United Church of Christ

OWL Taking Flight: Teen Sexual Assault Prevention with SafeBAE
2025-04-02 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Join us for a conversation with Shael Norris, Founding Executive Director of SafeBAE, the only US national survivor-founded, youth-led organization working to prevent sexual violence among teens.

Love of Children Partner Event - The Meaningful Inclusion of Children in Worship: Theology and Practice
2025-04-02 12:00 - 13:30
Corporate worship is the work and the joy of the people of God, and when the body of Christ gathers, we are incomplete without the active presence and meaningful participation of children and youth. What can this engagement look like (feel like, sound like, smell like, taste like) in liturgy, and why does it matter to the formation of people of all ages? Canon Wendy Claire Barrie will lead this webinar exploring the theological whys and practical hows of incorporating children and youth into congregational worship.

2025 Climate Hope Art Contest Ceremony
2025-04-05 13:00 - 14:00
Join us as we celebrate the art of our 2025 finalists for the UCC’s Climate Hope Art Contest for children and youth. The theme this year was “Planting Seeds of Hope.” UCC children and youth are invited to draw, paint, or color works of art that bring this theme to life. In the ceremony, we will see the art of all our finalists. We will have winners for different age groups and an overall winner who will receive an all-expense paid trip to visit Washington, DC with a parent or guardian. The winner will advocate with the offices of their congress members, tour the Capitol, and learn how they can bring their faith values to life in the halls of power. The winning art will additionally serve as the logo for UCC Climate Hope advocacy work throughout 2025.

Into the Deep: The 5-Ws of Synod Resolutions
2025-04-07 15:30 - 16:30
Every two years, General Synod brings together faithful members of the United Church of Christ for inspirational worship, fellowship with friends (old and new), and public witness including through engagement with the business of the church. In July 2025, we are excited to welcome thousands from across the country for General Synod 35 in Kansas City, Missouri – and Nurture the Soul is helping to get you there by introducing a 4-part series that goes deep into General Synod and why we hope to see you all there.
Part 2 – During the 5-Ws of Synod Resolutions, we’ll hear from representatives that will help us better understand: the role of Resolutions from the perspective of our D.C. offices; what they mean for our local congregations; the Resolution process; and stories from those who’ve written Resolutions and those who’ve acted in the role of Committee Chair. We’ll also be introduced to the Resolutions that will be presented this summer.

Into the Deep: Womxn 2 Womxn Series Part I
2025-04-08 15:30 - 16:30
Join us for an intimate workshop and learning community space for womxn as we journey toward Synod together! We’ll grow together and share communal space in an open-meeting format. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to build community and gather.
Rev. Jes Kast and Tehilah Eisentadt will join us to offer wisdom and connection around being a womxn, loving God and neighbor well.
The Rev. Jes Kast is a progressive minister, constructive theologian, and gardener. Raised in Michigan, Jes took her second call to ministry in New York City. After the 2016 election, she longed to share healing and desired a slower way of life. Those passions, among many others led her to taking a call as the settled pastor at Faith UCC in State College, Pennsylvania where she now resides with her wife, Dr. Jessy, and together they have two cats and puppy named Charlie.
Tehilah Eisenstadt is an educator, activist, rabbinical school student. Her focus is on deepening the emotional resonance of educational experiences, creating interfaith relationships designed for creating a more empathetic world, enriching leadership pipelines through staff mentorship in Jewish organizations throughout the US, raising up silenced voices, and enabling Jews who felt they didn’t belong to connect with Jewish community. In 2023, she launched Wonder and Repair, through which she develops approaches to community-building and care that incorporate best practices in trauma-informed education and ritual. Tehilah is enrolled full-time at Academy for Jewish Religion, a trans denominational rabbinical school. She is also a full-time member of East End Temple’s leadership in NYC. Prior to this,Tehilah spent 15 years serving as Director of Education in synagogues, day schools, and JCCs across the denominational spectrum throughout New York City’s five boroughs. She has been honored to consult for Clal (national Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), Charlie’s Colorform City (Netflix) and Cordoba House – Muslim Sunday School. Tehilah spent 11 years organizing Bring Back Our Girls NY (which officially joined global BBOG efforts in 2020) and 12 years as a non-denominational Mikva guide with ImmerseNYC for women and non-binary folx.

