BCD In-Brief News and Announcements 
December 2013, Volume 7, No. 5
In This Issue
Holiday Wishes
Workshop about Membership
Regional Winter Workshops
Keep Informed about GA 2014 in Providence
Carbon-Fund Tree Planting Project
Crowdsourcing Platforms
Christmas Gifts from the UUA Bookstore
Interweave Newsletter
Meditation Manual - Morning Watch
Calendar
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Holiday Wishes

As the holiday season begins we send you greetings and our wish for you to have tranquility, happiness and good cheer.  May we all in 2014 find strength to overcome obstacles, have insight to be wise in our decisions, discover fulfillment in all that we do, and live in delight of the wonders of creation.

The Board and Staff

of the Ballou Channing District

 

Workshop about Membership

 


                      

 

"Let's Talk About Membership"is a half-day workshop that will give participants an opportunity to hear from representatives of congregations that have track records of successful membership work, analyze adaptive issues a congregation faces when working to increase membership, and share ideas and approaches to congregation membership initiatives. 

 

January 25, 2014

            9:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon Second Parish Church in                     Hingham

 

685 Main Street, Hingham, MA

www.secondparish.org

            Registration - NO FEE, but need to reserve a space. 

                                    Sign-up at       

Regional Winter Workshops

 

  • Growing Better Religion

 A half day summit that will explore individual and institutional roles in growing better religion in our Unitarian Universalist context.  The Rev. Tandi Rogers, UUA Growth Strategies Specialist, will facilitate conversations about Unitarian Universalist identity in New England and the role of Unitarian Universalism in the public square throughout history and in the present. Information at http://www.cbd-mbd-uua.org/drupal/content/growing-better-religion

 

Saturday, January 11, 2013                         8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

UU Church of Worcester         

http://uucworcester.org

Registration:  $50        Deadline - January 6, 2014

https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e8hl6eala3e11501&oseq=&c=&ch=

 

  • Unitarian Universalist Spirituality: A Wellspring for Lay Leaders and Religious Professionals

A sustained, daylong experience to explore your own Unitarian Universalist spirituality. The Rev. Jen Crow, Minister of Program Life at the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis,offers retreat-style practices of UU adult spiritual development. Participants will walk away with some basic tools for providing a similar program in their own community. But more importantly, the emphasis of the day is on simply the enriching experience of claiming, re-imagining, and practicing the living tradition of one's own Unitarian Universalist spirituality.

 

Lay Leaders

Saturday, February 1, 2014                         9:30am - 5:00pm

First Parish of Sudbury

http://fpsudbury.org/

Registration:  $75        Deadline - January 27, 2014 or capacity

https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e8e8mbwdf4783cd8&oseq=&c=&ch=

 

Religious Professionals

Friday, January 31, 2014                             9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. 

Harvard (MA) Unitarian Universalist Church

 http://www.uuharvard.org/Home.aspx  

Information at http://www.cbd-mbd-uua.org/drupal/content/unitarian-universalist-spirituality-wellspring-religious-professionals

 

Keep Informed about GA 2014 in Providence

 

TheGA Blast is an electronic newsletter published and distributed monthly by the BCD Office to provide up-to-date information about the Providence General Assembly, June 25-29, 2014.  Contact the BCD office at BallouChanning@verizon.net to have your name placed on the e-mail distribution roster. 

 

Carbon-Fund Tree Planting Project

Carbonfund.org, the UUA's partner for offsetting carbon at General Assembly, is set to launch a very ambitious tree-planting campaign, coupled with a dining rewards program. The campaign is simple:

Participants go to https://www.carbonfund.org/plant-trees-dine-free and select from among the three options and get an eGift Card from http://Restaurant.com 

* Plant 50 Trees for $50 - Receive a $100 Restaurant.com* eGift Card

* Plant 75 Trees for $75 - Receive a $200 Restaurant.com eGift Card

* Plant 100 Trees for $100 - Receive a

$500

Restaurant.com eGift Card 

 

Carbonfund.org was founded by Unitarian Universalist, Eric Carlson.

