Black women are often praised for strength, resilience, and endurance, but rarely given space to name the cost. This workshop examines how racism functions as a system of power rather than individual bias, and how Black women, including Black trans and queer women, experience its impacts in work, leadership, relationships, and movement.

Together, we will explore how the demand for exceptionalism emerges as a survival strategy within racialized systems, and how it leads to burnout, disconnection from the body, and conditional belonging. Participants will be invited to reflect on the ways faith communities may unintentionally reinforce these expectations through theology, leadership culture, and justice work.

Grounded in spiritual practice and collective care, the workshop closes by reclaiming rest as resistance understood as small, intentional acts of pause and presence that refuse disposability, restore agency, and re-center sacred worth, even as violence, occupation, and struggle persist.

Register here.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the phrase “third place” to describe spaces beyond the two main poles of our lives: home and work. At home, we live our private roles. At work, we carry out our public responsibilities. Third places are the church, cafés, libraries, and parks where community forms, and we remember we are more than our obligations.

When those spaces disappear, life tightens into a loop between productivity and privacy. We move from task to task and rarely pause to ask who we are becoming.

Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent create a sacred third space. At home, relationships and routines shape you. At work, expectations and performance define you. But when you step forward to receive ashes, those labels fall away. Titles fade. Status fades. Success and failure lose their grip. Christ meets you there, not as a résumé or a role, but as a soul. You hear the words: " You are dust. And you belong to Christ.

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

The Prophetic Witness Campaign is a statewide, faith-rooted effort organized by Arizona Faith Network & Corazón AZ to protect human dignity, strengthen community safety, and bear public witness to the sacred worth of every person. At the same time, unjust and immoral immigration policies continue to separate families, criminalize asylum, and place already-vulnerable communities in constant fear and harm.

We invite clergy and faith leaders across Arizona to join this shared work of unity, nonviolence, and moral courage. Sign up using the link below and you will receive updates about Faithful Witness Gatherings, monthly trainings, public vigils, action opportunities, and ways to participate locally and statewide.

PROPHETIC WITNESS CAMPAIGN SIGN UP

Coming Soon: In-Person Trainings

If you're interested in attending an in-person training event for the Prophetic Witness Campaign in either Tucson (Feb. 17 at 6:00 pm) or Phoenix (Feb 19 at 6:00 pm), please click here to RSVP and to receive more details.

Last year, I began reaching out to clergy across the Southwest Conference with a request to submit their current call agreements and Three-Way or Four-Way Covenants. This was more than a routine administrative task or a simple check-in on record keeping. It was an invitation to revisit the very heart of our shared identity. In the United Church of Christ, we are a covenantal people. If we claim to live in such a relationship, we should be able to point to where that covenant is written and retained. Healthy governance requires this balance of relational clarity and accurate documentation, ensuring that our shared promises are both lived and recorded.

This identity shapes how we understand authorization, which is the formal recognition that an individual is called and prepared to serve. In our tradition, ministers are never authorized independently of the wider church. Their standing exists within a web of covenantal relationships. That recognition is expressed through a Three-Way Covenant linking the minister, the local church, and the Conference, or through a Four-Way Covenant that includes an employing institution or ecumenical partner. Through these documents, the wider church affirms that a specific ministry is not a solo endeavor, but one accountable to and supported by the whole Body.

Because we do not operate through hierarchical control, our accountability flows directly from these mutual commitments. It is helpful to distinguish between a call agreement, which addresses the practical terms of employment and compensation, and a covenant, which names the ecclesial bond.

New course listings for April.

Join them in Columbus, Ohio this summer for workshops, worship, concerts, networking and camaraderie.

July 8 – 11, 2026
First Community Church, North Campus, 3777 Dublin Road, Columbus, Ohio

They especially welcome the Association of Disciples Musicians!

Open to all. Need to know more?

Conference Director Andrew Blosser will be on Zoom to answer your questions.

Saturday, March 28 at 9 am AZ / 10 am NM & El Paso

Register to receive the link.

Every February, we celebrate Black History Month. For the church, this is far more than marking a date on the calendar—it is an essential rhythm of our faith. We must remember that Black history is not a footnote to Christian history; it is the heart of it.

The Black church has carried the gospel through the fires of slavery, segregation, and systemic injustice. In hidden "hush harbors" and crowded sanctuaries, believers clung to Jesus when the world refused to acknowledge their humanity. Their faith was not a theory; it was a lifeline. Spirituals were sermons set to music, and prayer meetings were acts of resistance. Leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, and countless local pastors didn't just seek policy change—they spoke from a radical trust in Jesus’ command to love neighbors, seek justice, and walk humbly with God.

The entire Body of Christ has been shaped by this witness.

For pastors, this month is an opportunity for "truth-telling" from the pulpit.

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

Black History Month is a time to reflect—not just on the past, but on how we carry that legacy forward. For generations, Black communities have leaned on faith as a source of strength, hope, and courage. Faith carried our ancestors through storms of injustice, guiding them to stand boldly even when the world said they couldn’t.

That same faith calls us today to live with integrity, kindness, and courage. It reminds us that excellence is more than personal achievement; it’s an act of resilience and resistance. It’s about showing up fully, authentically, and faithfully in every space we occupy.

Click through to read Shandrika’s full article.

Faith communities are actively responding to the U.S. invasion of Venezuela as the U.S. seeks to control Venezuela's oil. In working to expand and strengthen these efforts, what do faith communities need to know about the situation faced? How can they act to prevent U.S. imperialism in Venezuela and other countries?

In addressing these questions, our webinar panelists will be Phyllis Bennis from the Institute for Policy Studies, Lisa Sullivan from the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, and Tim Heishman from the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Even if you cannot make the live event on Wednesday, February 11th at 11 am MST, still register, and we will send you a recording. Register today!