Transformative Faith in Toxic Times
2025-04-09 13:00 - 14:00
Too often, our theology of God’s power has been shaped by images of dominion and control, mirroring human systems of exploitation and extraction. But Scripture reveals a different kind of power—one that flows through relationships, nurtures life, and brings healing to both people and planet. Creation Justice Ministries has released a new resource in time for Earth Sunday that explores life-giving theologies in conversation with those leading at the grassroots of a faith-rooted movement. In this webinar, Derrick Weston of Creation Justice Ministries will introduce the new resource entitled “The Power of God: From Extractive Theology to Transformative Faith.” The Rev. Shawn Anglim of First Grace United Methodist Church in New Orleans will share about the transformative work of a local coalition that created a solar-powered microgrid across the city to serve as backup energy for storm-ravaged communities. Allen Johnson from Christians for the Mountains will talk about the power of faithful advocates in relation to the struggle to stop mountaintop removal for coal extraction.
Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it.
This monthly installment of Creation Justice Webinars is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt who serves as the Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Michael Malcom who serves as the Executive Director for Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.

Interfaith Comprehensive Faith-Based Sexuality Education Partnerships: Our Whole Lives in the Global South
2025-04-10 12:00 - 13:30
Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education has been a partnership between the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association for over 25 years. Because faith components are available to integrate with sexuality education material, Our Whole Lives offers a unique opportunity to bridge faith and sexuality education through dismantling shame and stigma and embracing relationship, community, and empowerment.
Over the past eight years, various international faith groups have requested training and materials in order to share the Our Whole Lives approach in their communities. Through creative relationships with the Church of Sweden, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, INERELA (https://inerela.org), the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines, Our Whole Lives trainers have provided several trainings and pilot projects that have enabled interfaith groups to engage in transformative experiential learning and to integrate the learning in a wide range of local and regional contexts.
This event will include panelists who have participated in some of these events who will share the international impact of these trainings and materials.

Into the Deep - Accessibility, Safety, and Welcoming Spaces
2025-04-14 15:30 - 16:30
Every two years, General Synod brings together faithful members of the United Church of Christ for inspirational worship, fellowship with friends (old and new), and public witness including through engagement with the business of the church. In July 2025, we are excited to welcome thousands from across the country for General Synod 35 in Kansas City, Missouri – and Nurture the Soul is helping to get you there by introducing a 4-part series that goes deep into General Synod and why we hope to see you all there.
Part 3 – Join us for these Special Offerings, “Into the Deep” as we explore how we are planning to support the deepening and strengthening of relationships along with connections to one other, with our ecumenical, global and interfaith partners, and with God during General Synod 35.
During this webinar, we’ll hear from leaders on how we plan an accessible, safe, and welcoming Synod. We’ll learn more about how we create brave space through networking and communal opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community and moments of intentional intimate connections for women within the wider church and those seeking ways to be in community through a justice action lens; how we’ve created several places where children (birth through 12) and youth (rising 6th graders through recent high school graduates) to have their own unique faith formation experiences while also taking in the lessons of the wider church; and, the ways we’re living into our commitments to be Accessible-to-All (A2A) and WISE (Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged) for mental health that include a Community Care Space as well as an Access Team available to support access needs.

And They Shall Be Consoled: Connecting Eco-grief and Maundy Thursday
2025-04-17 15:30 - 16:30
The grief we feel toward melting ice, heating cities, and dying species is woven throughout the activities of daily life. This Maundy Thursday, join interfaith Rev. Lauren Van Ham as we learn about eco-grief and consider how our ministries can be strengthened through our honest acts of lament and care for the living system on which we all depend.

Collaborative Change through Grief and Lament
2025-04-24 15:30 - 16:30
We often recognize our grief and display our lament the more we learn about anthropogenic climate change but what do we do with this ecological grief and lament? How do we move through our grief and lament in order to build systems of collaborative change? Join Gabrielle Fields to learn about harnessing the power of collaboration and compassionate meaning making of ecological grief and lament.

