PWR September 2025 Newsletter - Archived

Rev. Tania Y Marquez

Get Your Board on Board!

PWR Chalice Lighters is LIVE

PWR UU Virtual Mixer – Building Connections Across the Miles

Regional Assembly 2026

News: Unitarian Universalist Association

UU Ingathering Video

Side with Love

Pledge Drive 101 – October Series

Exploring New Models for Faith Development and Religious Education: A Summit on Faith Formation in this Moment

Congregational Leaders Conversation

Wave Cohorts

Small Congregations Month

Plan your 2025 Religious Education Kickoff Retreat

RE Kickoff: Connections and Context for RE Teams

The Woodlands

Survey Coming October 1st

Sparks RE and Music Leadership

Non-Fellowshipped Ministers Gathering

UUA Job Board / UUA Job and Careers

Congregational Incident Form

Community Resilience Hub

Disaster Relief Fund

UU Mental Health Network

September Publications

What Gets Shaken Out of Us?

It has been a full year since I joined the UUA Pacific Western Region staff. For many, it is the beginning of a new church year. Students are returning to the classrooms, and we prepare for the Earth to turn again and bring us autumn.

Recently, I came across a parable on social media. It told the story of someone carrying a cup of coffee when another person bumped into them, and they spilled the coffee. The storyteller then asked, “Why did this person spill coffee?” to which the other person replied, “Because that other person bumped into them.” The storyteller proceeded to say, “No, it was because they had coffee in their cup.” The point of the story is that when life shakes us, we spill that which we carry inside of us.

Because I honor the complexity of being human, I believe that it isn’t always one thing we carry in our cups, but many. However, I do believe that it is true that when life shakes us, we will spill out what we carry inside. This year has shaken us—individually and as communities—and many of us have been feeling the pull to act, to protect, to regain some sense of balance and hope while, at the same time, feeling the pain of the world and watching the dehumanization of entire communities. As the story pointed out, it may be worth taking some time to see what has been shaken out of us. What have we spilled into the world?

Now, we’re not asking ourselves this question so that we can shame ourselves if we find that we haven’t responded in the ways our best selves would have wanted. We ask ourselves to simply bring awareness. We get to fill our cups, too, and if we notice that we are not carrying what we want, then we can do something about it.

Your UUA Congregational Life Staff is often present when your communities are shaken. We are often moved by the resiliency, the leadership, and the creativity that spill out of your communities during difficult times. Besides being your companions, we are also part of your support system when you are searching for resources. We develop and make available to you materials that can help you and your communities fill your cups with knowledge and skills that can serve you well during sunny and stormy days.

I look forward to what this new church year will bring—the opportunities for connection, as well as the opportunities for learning and growth.

Wishing all of you a wonderful season ahead.

Let the Pacific Western Region staff assist with the annual tasks of getting new board members ready and developing skills for the whole board.

We’re offering two Core Trainings and four modules: your board members can pick and choose which ones suit your needs.

This participatory live webinar is designed with newer board members in mind, though all who serve on the boards of our Pacific Western Region UU congregations and covenanting communities are welcome. We will cover: What does it take to be an effective board member? What is the work of the board? How do we navigate shared leadership? How do we navigate confidentiality? What tools and frameworks can help us in our shared decision-making?

We’ll hold this program twice: on Saturday, September 20th and Saturday, September 27th. The content will be identical. It will be three hours in length. Start times: 2:00 pm MDT, 1:00 pm PDT and MST, 12:00 pm ADT, 10:00 am HST. Register here!

Core Training B: Being a Board in 2025
Everyone who serves on the board of a UU congregation or covenanting community in the Pacific Western Region is welcome to this participatory live webinar about issues facing our boards in 2025-2026. We’ll explore the challenges of leading in these volatile and uncertain times, and share frameworks from Adaptive Leadership and Emergent Strategy that can help boards lead with vision and purpose. We’ll share resources and ideas for responding to conflict, destructive behavior, and crises (both internal and external.) And we will lift up how the work of the board can be seen and experienced as community care.

We’ll hold this program twice: on Saturday October 4th and Saturday, October 18th. The content will be identical. It will be three hours in length. Start times: 2:00 pm MDT, 1:00 pm PDT and MST, 12:00 pm ADT, 10:00 am HST. Register here!

We’re still in the process of scheduling these, but we’ll offer shorter webinars for board members on these topics, which we’ve noticed are trending in our conversations with board presidents. Each will offer presentation and discussion of the board’s role in:

The schedule and registration for the modules will be announced later in September.

Questions? To learn more about the content, contact Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh. For registration and technical questions, contact Hara Madera.

The Pacific Western Region is happy to announce the start of the regional Chalice Lighters Program. Chalice Lighters provides grants to communities to help them cross a major threshold towards growth. In collaboration with PWR staff, a volunteer circle of members (from former districts in the PWR) have created a regional program to provide grants to UU communities within the region for growth, outreach, inclusion and accessibility.

We are writing to you for these reasons:

If you are a former Chalice Lighter or  interested in becoming one, please visit the newly opened website. The history of the program, donor and grant application, plus eligibility information can be found on the website at <a href=”https://u46390228.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.VXSxlCmx2vfGBekkIjTMHiJ-2BSbsbFk9l5fk8hG5vOx9jD59fbMEypOGb-2F0RKTwfkDNtzV7