in doing so, look into these programs or certifications and let me know if we can count on you to guide UUCCHC to be designated among the small number of congregations who seek these achievements. I am intentionally asking our broader church community to consider this – your board has their hands FULL with executive tasks. Seeking these certifications will help us build community internally, while also helping us promote our values more publicly. 

1. Tending Soil is the newest opportunity, with an information session happening Sept. 27. Tending Soil is a leadership training program for UUs doing justice and organizing work in their congregations. We would need someone open to exploring and understanding what this commitment will involve. 
2. Welcoming Congregation – UUCCHC became a Welcoming Congregation – the UUA program to create religious spaces welcoming to all people, especially when it comes to gender and sexuality – in the early 2000s. But like most UU congregations, hasn’t done much updating to that designation since. The UUA has a Welcoming Congregation Renewal Program that would be great for us to engage – and we are already doing most of it. This just needs someone to dedicate some time throughout the year to ensuring we meet the five pillars of renewal and submit our application.
3. Green Sanctuary 2030 – a tiny percentage of congregations have the Green Sanctuary designation (less than 1% if my calculations are correct) and I’d love for us to get in that early adopter group! From my review of the qualifications, we can do this with some focused attention from the Climate Justice group or even a single volunteer providing some programming throughout the year. We have met a lot of requirements already; none of them require extra financial investments. 
4. Mosaic Congregations – a new certification process that emphasizes a congregational commitment to lifespan learning in diversity, equity, and inclusion and anti-oppression. As we are faced with immigration concerns, struggles for justice for all people, and a world that feels like it’s sliding backwards on equity and inclusion practices, this has the potential to be a highly impactful process for UUCCHC to engage. 

Questions? Interested but you want to know more? Talk to Rosie or email her at president@uucchc.org. We’d love to have you lead the process for any of these!