Annual UCC Earth Summit
2025-04-26 14:00 - 17:00
For this year’s summit, the Jim Antal Keynote Lecture will be delivered by Katharine Hayhoe, one of the world’s leading climate scientists and the author of popular books such as Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World and A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions. Through television appearances on PBS and Showtime as well as her widely viewed TED Talks, Hayhoe has reached a broad audience with a compelling perspective on science, climate, and faith.
This two-and half-hour summit will additionally feature a panel discussion entitled “Climate Justice in a Toxic World.” Three grassroots leaders in the struggle against environmental racism in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will speak on this panel: Dr. Marsha Jackson from Southern Sector Rising, Caleb Roberts from Downwinders at Risk, and Emmanual Davis from Justice for Joppa.
The summit will also feature the announcement of the Dollie Burwell Prophetic Action Award winner and a celebration of the UCC’s newest Creation Justice Churches.
Cohosts for summit include the National Setting of the United Church of Christ, the UCC Council for Climate Justice, the South Central Conference of the UCC, and First Congregational United Church of Christ in Fort Worth, Texas.
Sponsors include United Church Funds and the Cornerstone Fund.

Special Offering: Into the Deep - Braiding Worship and Beyond
2025-04-28 15:30 - 16:30
Every two years, General Synod brings together faithful members of the United Church of Christ for inspirational worship, fellowship with friends (old and new), and public witness including through engagement with the business of the church. In July 2025, we are excited to welcome thousands from across the country for General Synod 35 in Kansas City, Missouri – and Nurture the Soul is helping to get you there by introducing a 4-part series that goes deep into General Synod and why we hope to see you all there.
Part 4 – Join us to learn more about worship and celebration at this year’s GS35 – we’ll hear from staff working on our shared time together and hear personal accounts of why this time is so very special.

OWL Taking Flight: Under Your Wing for Parents of 4th-6th Graders
2025-05-07 12:00 - 13:00
Rev Amy Johnson and Kirsten deFur will discuss a new free resource: Under Your Wing videos for parents and caregivers of children in 4th-6th grades.

Our Faith and Sensitive Locations - What Faith Communities Are Doing
2025-05-08 15:30 - 16:30
The Center on Faith and Justice along with the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law organized a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of more than two dozen religious groups in response to the current administration’s policy allowing immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at “sensitive locations,” including houses of worship. Join us to learn more about what the lawsuit is, what our own congregations and communities can do to support our siblings migrating, and dream of what’s next collectively.

What's Next, Theatre for Change: Use What You've Got!
2025-05-12 15:30 - 16:30
This series began prior to the 2024 election cycle and is designed to help educate us around the big questions of our faith. This special offering is curated to push back on the political ideology and divide that has become this nation’s “religion”. To live into the Still Speaking G-d, we are the embodiment of who and what we are called to be to one another – whether it be spiritually, culturally, and lovingly during a time when we are being pulled apart at the seams. Part of this embodiment is examining the ways that art speaks and moves us towards expression and collectiveness.
In this session, Rev. Dr. McGilvery shares insights from their recent work using theatre to amplify unheard voices, advocate for justice, and bring overlooked stories to the stage. We’ll explore how even the smallest resources—when used intentionally—can spark meaningful change in communities. Whether you’re an artist, educator, or activist, you’ll be inspired to use what you have to create an impact where you are.

Into the Deep: Womxn 2 Womxn Series Part II
2025-05-13 15:30 - 16:30
Join us for an intimate workshop and learning community space for womxn as we journey toward Synod together! We’ll grow together and share communal space in an open-meeting format. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to build community and gather.

