PWR Newsletter – November 2023 - Archived

“PWR Transitions Team Reflects on Town Halls”,  PWR & UUA News, and more!

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Pacific Western Region
Newsletter • November 2023

The PWR Transitions Team Reflects on October Town Halls

by Carlton E. Smith
Lead – Pacific Western Region

 

About 80 Unitarian Universalists of the Pacific Western Region engaged with questions about the future of UUism in our Region at the October 17 and 21 Town Halls on Zoom.

At the heart of the two online gatherings were a series of polls that enabled participants to register their preferences on questions such as What do you think about the direction that the Region is going in? How are you willing/able to gather?  and How far are you willing to travel for an in-person event?

In addition to the polls, there were opportunities for members of the Transitions Team and PWR Staff to introduce themselves, as well as for participants to connect with each other in breakout rooms.

“There’s clearly a deep desire for UUs in the Pacific Western Region to talk with one another and to be part of something larger than themselves,” said Bob Miess, representing the Pacific Central District while serving as the Administrator at the Unitarian Church in Livermore, California. “Going forward, I can see us making more time for those opportunities both at Town Halls and other online and in-person gatherings.”

Mary Nordhagen, President of the Mountain Desert District, sensed an upswing in interest around building bridges between congregations, though distance continues to be an issue.

“As a member of a very small, some might say tiny, congregation, I am really excited to hear the energy behind making connections between congregations,” said Mary, a long-time member of the UU Fellowship of Missoula, Montana. ”I heard the concern about the large geographic area of the region, but I also heard ways to work around that and still form relationships with UUs outside our immediate areas.”

Rhoda Whitney echoed Mary’s thoughts. “It was good to see all the interest people expressed,” said Rhoda, who serves on the MDD Board with Mary and has maintained membership for many years at First Universalist Church of Denver – site of PWR’s 2024 Regional Assembly. “I regret that we did not have time for all the questions people had and hope we will be able to do that in future town halls.”

Keith Strohmaier, representing the Pacific Southwest District, expressed appreciation for everyone who turned out for the Tuesday evening and Saturday morning Town Hall events.

“While we on the Transitions Team put the Town Halls together with the help of PWR Staff, none of our work would have mattered if Unitarian Universalists of the Region chose not to register and log on,” said Keith, a dedicated member of the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. “We are grateful for each person who took time to share their perspectives and ask the questions they had of us.”

As far as what happens next, Libby Fitzgerald, representing the Pacific Northwest District, spoke to both the short- and long-range goals of the Transitions Team.

“Over the next few months, we are focused on finalizing the legal requirements that will officially establish the Pacific Western Region in the state of Colorado,” said Libby, who currently serves as the Director of Religious Education at Inland Northwest UU Community. “Beyond that, we will use the insights gathered from our first Town Halls to help design the Regional Assembly in Denver, April 19-20, 2024.”

In this Issue

PWR Transitions Team Reflects on Town Halls
PWR & UUA News
Youth & Emerging Adult News
Pacific Central News
Pacific Southwest News
InSpirit Update

PWR Links
Calendar and Events
Staff Contacts
News
Job Postings
Youth Ministries
RE Trainings

PWR Lead
Carlton Elliott Smith


PWR Program Staff
Summer Albayati

Melissa James
Sarah Gibb Millspaugh
Sarah Schurr

Annie Scott

Note: December and January Newsletter Deadlines

Please note that due to the Thanksgiving and December holidays, the deadlines for submissions to the December and January newsletters will be November 15th and December 15th, respectively. Submissions can be sent to pwr@uua.org.

PWR & UUA NEWS

Pacific Western Regional Assembly

Let’s gather and connect at this year’s Regional Assembly! The UUA General Assembly will be all virtual this year, but we are hosting a Pacific Western Regional event where you can participate either in person or online. Regional Assembly will be held at the lovely First Universalist Church in Denver Colorado, on April 19th and 20th. There will be music and meetings, Keynote and conversations. More details to come. The Rev. Sarah Schurr is the staff working on much of the programing for this event. If you have any great ideas for our assembly, reach out to Sarah at sschurr@uua.org.

As part of our planning we ask that you fill out this survey. It is one way we can hear what matters to you.

PWR Chalice Lighters Update: Bridging with Cascadia Chalice Lighters

Members of the PWR Chalice Lighters Helping Circle continue to lay the groundwork for the PWR Chalice Lighters program, with the goal of launching in the fall of 2024. At the October meeting of the group, Karen Urbano (Pacific Central) and PWR staff were joined by Rev. Antonia Won, Executive Director of Cascadia Growth Fund, which manages the former Pacific Northwest District (PNWD) Chalice Lighters Program, now known as Cascadia Chalice Lighters.

As the PNWD Board approached dissolution of the District roughly two years ago, the Board members voted to transfer management of its Chalice Lighters program to Cascadia Growth Fund, which is an outgrowth of the Pacific Northwest District of the UUA serving UU congregations in the Pacific Northwest, including Alaska and British Columbia.

Once initiated, PWR Chalice Lighters will serve congregations in the region that were formerly served by Chalice Lighters programs for the Pacific Central, Pacific Southwest and Mountain Desert Districts.

The October Zoom meeting was the first such gathering of the representatives of the PWR and Cascadia Chalice Lighters programs.

Where there had once been concern that there might be difficulty among people distinguishing between the two programs and what geographic areas they served, Rev. Antonia reported that there was “not a lot of confusion on Cascadia’s end,” and that the transfer of participants from PWR staff to Cascadia Growth Fund had gone smoothly.

Along with PWR staff members Rev. Carlton E. Smith (Regional Lead) and Rhiannon Smith (Administrator), the CL Helping Circle and Rev. Antonia touched on shared themes of staffing, volunteer support, promotion, and communication with Chalice Lighter donors.

Individuals like the readers of the PWR Newsletter are the funders of Chalice Lighters grants, through small donations that merge to help congregations in their designated service areas. In addition to Cascadia Chalice Lighters and the forthcoming PWR Chalice Lighters programs, there are also Chalice Lighter programs serving the Southern Region, MidAmerica Region, and the Central East Region. The former Chalice Lighters program for the New England Region evolved into faithify.org, and became our UUA’s digital platform for crowdfunding Unitarian Universalist ministries and causes.

— Rev. Carlton E. Smith

System Theory Renaissance Module

February 2, 2024 to February 23, 2024

Central to our understanding of congregational systems is a grounding in the awareness that “everything we do is faith development; everything we teach is Unitarian Universalism and that the congregation is the curriculum.”
That expression, by Connie Goodbread, is the first part of going deeper into congregational systems, yet the second part must include an immersion into System Theory.

The “System Theory” Renaissance Module will:
Examine human beings as emotional, intellectual, and physical beings.
Discuss how everything humans create, discover, destroy, and build is born out of our humanity.
Explore and clarify what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist.
Discuss the human qualities that help and hinder the growth of the beloved community.

The overarching lens of System Theory will ground the experience and aid religious educators, and other religious professionals, to apply these learnings to their own professional context.

 

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Registration for this Renaissance Module is limited to 24 participants and will close on January 31, 2024. Register here.

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