The BCD Office has announced the Fall Conference program this week.  The 2010 Fall Conference will continue the examination started with the 2010 Spring Conference of the impact of the developing changes in demographics and religious interests on churches and congregations.  

The conference will open with a worship service led by the Rev. Catherine Cullen that will include a Keynote Sermon by Ms. Tandi Rogers, Pacific Northwest District Program Specialist.  In her address, Ms. Rogers will discuss the implication of cultural, ethnic and general trends developing in our country and then will look at bringing the theory of having multigenerational and multi-cultural Unitarian Universalist congregations to reality.

Following the open worship there will be a variety of workshops to further explore the conference theme, "UU Revolution: Becoming a Culturally Dynamic Religion," The workshops include:  a renewed look at racial justice with racial justice trainer Sha'an Mouliert; a discussion the potential and promise of young adults in congregation life with BCD Young Adult Ministry Consultant Jen Shattuck; a conversation about the future look of parish ministry with a panel of BCD parish ministers; an examination of the role of the family in faith formation with Tandi Rogers; and a presentation about growth using techniques lifted from mega churches and an expanded view of the uses of small group ministry with BCD Growth Consultant, Peter Bowden.

The conference will be held on October 30, 2010 at First Parish Church, Duxbury.  Registration and morning refreshments open at 8:30, the worship with keynote sermon begins at 9:00.

An announcement flier will be mailed to congregation offices and will be sent by email to congregation leaders by September 20.  Registration can be made on line at http://bcduuafall2010.eventbrite.com/ or by mailing in a registration form found on the back side of the conference flyer.

September 29            Congregations Count                                 

7:30 - 9:00 p.m.

A presentation with Linda Laskowski who will teach the importance of collecting and using visitor and new member numbers to gauge church growth. Tools for collecting and using numbers will be presented and explained. 

Registration: $10.00          http://bcduuagrowth2.eventbrite.com 

The BCD Small Church Conference, "Building a Vital Small Congregation", still has room for more congregations to participate.   The registration fee is $160 for a team of four.  Information has been sent to congregation offices and parish ministers.  Registration deadline is Tuesday, September 21.  Register on line at

After a year hiatus, the "Working Together Workshop", will be offered this Fall.  The Workshop will be held at First Parish Church, Cohasset, MA on October 19 from 9:30 to 3:00.  This workshop is designed to give new minister - religious educator teams the opportunity to establish a foundation for their working relationship. Presenters District Executive,Bill Zelazny and RE Consultant, Deer Sullivan will use a combination of presentations and paired team discussion periods to look at work styles, intra-organization communication, relationship expectations and planning.  Information will be sent to ministers and religious educators by September 23. 

Each year the UU Service Committee recognizes congregation that have made substantial financial contributions to the work of the Committee. Congregations honored for FY2009 are:

·         Creating Justice Banner Society -- congregations in which 25 to 49 percent of the membership are UUSC members.

§  Murray UU Church, Attleboro

§  All Souls Church, Braintree

§  First Parish Church UU, Bridgewater

§  First Parish Church, UU, Duxbury

§  Second Parish UU in Hingham

§  First Congregational Parish in Kingston

§  First Parish Church, Norwell

§  Federated Church of Orleans

§  First Parish in Plymouth

§  Unitarian Universalist Church of Weymouth

·         James Luther Adams Award  -- congregations that give from their budget at least $1 per church member.

§  First Parish Church, UU, Duxbury

§  First Parish Church, Norwell

·         The Helen Fogg Chalice Award  -- congregations who have made a contribution from their annual budget of at least $25 per church member.

§  Nauset Fellowship, Inc., Eastham

Rev. Terry Sweetzer, Vice President for Stewardship and Development, looking back at the UUA's and UUSC's involvement in Katrina recovery noted in and e-mail to the Association on the eve of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that Unitarian Universalists should be proud that congregation members and congregations raised more than $3.7 million dollars for UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief Fund.  A 30-minute video documentary called, "Rebuilding the Gulf Coast: A Unique Partnership between the UUA and UUSC  video is available for at http://www.uusc.org/gulfcoastvideo   for congregations to reflect on, talk about, and dive deeper into the many human-rights issues and themes that the film highlights.

At General Assembly 2010, delegates selected Immigration as a Moral Issue (

http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/issuesprocess/currentissues/152647.shtml) as the new congregational study action issue.  The UUA, in partnership with Beacon Press, has initiated a Unitarian Universalist "Common Read" as part of that study.  For a 2010-11 Common Read, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) offers Margaret Regan's The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories for the Arizona-MexicoBorderlands.  

(http://www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1270)

Find out more about how your congregation can participateat

Guest at Your Table materials are now available. However, the UUSC will not be mailing the planning booklets this year, but is making them available electronically for download from the UUSC website at

http://www.uusc.org/download_guest. Printed materials, including posters and boxes, are available for order. Congregations are urged to order materials early since it can take up to 4 weeks for them to arrive.  It is recommended that before an order is placed the project organizers read the planning booklet. Those without internet access can order materials by phone at 800-388-3920, X 666.

The suggested date for Guest at Your Table is November 21, 2010, but congregations may select the date that works best with their calendar. Email

UUs for Jewish Awareness is organizing a conference, with the theme Let Us Be Counted!, the first in over 20 years.  The theme is inspired by the Torah portion that coincides with the Shabbat of our gathering, Ki Tisa: Exodus 30:11-34:35: "Let us come together to count our selves,  

not to wait to be counted but to affirm our belonging together!"  The conference will be held on February 18 - 20, 2011 in Atlanta, GA. All UUs wishing to celebrate and explore their Jewish identity within Unitarian Universalism are welcome.

Registration is now open.  Go to www.uuja.org for information on program details and how to register. 

Each year the district publishes a roster of ministers and lay individuals who are available to provide sermons and perform rites of passage.  The roster will be sent during the week of September 20 to congregation offices and after October 1 will be available on the new district website under "Documents".