Church News
What’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreDesert Garden United Church of Christ announces their 2026 Sawitski Memorial Lecture Keynote Speaker: Rev. Cameron Trimble!
November 9, 2026, 10 am Arizona time / 11 am New Mexico & El Paso time
Rev. Cameron Trimble is a UCC pastor, certified futurist, professor, and transformational leader who works at the intersection of faith, systems thinking, global justice, and religious innovation. As CEO of Convergence and Chair of Stop the Traffik USA, she helps congregations, organizations, and communities anticipate change, develop new strategies, and create more just and compassionate futures. Her work is grounded in the conviction that we are not simply here to predict the future, but to participate in transforming it. Her Piloting Faith: An Almost Daily Devotional by email or on Substack are moving Christians into action.
Desert Garden urges you to attend onsite, but a Zoom link can be provided. Rev. Trimble will join by Zoom. We hope you will share in this very special day.
Read MoreFrom Dax Franklin-Hicks, Pastor:
Greetings, beloved Southwest Conference! My name is Dax Franklin-Hicks, and I use he/him pronouns. I am a Member in Discernment in the Southwest Conference since September of 2025. This August, I began serving as Student Pastor at Church of the Painted Hills (CPH) as part of my Supervised Ministry through Pathways Theological Education. I have entered a congregation marked by generosity, creativity, and a gracious sense of welcome - not only for the people of God, but for the formative work we will share.
Click through to keep reading Dax’s note and also a note from Moderator Nancy Traviolia
Read MoreConference Minister Dr. Toni Hawkins and Associate Conference Minister Dr. Derrick Elliott participated in the installation of Pastor Kejner R. Alfred as Pastor and Teacher of the Tucson Marshallese Ministry of the United Church of Christ, hosted at Rincon Congregational United Church of Christ!
Deep gratitude to Rev. Louis Mitchell, Pastor of Rincon Congregational UCC and COM-A Co-Chair, for his leadership and hospitality, and to Rev. Dr. Derrick Elliott for bringing the powerful installation sermon, “Yokwe and Amen.”
What a sacred and joyful celebration of covenant, calling, culture, and community!
Glory to God! May God richly bless Pastor Kejner R. Alfred and the congregation as they begin this new season of ministry together.
Pastor and people, walking together in covenant, trusting God for what is still unfolding.
The best is yet to come.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreLived Experience
Conci is a high school student who found herself unexpectedly transformed through her experiences with The Open Table Connection, where her mom, Rhonda, is the Pastor.
Before participating at The Open Table, Conci carried a complicated understanding of faith, shaped by conflicting messages about who belongs. “For a long time,” she explains, “I was taught by some people that God does not like gay people and by others that God is love.” These concepts quietly shaped how she saw both the church and the world.
Everything began to shift when she attended her first Pride Parade with The Open Table Connection.
Click through to keep reading.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
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Stressed about the climate crisis? Concerned about the future? You’re not alone.
Arizona Interfaith Power & Light invites you to join us Tuesday, August 4th at 7:00 PM, for a film screening of Good Grief: The 10 Steps. Following the screening, you’ll have an opportunity to interact with film director Katie Flint, who will be joining us virtually for a Q&A session.
The film follows the transformative journey of individuals grappling with climate despair as they undergo Good Grief Network’s innovative peer-to-peer support program to help one another recognize, feel, and process heavy emotions. We’ll learn how leaning into painful feelings can open the door to joy, connection, a renewed sense of possibility, and the power to take meaningful action.
Proceeds for this event are shared between AZIPL and Good Grief Network (GGN): a nonprofit organization that brings people together globally to metabolize collective grief, eco-distress, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting social & planetary crises.
Read MoreThe Tucson Marshallese Ministry, Rincon Congregational United Church of Christ, and the Southwest Conference Committee on Ministry for Authorization (COM-A) joyfully invite you to the Service of Installation for Rev. Alfred Risen.
Sunday, August 16, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.
Rincon Congregational United Church of Christ
122 N. Craycroft Rd. Tucson, AZ 85711
What’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreBodhi (She in the Spring, He in the Fall) is a UNM student studying anthropology with a deep curiosity about the world and the people in it. Quiet by nature, she often prefers to listen, gathering wisdom from the stories of others.
Before coming to The Open Table, Bodhi carried complicated experiences with faith communities. “I had a very negative view of Christianity,” she admitted, shaped by past hurt and painful encounters connected to Christianity. Those experiences left her cautious, unsure of what to expect from religious spaces.
When invited to the Ramadan dinner through The Open Table Connection, Bodhi came with openness and curiosity, even though she is a practicing Buddhist.
Click through to read more.
Read MoreFirst Congregational Prescott’s youth shared their itinerary from their June trip. They stayed at The Good Shepherd UCC and their host was Rev. Randy Mayer. They visited La Casa Misericordia Migrant Shelter in Nogales, Mexico; accompanied Humane Borders to put out water in the desert; traveled to Sasabe, Mexico to see the Library project and take donations to the community; then traveled back home to Prescott to share about their experience during and after the worship service.
Click through for more details and links.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read More
What’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
Read MoreWhat’s happening at YOUR church? Tell us about it! Just write up an article and submit it to Wende by Thursday at noon to have it included in the following Monday’s Loop.
Wende reads your church newsletters and other materials and compiles the highlights to keep us up-to-date on the amazing work happening at the Southwest Conference churches and beyond.
Tag SWC and Wende on Facebook and Instagram to get our attention so we can share your posts! We’re @swcucc and Wende is @yeswende.
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