Crowdsourcing Platforms

Interested in experimenting with Crowdsourcing as a fundraiser, but confused by the ever growing number of platforms? Here is an excellent blog post that will help you determine which platform is right for your congregation or  organization: 

http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/b/tsblog/archive/2013/09/03/which-crowdfunding-platform-is-best-for-your-organization.aspx    You need to take into consideration the scope of your project, the risk factor (some platforms require that you meet your goal or you get none of the funds raised), any fees involved, and the track record of success for any given platform. For an example of a UU fund on a crowdsourcing platform, see: http://cbd-mbd-uua.org/drupal/faithful-risk-fund.

 

Christmas Gifts from the UUA Bookstore

Looking for a unique book to give this Christmas?  Check out the offering at the UUA Bookstore, such as:

  • Where Two Worlds Touch While caring for her mother, who is living with Alzheimer's disease, author Jade Angelica's learned a lot about grief, the nature of selfhood, and the unexpected gifts of Alzheimer's disease. She also found a purpose and embarked on her life's work-to teach that people with Alzheimer's can have relationships, meaningful lives, joy, and growth. Where Two Worlds Touch is both a spiritual memoir and a pastoral guide for those who love someone with Alzheimer's.
  •  "Thou, Dear God"  ": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits. A collection of sixty-eight prayers by Martin Luther King, Jr. Arranged thematically in six parts--with prayers for spiritual guidance, special occasions, times of adversity, times of trial, uncertain times, and social justice--         
  • American Plastic: Boob Jobs, Credit Cards, and Our Quest for Perfection Sociologist Laurie Essig traces the history of plastic surgery, tracks the effect of fashion and porn on our desire to "fix" ourselves, and explores our image- and youth-obsessed culture.

 

Check out the selection at www.uua.org/bookstore

 

Interweave Newsletter

The current Interweave newsletter has articles about: Interweave Continental Board meeting in Boston, Interweave Continental Needs Assessment Reveals All, Employment Nondiscrimination Act, and Remembering Transgender Day of Remembrance. For this issue and archived issues go to: http://interweavecontinental.ning.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=144&Itemid=157 

 

Meditation Manual - Morning Watch

Skinner House Books, a Unitarian Universalist publishing house continues its series of classic meditation manual reissues with Morning Watch by Barbara Pescan. This popular title from 1999 is available again in print and eBook editions at
Calendar

Dec 24-Jan 1 BCD Office closed for holidays

 

Jan 11             BCD Board of Directors Winter Retreat

                        Unitarian Church of Sharon, Sharon, MA

Jan 11             Growing Better Religion@                                      8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
                        UU Church of Worcester, MA

 

[a Clara Barton-Mass Bay Districts workshop]                                 

Jan 25             Let's Talk About Membership@                             9:30 a.m.-12:00 noon                               Second Parish Church, Hingham

 

Jan 31             Unitarian Universalist Spirituality: A Wellspring for Religious                                              Professionals@

Harvard (MA) Unitarian Universalist Church         9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

[a Clara Barton-Mass Bay Districts workshop]                                 

 

Feb 1              Unitarian Universalist Spirituality: A Wellspring for Lay Leaders@

First Parish of Sudbury, MA

[a Clara Barton-Mass Bay Districts workshop]                                 

Mar 8              BCD/New England Music Conferenc                      9:00 a.m.-3:00pm                                    Murray UU Church, Attleboro, MA

 

Mar 14-16      Allies for Racial Equity 2014 Conference

Rocky River, OH

Apr 2-5           UU-United Nations Office Intergenerational Spring Seminar

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

New York City, NY

Apr 6              Rev. Pamela Barz, Scituate Minister, Installation@   3:00 pm                                               First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, Scituate, MA

 

May 3                         BCD   Spring Conference and Annual Meeting

First Universalist Society of Franklin

Jun 25-29       General Assembly

Providence, RI

 # Change of information from last BCD in Brief 

@New from last BCD in Brief