... this week we'd like to share the UCC’s weekly News Digest email. Each Tuesday afternoon, the UCC News Digest is sent, featuring UCC news stories, statements from the executive officers, upcoming events, and more. The Digest has a lot of information, but mostly through links, so it’s a quick read. Visit the UCC News webpage (https://www.ucc.org/news/) to sign up for the email.

Tower Health has a part-time chaplain position open at their West Reading location. To learn more, click here.

Sunday, Sept. 11^th 3 – 5 p.m.

The Carousel at Pottstown - 30 W King St, Pottstown, PA 19464

Join us in our celebration as we launch Open Table UCC, Pottstown, an Open and Affirming (ONA) and intentionally antiracist, Pottstown-centered, Christian community. We are gathering at The Carousel at Pottstown for a worship of celebration and thanksgiving, information sharing, and fun for the whole community.

Even if you can’t make the scheduled time of 1 pm ET on Wednesday, August 10^th, still sign-up, and we will send you a recording. Register now!

Shaping Generations: Queer Justice and Love in the UCC

2022 National ONA Gathering

To register, click here.

TOMORROW, Wednesday, Aug. 3rd at 1:00 pm. To register, click here.

An endowment can provide support to a congregation and its wider mission. But where do you start? This webinar, on August 10th at 7:30 pm, will provide ideas and policies for creating and growing an endowment for your congregation. To register, click here.

We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

 The first ten steps set the stage and give us a foundation to improve our conscious contact with God. Our lives take on deeper meaning when we surrender control. This step is used to maintain our spiritual condition by increasing our awareness of God as a source of strength and improving that relationship. We need a system of belief that works for us.

 Our lives should be maintained on a spiritually sound basis. With our selfish motives out of the way, we find peace. Some will seek out religious practices to help with prayer and meditation. Many others choose to practice in a variety of ways, as this is a spiritual not religious program.

Prayer is communicating and meditation is listening for God's answer. Through prayer we seek spiritual contact with our God, during meditation we achieve this contact. It is necessary to still our minds to pray and meditate successfully. Meditation provides emotional balance and the results show in our daily lives. We begin to experience awareness and empathy toward others that had never been possible before.

 Our belief and understanding changes, and we see that our greatest need is for knowledge of God's will for us and the strength to carry that out. God's will becomes our own true will for ourselves. We see more clearly what is real, respect the beliefs of others, and we seek strength and guidance according to our belief. Through surrender and humility, we use this step over and over to receive the benefits God's will has to offer.

Practicing spiritual principles helps us carry a message of recovery. By helping others stay clean, we give freely and gratefully what has been given to us. We continue the journey with Step Twelve.

Justice and Local Church Ministries, and the Faith Education, Innovation and Formation team are proud to share "Understanding our Mission - Service Project Curriculum 2022", a free curriculum for youth groups engaging in service work over the coming months.

This curriculum is in direct response to what has been asked for and provides four sessions of engagement with youth in preparation for, during, and after service projects, focusing on themes of meaning making, understanding difference, working together, and bringing it all home and back to your communities. For more information, click here.

Diversity - what is it, how does it increase the vitality of our communities and congregations and our commitment to Christ?

The PSEC presents a Diversity Awareness Training for pastors on Thursday, October 13th from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm, via Zoom. Good for 3 Diversity Training contact hours.

Presenters: Rev. William P. Worley, Rev. Kevin McLemore and Rev. Cean James.

$20.00 for UCC members and $25.00 for non-UCC members.

All authorized ministers are required to regularly complete training on Cultural Diversity/Sensitivity and Institutional Racism. Click here to register.

This is a FREE event, please click here to register.

The UCC Clergywomen’s Leadership Event has been postponed at least twice during the pandemic, and we are excited to be offering the event this September 27-29 in Decatur, GA. “For Such a Time: To Confront, Connect, and Create at the Intersection of Race and Gender” is open to authorized clergywomen* in the United Church of Christ. Registration is now open for the in-person and online gathering. (* This invitation is expansive to include all cis and trans women as well as non-binary people comfortable in a space that centers the experiences of women.)

Click here for the "Make your voice heard" webpage. Simply click the box "Ask Congress to Keep Temporary Nursing Assistant (TNA) Flexibilities" and then enter the information into the blocks on the right side of the screen.