In late October, our Unity Worldwide EarthCare team member, Beth Remmes, offered a beautiful online workshop called Active Hope. 

Based on "The Work That Reconnects," Active Hope is an interactive workshop based on over four decades of community work with thousands of people around the world. IT provides an opportunity to express our gratitude and grief and move into a deeper understanding of how we can work towards a more sustainable, just, and peaceful world where all beings can thrive.

The live workshop had a great turnout and we will be posting a recording replay of the event on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/UnityEarthCare.

Other resources:

• Unity Worldwide Ministries Earth Care
• Unity Northwest Region EarthCare

Attention all Ministers and Licensed Unity Teachers: Information regarding CEU requirements for 2020

UWM has decided to combine 2019 and 2020 CEUs for this year. Credentialed leaders are always encouraged to continue their education and send in CEU requests for the remainder of the year when possible. I am also listing below some more information where your LUTs and Ministers might find relevant trainings.  

Other places you can find classes:

• Check out these websites for possibilities: Edemy.org, compliancetraininggroup.com, Skill Boosters, The Church Network (TCN), Congregationalconsulting.org. Remember to get pre-approval for any non-Unity classes. 
• CEU credit can be requested for teaching a relevant course in your community or online. If this is a new class it should be pre-approved (or post-approved if you have already taught it) for CEU credit
• You could attend a class or seminar in your local community. It would need to be pre- (or post) approved. 

All SEE and Ministerial courses are available for credit. 

"Re-imagining Through a Spiritual Lens" January 29-31, 2021

Youth Team Conference is a time for experiential training, teaching by demonstration, inspiration, community, connection, mentoring, renewal, small group story sharing, laughter, and prayer. This year's presenters are: REV. DIANE VENZERA, M.Ed. will present the topics of Online Youth Ministry: How to keep youth connected and engaged as a community, and Beginning Again: Preparing to reopen, rebuild and interact in-person with children and families. MARK STANTON WELCH, musician extraordinaire, will open our hearts and minds through sacred sound and song. For more information and to register visit: https://forms.gle/ARup43vWXiKnMPhK6 You can also download the Printable Registration Form and Fill-able Registration form

Looking for an elective SEE or for some holiday spirit? This class/experiential group will explore the Christmas tradition of Advent through discussion and experience for the first 4 weeks, followed by burning bowl (releasing) and white stone (intentions). Learn more about these special services and rituals and create new traditions of your own.

December 2nd-January 6th at 4:PM Pacific time.

Email Rev. Rachel, unityofanchorage@gmail.com to sign up and for log in info. 

The purpose of the NW Youth of Unity Sunday Activities is to create a safe place for people to connect, share, and explore spiritual ideas together. Each session will involve discussion about spiritual ideas and personal sharing. Upcoming Sunday Activities (starting at 11am PST): Dec. 6 - Movie Talk - Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV) Dec. 13 - Sacred Sunday Meeting Dec. 20 - Cody's Corner - Join our Regional Officer for Spiritual Discussion Dec. 27 - Sacred Sunday Meeting

Our website has been updated and redesigned with new content and features to make it easier to connect and serve you better. We invite you to please visit our new site and take a moment to familiarize yourself with our new design and content!

We are also in the process of updating and reconfiguring our database and ask you to please visit www.unitynwregion.org/page-18199 and fill out the subscription form to confirm your desire to remain on our mailing list. 

After you have filled out the form, you will be sent a confirmation email with a temporary password that will allow you to login to your account via our new website. From here, you will have access to manage your profile, edit your subscription preferences, manage your event registrations, view any transactions you may have on your account as well as manage your donation frequency and personal data.

If you have any questions about this at all, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help!

Dear friends,

As Covid continues to wreak havoc with our normal sense of connection, it also invites us all to new levels of creativity. Becca Palm, Music Director for Unity of Bellevue and Rev. Jane Hiatt, NW Region Vice Chair, came up with the idea of creating and using virtual music to strengthen the connection among our Unity NW Region Communities.

For our first project, we chose the season of Thanksgiving with a focus on Gratitude. Five Music Directors from NW Unity Communities wrote original music and created “gratitude videos” made specifically for individual centers to use either for Virtual Sunday music or for special Virtual Community Thanksgiving events.

With the added intention of supporting the creation of music during this time, the Unity Community of Central Oregon provided funds for this initial project. Our hope is that you will not only be delighted by and use these first few videos in your services/events, that your communities will be nurtured and feel a larger connection to the region, but that you will also send a love offering or tithe (any amount is good) to the NW Region earmarked for the “Music Connection Fund”. Information on how to easily donate is provided with the videos when you click on the following link. 

Click here to see and download the videos for your services or events. 

We are visioning for Christmas, the season of Love, and Easter. If you have an idea around how we might use virtual music to further connect our NW Unity Region during this unusual time, please reach out to Becca Palm.

Also, one of the videos pulled photos from several of our Unity websites to celebrate who we are as a region, so watch closely--you may find someone from your community on "Candid Camera!" 

With love and gratitude,

Becca and Jane and your NW Unity Board

NW Youth of Unity Retreat "The Spirit of Stories" This online event was October 16th-18th. There were 12 participants from 6 Northwest Region ministries. We had a wonderful weekend of connecting, looking at stories through different lenses, and sharing our own stories. One participant reflected that, "Stories are spiritual. They have power and a voice. We are living a story filled with chapters; we all have our own, but are also connected to a larger universal story." As always, thank you for supporting this event and our youth! Blessings, Nick Muncie-Jarvis, LUT (he/him) NW Youth of Unity Consultant

Watch the fall conference update from Unity Worldwide Ministries

Watch the fall conference update from Unity World Headquarters.

Active Hope and an EarthCare NW Region Expansion

Your Unity WorldWide EarthCare core team is delighted to welcome Unity of Bandon as our newest EarthCare certified congregation. 

Here is the beautiful covenant Unity of Bandon created:

“We believe that all of creation is connected as One and that we are to be good caregivers of the Creation. As people of faith, we commit to a renewed reverence for life and respect for the interdependent web of all existence.

We honor our spiritual commitment to the care, support and defense of the balance between our individual needs and those of nature. We envision a world in which everything has intrinsic value and where all beings are assured a secure, safe, and meaningful life that is ecologically responsible and sustainable.

We agree to transform our individual and congregational lives into acts of moral witness, discarding harmful habits for new behaviors that demonstrate our respect for this harmony and interconnectedness.

We declare our covenant with God to walk upon the Earth for the greatest good of all creation.”

Unity by the Bay in North Bend Oregon and Unity of Olympia are also in the works of gaining official certification and are already doing some great EarthCare actions.

In late October, our Unity Worldwide EarthCare team member, Beth Remmes, offered a beautiful online workshop called Active Hope. 

This event focused on the fact that we live in an extraordinary moment on Earth. As we witness unprecedented destruction of environmental, social, and political systems, we can feel overwhelmed by anger, fear, despair, and other difficult emotions. How can we remain resilient, creative, and empowered to act for the healing of our world?

Based on "The Work That Reconnects," Active Hope is an interactive workshop based on over four decades of community work with thousands of people around the world. IT provides an opportunity to express our gratitude and grief and move into a deeper understanding of how we can work towards a more sustainable, just, and peaceful world where all beings can thrive.

The live workshop had a great turnout and we will be posting a recording replay of the event on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/UnityEarthCare.

Other resources:

• Unity Worldwide Ministries Earth Care
• Unity Northwest Region EarthCare