Wednesday, February 11, 8:30 am - 2:00 pm
Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza
1700 W Washington St, Phoenix, AZ 85007

Join with the Sierra Club, Chispa Arizona, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection, AZ Youth Climate Coalition, Arizona Faith Network, and many other groups for the annual lobby day at the Arizona Capitol. Meet with your legislators, hear from great speakers, and connect with others who are doing advocacy work both inside and outside the Arizona Legislature. RSVP so we have enough materials, can put you in a team for legislative meetings, and can plan for food. This year's theme is "People Power for the Planet!" 

RSVP here.

Eco-Theology: Centering Creation in Love begins April 8, 2026

As with all subcategories of theology, ecotheology has many facets. In this course, we will engage with theological points of view across several expressions of American Christian thought: creation care within community, creation care as incarnational love, creation care as earthkeeping, and creation care as an expression of hope. A daily environmental observational journal of wonder for the duration of the course. This can be in any format, including digital, handwritten, sketched, video, audio, photographs, etc., and media may be mixed. Assignments based on the journal are included in Week 1, Week 4, and Week 6 of the course. Each week will have a different focus on the same environment.

Click through to see this and other course offerings.

In the United Church of Christ, we do not organize ourselves around control. We organize ourselves around a covenant. That word can sound formal or abstract, but covenant is deeply practical. It shapes how we relate to one another as local churches, authorized ministers, Committees on Ministry, and the Conference. Covenant is not a contract. It is not a hierarchy. It is a promise to walk together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout Scripture, the covenant is the way God chooses to be in relationship with God’s people. In Genesis, God binds God’s self to Abraham. In Exodus, God forms a covenant community at Sinai. In Jeremiah, God promises a new covenant written on the heart. Covenant is God’s way of saying, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” It is relational, mutual, and enduring.

Our life together in the Southwest Conference reflects that same spirit.

Click through to read Dr. Derrick’s article.

Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 10 am MST

To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025, The United Church of Canada commissioned a group of 30 ministers, musicians and worship leaders to create a new hymnal. It was seven years in the making and the results are remarkable. Its globally-sourced collection of hymns “lifts up the intercultural and anti-racist commitment of the church with material that prioritizes Black, Indigenous, People of Color, French-speaking, Two-Spirit and LGBTQTTIA+ voices, and concerns of people with disabilities.” (TLUS preface) It reminds us of “faithful song as an antidote to fear,” and calls us to remember Jesus’ love for everyone.

Join three members of the development team as they discuss Then Let Us SING! and their experience in its creation.

A few weeks, I emailed our clergy to remind them that the 2025 Annual Information Review will take place soon. In that message, I also noted the need for the Conference to have each minister’s three-way or four-way covenant on file. Preparing that reminder led me to pause and reflect on a simple but important question: What do we mean when we talk about covenant?

In the United Church of Christ, the word covenant sits at the heart of who we are. We use it often, sometimes so often that it can sound like familiar church language. Covenant is worth slowing down for, because it names the way we choose to live together as God’s people.

Click through to read Dr. Derrick’s full article.

Nollau Leadership Institute Class of 2026-27 Enrollment

The Nollau Leadership Institute is CHHSM’s signature program with more than 300 attendees in its 20+ years. Enrollment is open and the short online application can be found here. We invite you to make plans to participate in next year's class by registering now. A limited number of tuition scholarships are available to help offset the cost of the program.

Grounded in the health and human service organizations of the United Church of Christ, this program offers a unique space in which to experience leadership formation. Each year, Nollau brings together a community of leaders committed to creating a just, caring, and compassionate world. Such values deepen during the program, as participants grow in their leadership skills from a place of belonging. Cultivating this connection between others, the world, and within themselves is the heart of the Nollau experience.

Through retreats, online interactions, and peer mentoring, this program supports leadership formation through a variety of learning modalities and within a community of practice. The use of rituals, art, poetry, embodiment, and time to simply be in nature are all part of the program—alongside the interactive didactic sessions. You can learn more about the curriculum here.

In a world increasingly divided by race and power, our call as followers of Christ is to embody a radical love that ensures every child of God has a place at the center of the table. Join us for a 90 - minute introductory webinar, "Decentering Whiteness: Our Journey Together," where we will explore what it means to shift our church's focus away from dominant white cultural norms and toward a more inclusive, multiracial future. Using the robust resources and the three-level framework provided by the Southwest Conference UCC in its website, we will learn how to build a shared vocabulary, distinguish between racial justice and cultural decentering of whiteness, and move from foundational education into meaningful, visible action.

This interactive session is designed for both clergy and lay leaders who are ready to ask the "hard questions" in a spirit of grace and humility. Through thoughtful small group reflections and a guided tour of the SWC Resource Hub - featuring everything from the Seeing White podcast to practical guides for worship - you will leave with a clear roadmap for starting this pilgrimage in your own congregation. Whether your church is just beginning to talk about race or is ready to confront deep - seated institutional habits, this webinar offers the tools and community support needed to align our local ministries with God’s vision of justice and reconciliation.

Register here.

The Damascus Project

Zoom on Tuesdays, February 3, 10, 17, 24, and March 3, 2026, 6:30-8 pm CT

We live in an “attention” economy in which media communication deeply matters. Yet our UCC congregations often lack basic education and training in how to meaningfully engage 21st-century media tools for communication.

This Media Training Course will equip church leaders, staff, and volunteers with the tools and confidence they need to share the church’s message of faith and hope effectively. The course covers topics such as media messaging, maximizing electronic and print communication, social media content creation, websites and digital storytelling, and online safety.

The course meets via Zoom on Tuesdays February 3, 10, 17, 24 and March 3, 2026, 6:30-8:00 pm CT. Thanks to grant funding, the Damascus Project can offer the course to lay people and clergy leaders at $50 per registrant, an incredible value.

Learn more and register here

The Damascus Project is the regional theological education ministry of the Minnesota and Wisconsin Conferences, United Church of Christ.