A Relentless Struggle for Justice
2025-05-14 13:00 - 14:00
The story of Charles Lee’s involvement and leadership in the struggle for environmental justice intersects with many of the most pivotal events in the movement’s history: the Warren Country protests that gave birth to a movement, the publication of “Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States” that became a landmark report, the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit that issued the groundbreaking “Principles of Environmental Justice,” and the establishment of environmental justice as a core part of the EPA’s mission. On March 31st, Charles Lee retired as the Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice for the EPA after working there for more than two decades. In this webinar, Lee will reflect back on his distinguished career.
Even if you cannot make the webinar at its scheduled time, still sign-up, and we will send you a link to a recording of it.
This monthly installment of Creation Justice Webinars is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt who serves as the Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Michael Malcom who serves as the Executive Director for Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.

Theology, Polity, or Policy - How Do We Move Forward on Immigration in Small Town and Rural Communities
2025-05-15 15:30 - 16:30
Join us to hear from Pastors and Leaders within 3-different geographic small town and rural settings within the UCC to explore immigration during this complicated political and theological time. During our shared time together, we’ll hear more about how current immigration policies are impacting these small and rural settings, what our scriptures call us to be to one another, and how our UCC polity can inform our work to push back on the hateful rhetoric and policies that seeks to strip the dignity and humanity of those migrating to the United States.

For Consideration at General Synod 35: Proposed Amendments to the UCC Constitution & Bylaws
2025-05-20 12:00 - 13:00, 2025-06-03 17:30 - 19:00
This Webinar is being hosted by the UCCB to engage with the wider church about the proposed Amendments to the UCC Constitution and ByLaws. The three sets of amendments will be voted on at General Synod 35. Come to learn more and ask questions!

OWL Taking Flight: What Fresh Hell is This? The Impact of Identity Erasure
2025-06-04 12:00 - 13:00
Heather Corinna, founder of Scarleteen.com, joins Rev. Amy Johnson and Dr. Melanie Davis to discuss the impact of policies, laws, and executive orders on the lives of trans/intersex/nonbinary/queer people of all ages. Scarleteen is the largest online resource for comprehensive and highly inclusive sex and relationships education, information and support centering young people.

Lessons, Stories, and Theologies of Small Town and Rural (STAR) Churches in 2025
2025-06-05 15:30 - 16:30
We are joined by a number of Small Town and Rural (STAR) faith and lay leaders for an important conversation to learn about the lessons that all of our faith communities face today. We’ll hear personal accounts of their journeys and how scripture and theology guide them towards framing the future of our churches and our faith.

Into the Deep: Womxn 2 Womxn Series Part III
2025-06-10 15:30 - 16:30

National Faith Mobilization for Sun Day on September 21st
2025-06-11 13:00 - 14:00
On September 21st, the UCC will hold a denomination-wide Climate Hope Sunday. This will be a day of worship and action. Liturgical resources will be provided along with advocacy cards directed at Members of Congress. The advocacy cards will feature the winning art from this year’s Climate Hope Art Contest, and they will allow members a chance to let their congress members know about their desire for robust policies to address the climate crisis. Climate Hope Sunday will coincide with a national day of action being spearheaded by Bill McKibben, Jim Antal, and others as they celebrate “Sun-Day” and draw attention to the renewable energy that can power our future. Our theme will be “Bringing Climate Hope to Sun-Day.” At this launch, we will share about the plans for this event and how the process of ordering advocacy cards will work.

A Little One Shall Lead - A Small Church Story Project
2025-06-12 15:30 - 16:30
In this webinar, we’ll hear stories about how the wider church and congregations can discover opportunity in their smallness. The stories highlight how to create spirited worship, highly engaged prayer practices, and an invitation to live into a committed and generous responses to suffering in the communities where they are located. These compelling stories from 17-small UCC congregations can offer perspective on how denominations may relate with small congregations in fresh ways, and how seminaries, through inclusion of small church studies and field experiences, may enrich clergy education.

Into the Deep: Banned Books Service Project
2025-06-23 15:30 - 16:30
Join us to learn more about our General Synod service project this year focusing on creating Banned Book libraries in Kanas City and across our wider Church! We’ll dive deeper into why banned book libraries matter, how to participate in this year’s service project and how to create a banned book library in your congregation.

