Our minister, the Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon, is the 2024 recipient of the Skinner Sermon Award from the Unitarian Universalist Association for her Oct. 20, 2024 sermon “How to Have an Enemy,” the UUA has announced. The announcement said the sermon was recognized “…for its powerful clarity, deep power analysis, and unwavering solidarity with … Continue reading Rev. Molly receives 2024 Skinner Sermon Award from UUA

Dear UU folks, Being in the Sanctuary last month, as 10 new folks committed to joining our congregation, felt invigorating! I kept thinking: Ooh, I can’t wait to get to know that person better . . . and that person . . . and that person. This most recent New Member Ingathering took place just … Continue reading New President Kim Wade looks forward to 2025-26

Dear UU Churchers, This summer, I am wishing you long days full of attention to the beauty of this world. This is not an encouragement to ignore its horrors, but rather to respond to them faithfully. Mary Oliver writes elsewhere that beauty makes us ache to be worthy of it. What better way to spend … Continue reading Minister’s July message

Faith-to-Action July recipient The Faith-to-Action recipient for July is Migrant and Immigrant Community Action (MICA). MICA is a group of remarkable immigration lawyers and other support staff who help migrants and immigrants who otherwise can’t afford the legal representation necessary by representing them pro bono or at very reduced cost. Our UUCC Guatemalan family is … Continue reading Social Action Team’s July report

Rev. Molly has announced that we will have another intern minister this coming year. Here is the text of her announcement: I am delighted to share that we will be serving as a teaching congregation once more for the 2025-2026 program year! In September we will be welcoming Monica Clark-Robinson to UUCC to complete the … Continue reading Monica Clark-Robinson will be our new intern minister

Ten new members joined UUCC during a New Member Ingathering Ceremony during worship on June 15, 2025. In alphabetical order, they are: Carmen Clearwater, Katie Guinn, Amy Hoffman, Maha Libdeh, Jeremiah Long, Kristen Long, Tim Madsen, Trana Madsen, Sam Schick, and Carol Snively. Many thanks to Kim Wade for taking the following group photo and … Continue reading Ten new members join UUCC

Finding Our Way Forward Team plans 3 activities in June-July Following up on our February “Empowered Resistance” workshop led by Jen Hofmann of Americans of Conscience, our Finding Our Way Forward (FOWF) Team is planning three activities centering on the book Social Change Now by Deepa Iyer: An online book study that began Sunday, June … Continue reading Social change activities planned in June-July

Summer R.E. requires summer volunteers! We especially need volunteers because Jamila is taking some much needed vacation this summer. If every parent of a child who will be joining us this summer signs up to volunteer one to two times, we should have plenty of volunteers this summer. And here is a little secret: It … Continue reading Summer R.E. volunteers needed

UUCC has new network name – “Unitarian Universalist Wifi.” The password is unchanged and can be found on the password-protected Church Wifi page. You may need to have your device forget the old network names so it does not try to automatically connect to them. If you experience any problems with the wifi, please email … Continue reading New wifi network name

“Sacred Songs in Sacred Spaces” is a weekly round of community song circles at the places we love, co-presented by Compass Inc. and UUCC. The song circles started May 21 and will continue weekly from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at various locations Wednesdays starting May 21 from 7 to 8:15 p.m. They will be led … Continue reading “Sacred Songs in Sacred Places”

With deep gratitude and admiration, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia honors the late Dr. Dorothy Watson for her generous and compassionate bequest to the church. We celebrate her legacy in our newly formed Water Bearer’s Society, which recognizes those who plan for the future of our congregation with a legacy or estate gift of … Continue reading Planned Giving Work Group lauds Dr. Dorothy Watson

The Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team (SIJT) is working on finding ways we can walk alongside our immigrant neighbors and friends. The Team is planning a bigger training event in order to educate all of us on ways we can be helpful and not cause further harm. The SIJT will also start holding some fundraising … Continue reading SIJT plans training event

The 2025 Annual Congregational Meeting was held in the Sanctuary and via Zoom after worship at noon on Sunday, May 18, 2025. Business conducted at the meeting: The proposed 2025-26 operating budget was approved. (To protect the privacy of staff members, the linked version of the budget omits individual payroll details. Upon email request to … Continue reading 2025-26 budget adopted, new board members elected

Members of our Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the following public statement regarding our commitments in these times at their March meeting. The statement was circulated by email to church members and friends on April 29 and was published the same day on the editorial page of The Columbia Missourian. View a video version of … Continue reading Our Board of Trustees issues public statement about our commitments in these times

The UUCC Social Action Team has opened nominations for Faith-to-Action collection recipients for September 2025 through August 2026. The team is requesting that nominations be submitted by July 1, 2025. If a full set of nominations has not been received by that time, the team will continue to consider nominations that come in later, but … Continue reading 2025-26 Faith-to-Action nominations now open

Forty UUs, including six from UUCC, gathered in Jefferson City on Wednesday, April 23, for the first-ever Missouri UU Advocacy Day. The group met at the Jefferson City UU Fellowship for relationship-building, training and lunch. After lunch they went to the Missouri State Capitol to talk with legislators about bodily autonomy, workers’ rights, and how … Continue reading 40 Missouri UUs attended first-ever Advocacy Day in Jeff City

