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• Newcomers “Getting to Know UU” retreat on Oct. 12 October 5, 2025
  The Membership Team will host its final “Getting to Know UU” Newcomers’ Retreat of the calendar year from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 12 in the sanctuary. Those wishing to learn more about the church and about Unitarian Universalism – with the possibility of becoming members during an Ingathering on Oct. 19 – will attend ...
• UUJME plans chili fundraiser Nov. 1 October 5, 2025
  On Saturday, Nov. 1 from 5 to 8 p.m. Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) will be having its annual fundraiser Chili Supper to help Palestinian children who are struggling with the effects of war, famine and loss. Everyone is welcome, including families with young children. The chili supper is free for everyone, ...
• Church leaders’ October messages October 5, 2025
  Kim Wade, 2025-2026 UUCC President Dear UU folks, Last week, while unpacking from our move across town, I pulled out a small grey stone with the word “slow” written on it in metallic purple ink. I dropped it. I picked it back up. I’d inked that word on that stone at least three (maybe four?) years ago ...
• Pastoral visitors team announced October 5, 2025
  We are delighted to share that a new team of pastoral visitors has been formed and trained by Rev. Molly to extend the pastoral reach of the congregation. This team will collaborate with the minister to offer emotional support, spiritual encouragement, and pastoral care in situations of transition and difficulty. It will also help maintain ...
• “Pen Pal” program with Fulton State Hospital October 5, 2025
  The LGBTQ Collective is piloting a pen pal program with patients at Fulton State Hospital and is in need of ally volunteers. Volunteers will receive one or two pen pals from the hospital’s LGBTQ group. Please email Rev. Molly if you are interested in being a pen pal to get connected with program organizers.
• October report from our Social Action Team October 5, 2025
  October Faith-to-Action recipient The October Faith-to-Action recipient for October 2025 is The Center Project. The Center Project is a primarily volunteer-run organization sustained by the generous donations of individuals and local organizations. It provides community resources to improve the well-being of LGBTQIA+ youth, parents and adults through inclusivity education, community outreach, and collaborative partnerships with other groups doing ...
• Sanctuary & Immigrant Justice Team October report October 5, 2025
  The Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team (SIJT) has gone through two trainings and is ready to accompany people to places they feel vulnerable due to their being immigrants or having an appearance of being an immigrant. These might be places with law enforcement presence like the courthouse or with government officials like the Motor Vehicle ...
• “Coming Back to Life” programs planned on Saturday mornings starting Nov. 1 September 26, 2025
  A collaborative program of UUCC and two other faith groups will offer a “Coming Back to Life” series of programs on Saturday mornings from November through March with a theme of “Empowerment in the Fact of Planetary Suffering.” UUCC members and friends are invited to share their care for the earth and engage in relational and ...
• Exploring mutual aid and radical neighboring September 24, 2025
  Thirty-six UUCC members and friends gathered to explore possibilities for radical neighboring and mutual aid following our worship service and Rev Molly’s sermon on “Mutual Aid, Labor and Faith: A History” on Sunday, August 31. Want to know what happened and how you might be part of next steps? If so, read on. Our theme that afternoon ...
• Chalice Circles signups now open September 7, 2025
  Need community? We’ve got you. Being in community might just be the most important thing we can do right now for ourselves and for each other. As a small-group ministry of our church, Chalice Circles are designed to build that community, foster connections between members, and provide opportunities to share your heart in a safe, brave space. These ...
• Care Team re-launches September 5, 2025
  The UUCC Care Team is being re-launched with new members and new focus. Are you interested in embracing radical neighboring? Please join the UUCC Care Team! The group has several areas we are focusing on: Meals: After a birth, surgery or illness, etc. Rides: To church, medical appointments, etc. Memorial Services: For UU Members Cards: Joys, Sorrows & Support Are you Interested ...
• “Wild Wonder” playground campaign announced September 5, 2025
  Wild Wonder Playground Campaign What: An accessible wooden tree deck surrounded by natural play materials to connect our kids with our grounds and each other in imaginative play. When: To be built this fall! Workdays have been scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Nov 1, 8, 15 and 22. Where: In the shade on the east side of ...
• Choir and Sacred Songs plans announced September 5, 2025
  Violet Vonder Haar, Director of Music Ministry, has announced choir and “Sacred Songs” plans. Choir: It’s time for another season of singing UU! The UUCC Choir will resume our weekly rehearsals this Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m. Members are invited to bring a dish for a potluck for our first rehearsal. We will eat together, ...
• Monthly worship theme workshops planned on 1st Fridays August 22, 2025
  Join us in the sanctuary from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday each month from September through May for Guidebook to the Garden, an all-ages workshop to engage the theme of the month with creative prompts. We’ll get started on Friday, Sept. 5. Participants will receive a blank book to fill up with inspiration ...
• New Philosophy Club will meet on 4th Sundays August 22, 2025
  Philosophy Club, led by Michael Davis and Ben Schulz, is a group for anyone interested in discussing a topic more deeply with others. No philosophical training is needed, all worldviews are welcome, and any member can submit a subject to be discussed from spirituality to sociology, psychology, ecology, science and anything else. The group will meet in ...
• UU minister Jordinn Nelson Long will do research at UUCC August 6, 2025
  Rev. Molly has announced that UU minister and cultural geographer Jordinn Nelson Long will be visiting with us during the 2025-2026 church year to support her research on thriving progressive faith communities. Jordinn will be with us for most of September and from January to mid-March. She will be embedding herself in the congregation, meeting many ...
• Rev. Molly receives 2024 Skinner Sermon Award from UUA July 6, 2025
  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 vulnerable ...
• Monica Clark-Robinson will be our new intern minister June 28, 2025
  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 second ...
• Ten new members join UUCC June 15, 2025
  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 ...
• Planned Giving Work Group lauds Dr. Dorothy Watson June 1, 2025
  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 ...
• Our Board of Trustees issues public statement about our commitments in these times April 29, 2025
  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 ...
• 40 Missouri UUs attended first-ever Advocacy Day in Jeff City April 27, 2025
  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 maybe ...
• Stewardship campaign was a big success March 23, 2025
  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 ...
• Grounds Team introduces Hamamelis vernalis February 1, 2025
  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 ...
• Please park at Shepard school if you can January 3, 2025
  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 with ...
• Please provide complete ingredients list for potlucks January 3, 2025
  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 food ...
• Living Our Love for Our Trans and Gender Expansive Siblings July 7, 2024
  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 simply ...
• Help UUCC when you sell on EBay or Facebook February 23, 2024
  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 sale ...
• Water Bearers Society is launched February 4, 2024
  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 our ...
• Please feed our Food Barrel February 4, 2024
  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. Steve Mudrick Social ...
• First Aid supplies now located in Sanctuary December 2, 2023
  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 right ...
• Lock system for exterior doors has changed June 30, 2023
  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 rent ...
• Rev. Dottie Mathews recognized for immigrant work November 6, 2022
  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 the UUSC has ...
• Welcome to our meadow! October 29, 2022
  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. There ...
• We love our trees! November 28, 2021
  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 can live ...
• Easy text and online donations now available September 26, 2021
  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 previous Paypal portal, ...
• UU Life Writers’ Group publishes its second anthology February 28, 2021
  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 be ...
• Fragrance sensitivity? We’ve got you (or at least your chair) covered! May 26, 2019
  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. If ...