October 30, 2009
Contents:

• Charter for Compassion
  
• Congregation in Concord Receives Gift from Transylvanian Partner Church
  
• Dr. Judit Gellérd Visits the UUA
  
• IARF Chapter Conference in January
  
• Church of the Larger Fellowship
  
• UUPCC Resources
  
• International Opportunities for UU Clergy
  
• General Assembly 2010
  
• ICUU Global Chalice Lighting Reading for October 2009
  
• Events
  
• Inspired Faith - Effective Action Blog
  
• International Resources Database
  

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is one among a diverse group of interfaith religious organizations that have partnered with the "Charter for Compassion" community. This collaborative effort seeks to be a witness to the centrality of compassion in all of the world's religions-and to help build a more "peaceful and harmonious global community" through that witness.

In November 2009 the finalized version of the Charter for Compassion will be "Launched" in a major event. Religious people from around the world are invited to join in this launch by sponsoring special events and activities. UU congregations are welcome to participate in any way that they choose.

Learn more about how your congregation can participate. Congregations are welcome use and/or adapt an example lesson plan as a religious education (RE) activity related to the Charter for Compassion Launch: the lesson plan details a one or two-day opportunity for religious education classes to learn about the "Charter for Compassion" and create a work of Art that expresses their understanding of "Compassion."

It came as a huge surprise during the September 20th Transylvanian Thanksgiving service at First Parish Church in Concord when Réka Gagyi, representing the Unitarian Church of Székelykeresztúr, presented Reverend Gary Smith with an accounting of a major contribution.

In the history of the Unitarian Universalism, this is one of only a few instances where an American church has been on the receiving end of such a financial gift from its Transylvanian partner. Continue Reading

On Tuesday October 27th, the UUA welcomed Dr. Judit Gellérd, founder and honorary president of the Unitarian Universalist partner church program, to lead the morning chapel service.

With a spirited and lively sermon, Judit explored "Transylvanian Unitarianism's Historic Dilemma," a timely reflection as the twentieth anniversary of the partnership movement approaches.

View a video of the sermon online!

Save the date!

"Reconciliation with the Earth, Each Other and the Stranger" is the theme for the U.S. Chapter Conference, which will be held in Clearwater, FL, January 14-17th, 2010. Rev. Bill Schulz and Rev. Paul Rasor are two of the speakers who will be presenting. The work of IARF around the world will be shared along with preparations for the Congress in India in September 2010. Additionally we will have Circle Groups and time for renewing friendships. Registration information is available online.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) is a UU congregation by mail, email, and internet, with over 3,000 members all over the world.

Groups and individuals alike are invited to join CLF, which offers a group membership to small congregations outside of the US and Canada, called CLF International.

CLF International offers a variety of resources, including:

• Sundays Online
  Hundreds of complete services with sermons by well-known Unitarian Universalist ministers available for use in worship.
• Religious Education Resources
  Designed by professional religious educators for multi-age religious education programs including CLiF Notes: A Monthly Curriculum for Families and Small Groups and KidTalk Web page: Monthly information and activities on everything from holidays around the world to spiritual practices and social justice projects.
• RE Connections
  Online resource with ideas for seasonal celebrations, informative articles, and games and activities for families and children.
• Between Sundays
  A website designed to help parents and other adults answer religious questions raised by children and youth.
• Quest Archive
  Online archive of the CLF's monthly worship publication, called Quest, which includes sermons, readings, meditations, and more.
• E-mail lists
  The CLF creates online communities, small cyber-groups, and online courses to help members stay in touch. Starting Small, an email list for small congregations led by experienced lay leaders.

Are you involved with a congregation or small group that:

• relies on lay-leaders?
• meets at least twice a month?
• seeks new ideas, energy and resources?

The CLF International program will help groups plan and present effective and meaningful worship services, offers easy-to-teach religious education programs and provides easy-to-prepare study programs to expand opportunities for adults to interact.

Learn more about CLF International program!

UUPCC is happy to announce two resource guides - a Romania Resource & Grant Guide for Partnered Churches and a Guide to India Government Programs to Enhance Community Infrastructure and Amenities.

To assist congregations in identifying potential sources of financial support for Transylvanian village/town projects, UUPCC has developed a Romania Resource & Grant Guide for Partnered Churches.