Service of Appreciation for Federal Environmental Justice Staff and Grantees
2025-07-23 13:00 - 14:00
For communities around the country, environmental justice staff at the EPA and other federal agencies along with grantee organizations embody many of the most cherished and important values held in our society. They protect our health and our environment. They serve as public servants deeply concerned about the wellbeing of others, especially the most vulnerable.
As one of the bodies that helped launch the Environmental Justice movement in the United States, the United Church of Christ (UCC) is committed to honoring these public servants in a time of uncertainty about the future of federal environmental justice programs.
In this service, we will honor those working on environmental justice with gratitude. We will gather together in strength, comfort, and solidarity as we renew our collective resilience as an ongoing movement.
Selected environmental justice staff will provide messages, along with environmental justice pioneers including:

Charles Lee, retired Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice at EPA
Richard Moore, former Co-Chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Dollie Burwell, leader of Warren County, North Carolina protests
Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Jr., former director of United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice

The service will be led by the Rev. Terry Yasuko Ogawa, Area Conference Minister, SNEUCC and former UCC Dr. Charles E. Cobb Environmental Justice Resident.
If you are unable to make the service at the scheduled time, a link to the recording will be sent to all those who register.
(This service will take the place of the monthly Creation Justice Webinar hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt, Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ, and the Rev. Michael Malcom, Executive Director for the People’s Justice Council and Alabama Interfaith Power & Light.)

The Future of Faith - Perspectives from Young Leaders in Diverse Religions and Countries
2025-07-31 12:00 - 13:00
In a world marked by fragmentation and fear, young people of faith are not retreating—they are rising. They are drawing on sacred teachings to respond with courage, creativity, and compassion, becoming bridge-builders in divided societies. Through dialogue and mutual learning, we will highlight how interreligious solidarity can be a powerful force for healing, justice, and hope. Join two dynamic multi-faith young leaders to learn how young people are deepening or returning to their faith in response to the profound challenges of our time. This program is an invitation to envision a future where diverse faith traditions collaborate to cultivate collective dignity, love, kindness, and respect, building a better world for all of G-d’s (Allah’s) creation.
Nurture the Soul’s Future of Faith: So many of us are living in the most divided times we’ve known collectively. Between fascism, genocide, war, famine, environmental collapse, and uncertainty about our relationships and what we are called to be in such a time – we find ourselves deepening or returning to our faith. This series is curated to help us learn from the thought leaders who are exploring these themes and is an invitation to come into a dreaming space where all of G-d’s creation can be cared for – a space where we can know that collective dignity, love, kindness, and respect is honored and how our different perspectives of faith can build up a better world!

Revitalizing Labor Sunday – Liturgy and Solidarity
2025-08-07 15:30 - 16:30
The affordability of meeting our basic human needs is beyond comfortable reach for more people than ever. Wages, salaries, and worker protections are suppressed. How can churches help meet the needs within their congregations, their communities, and our country? The United Church of Christ is revitalizing Labor Sunday as an inflection point for specifically naming the unjust causes of our current struggles, and the power we have within and without our sanctuaries to manifest real change that helps everyone thrive. Join a conversation with UCC Minister for Economic Justice Rev. Seth Wispelwey on “liturgies for labor” and organizing for worker justice where you are.

Strategies That Meet the Moment
2025-08-13 13:00 - 14:00
During a time in which it is commonplace to read news articles and opinions that speak of the Trump administration taking us into “uncharted territory,” what strategies and tactics make the most sense for those seeking climate justice? In wrestling with such questions, we can learn from past struggles as well as cleareyed assessments of the present while charting a path forward. With research into effective communication and tactics along with case studies of those engaged in the practice of seeking change, staff from the Climate Advocacy Lab will provide us with a wealth of insights to enable each of us to become better equipped as advocates. Our featured speakers will be KyungSun Lee, Justin Rolfe-Redding, and Maliyah Womack.
Even if you cannot make the live event, still register, and we will send you a recording.
This monthly installment of Creation Justice Webinars is co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt who serves as the Minister of Environmental Justice for the United Church of Christ and the Rev. Michael Malcom who serves as the Executive Director for Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People’s Justice Council.