Annual Giving Chair Christine Heath and Rev. Molly report that our stewardship campaign for the 2025-26 fiscal year was extremely successful. The total pledged exceeded the aggressive goal of a 9% increase over current year pledges, allowing us to increase our budget from $327,000 this year to more than $356,000 for the next fiscal year … Continue reading Stewardship campaign was a big success

Looking for a great summer experience? Join us at Bayside UU Family Camp held at Wesley Woods Conference Center on the shores of Geneva Lake in Williams Bay, WI. This year camp will take place July 6-12. This special week includes adult workshops, activities for children, free time for family fun and relaxation, and intergenerational … Continue reading Bayside UU Family Camp July 6-12

Have you met Hamamelis vernalis? …also known as Ozark Witch Hazel? Several of these woody shrubs live on our church grounds, one in front of the building and a few out back. Each year, they are the first of our native plants to bloom, even before spring arrives! On warmer winter days (January-March) they can … Continue reading Grounds Team introduces Hamamelis vernalis

Have you noticed our parking lot and the street filling up quickly on Sunday mornings as our attendance increases? We are able to park in the Shepard Elementary School lot across the street from the church. If you have been attending for some years and are able to, please park there to help welcome newcomers … Continue reading Please park at Shepard school if you can

Potlucks can be challenging and sometimes downright frustrating for those with food sensitivities and allergies. For many, checking a box indicating “gluten-free,” “vegan” or “nondairy” is not enough. For instance, one of our members is gluten-free but also sensitive to arrowroot and sorghum flour. Let’s support each other by completing an ingredient list for our … Continue reading Please provide complete ingredients list for potlucks

By the Rev. Dottie Mathews When Rosie and I moved to Columbia in 2015, we were thoroughly delighted to find this vibrant, committed faith community to join, and it has been my honor to serve as your Affiliated Community Minister for these eight and a half years. For those who may not know, that role … Continue reading Living Our Love for Our Trans and Gender Expansive Siblings

When you sell items on EBay or Facebook, you can now donate some or all of the proceeds to UUCC using the Paypal Giving Fund. You will need to select an option in EBay or Facebook to donate a percentage of sale proceeds to charity. When you do that, at the time you complete a … Continue reading Help UUCC when you sell on EBay or Facebook

The Planned Giving Work Group of the Stewardship Team has been busy this past year and has launched a renewed planned giving program at UUCC. During many past Founder’s Day celebrations, we have shared the story of how our founders hand-carried water to nourish the young trees on the site where they planned to build … Continue reading Water Bearers Society is launched

Thanks to everyone who put non-perishable food items in the barrel at the upstairs elevator doors over the last few months. Joan and I took 90 pounds to the Food Bank Market on Jan. 26. The need continues. Please, everyone, continue to feed our barrel, which helps feed our neighbors, and maybe some of us. … Continue reading Please feed our Food Barrel

Staff and volunteers successfully completed a CPR and AED course with the American Red Cross on Oct. 29, so we are feeling more prepared for any medical emergencies that may come our way. UUCC staff members have been working on creating a visible area for the supplies needed in these life-saving treatments. The photo at … Continue reading First Aid supplies now located in Sanctuary

In the past UUCC used a key system for exterior doors. We have now fully transitioned to an automatic lock system to make our church more secure. Each week, Church Administrator April Rodeghero will update the schedule so the exterior doors will unlock and lock for scheduled activities. Staff members, lay leaders and organizations that … Continue reading Lock system for exterior doors has changed

Dottie’s recognition certificate Click to enlarge During our Oct. 23, 2022 worship service, our Affiliated Community Minister, Rev. Dottie Mathews, was recognized for her past work as coordinator of the Congregational Accompaniment Project for Asylum Seekers (CAPAS), a program of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). As part of the recognition, it was announced that … Continue reading Rev. Dottie Mathews recognized for immigrant work

By the time you see this article, the backyard meadow at church is likely to have received its maintenance-mowing and may look like a blank space or a poor excuse for lawn. But, I hope you have seen, can imagine, or will see the wonderful plants that are still alive and well beneath the ground. … Continue reading Welcome to our meadow!

The Grounds Team would like to introduce you to some of our trees and invite you to share your love of our trees and woods on the UUCC Facebook page. Shingle Oak – Wood from this oak can be split into thin sheets, which used to be made into shingles. White Oak – These oaks … Continue reading We love our trees!

We are excited to announce that we have launched a new system giving our members and friends the ability to give to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia by: Text message from your smartphone, or Online This new system has been arranged through the Breeze Church Management System, our new church database. It replaces our … Continue reading Easy text and online donations now available

The UU Life Writers’ Group is pleased to announce the publication of its second anthology, Stories, Just Stories. The stories are mini-memoirs about family, growing up, social activism, romance and pets. A big section of poetry is included. The anthology also contains tributes to those writers no longer with us. Copies are $8 and can … Continue reading UU Life Writers’ Group publishes its second anthology

On Sunday, March 24, the Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry (AIM) Team presented the lay-led service, “Living Up to Radical Welcome,” and made a small change in the sanctuary while we were at it. As we’ve heard a number of questions about this change, we thought it was about time we shed some light on it. … Continue reading Fragrance sensitivity? We’ve got you (or at least your chair) covered!