The descriptions of potential grant opportunities are provided in Hungarian and Romanian with a summary statement in English. The sample grant applications are in Romanian because government grant applications are required to be written in Romanian. If you are an American partner, these English summaries will give you a good sense of the kinds of projects that have received funding in the past.

The Guide to India Government Programs to Enhance Community Infrastructure and Amenities describes assistance available from national and state governments in India for water development, health, education, nutrition, roads, and related infrastructure. It also offers employment programs to pay community residents for work improving village infrastructure. These state and national government programs have direct relevance to the work our partner churches are doing in India and provide a means to move the partnerships beyond charity to significant and meaningful relationships to make a huge difference in the well-being of health, nutrition, livelihoods, and infrastructure in our partner communities.

Read more about these resource guides and learn about the UUPCC's Community Capacity Building program.

UUCP Sabbatical Program

Experienced UUA ministers are invited to consider applying to spend 3- 4 months of a sabbatical with the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines (UUCP), providing skill development in these and other areas:

• Nurturance of the UU faith through teaching and articulation of theological concepts.
• Youth and Young Adult Ministry
• Project development, management and community work.
• Church administration, leadership and financial management.

Successful applicants should expect to be engaged in this ministry for approximately 20-hours/week. Contexts will include worship services, traditional classes and less formal discussion groups. The unique skills that a successful applicant brings to this ministry will also be integrated.

The organizing and implementing body for this program will be the UU Church of the Philippines' Religious Education Committee. The UUCP will provide sabbatical program participants with housing and local transportation. Other expenses will be the responsibility of the applicant, with some assistance available from the UUA.

Read more about the UUCP Sabbatical Program and how to apply!

The 2010 General Assembly will convene June 23 - 27 in Minneapolis, MN. The GA Program Development Group is now accepting submissions for the following:

GA Program Proposals
Programmed Event Forms (for pre-approved programs)
Private Event Requests
Exhibitor Requests
Program Advertisement Requests

If you wish to propose a GA program to the GA Program Development Group (PDG), the deadline is November 16, 2009. The PDG will make program selections by December 15. If your program is selected, you will receive immediate notification.

For further questions, contact the General Assembly office at ga @ uua.org.

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists announces the 74th in its monthly series of global chalice lighting readings. Congregations worldwide are invited to participate.

All ICUU-affiliated groups have been asked to submit brief chalice lightings for the project. Every month, a reading will be distributed to Unitarian and Universalist congregations around the world. We ask each congregation to use the reading for at least one worship service in the designated month, identifying it as the "Global Chalice Lighting" for that month and naming the group which submitted it. Readings will be circulated in English and, where different, in their original language.

It is hoped that the ICUU Global Chalice Lighting Project will enhance the worship experience in our congregations and raise awareness of the international dimensions of our religious movement.

This Global Chalice Lighting is to be used during October 2009.

The light of life shines through the eyes of each and every person.

The light of truth shines through each life.

May the light of this chalice remind us that our search for truth and light is ongoing, and is enhanced and nurtured by every person we meet.
May we honor the light in each other.

Rev. Jill McAllister
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
www.uua.org

• December 3-9, 2009: Parliament of the World's Religions, Melborne, Australia
• January 14-17, 2010: IARF U.S. Chapter Conference, Clearwater, FL.
• March 5 -16, 2010: UUPCC Pilgrimage to the Philippines
• April 8-10, 2010: UU-UNO Intergenerational Spring Seminar, "A Climate of Change: Head, Heart, and Hands Around the Planet," New York City
• July 9-13, 2010: U-U Ministers Conference, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (details forthcoming at www.icuu.net)
• July 13-17, 2010: The Third ICUU International Theological Symposium, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (details forthcoming at www.icuu.net)

As part of the UUA's Advocacy and Witness Staff group, the International Resources office contributes to the Inspired Faith - Effective Action blog. Visit the blog for postings on a wide variety of issues. Or, subscribe to an rss feed of international-related posts.

The IRO maintains a database of the many varieties of international engagement that UU congregations are involved with. To date we have records from approximately 150 congregations in the database. Is your congregation one of them? If so, we'd love to update your entry. If not, we'd love to include information about your congregation's international engagement.

Contact Nicole McConvery to check/update your congregation's status in the database.