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UUAMP Professional Day 2023 Faithfully Belonging

Events, News

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Register here!

Sunnyhill-UU Church of the South Hills: 1240 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA & Via Zoom

This year, we are focusing on Article II and how we prepare our congregations, as Membership Leaders for this transition. We hope you can join us, and come prepared to be inspired.

About Article II

“The Article II Study Commission is hereby charged to review Article II of the UUA Bylaws, and propose any revisions that will enable our UUA, our member congregations, and our covenanted communities to be a relevant and powerful force for spiritual and moral growth, healing, and justice. Proposed changes should articulate core UU theological values. The Board believes that one core theological value, shared widely among UUs, is love. 

… We therefore charge this commission to root its work in Love as a principal guide in its work; attending particularly to the ways that we (and our root traditions) have understood and articulated Love, and how we have acted out of Love.”

More Article II Resources:

Agenda *All Times Eastern Daylight Time*

  • 9:30-10:15 am: Optional Social Gathering and Check In
  • 10:15-10:30 am: Welcome, Chalice Lighting, Opening Ritual
  • 10:30-11:30 am: Faithfully Belonging: Article II and Membership Ministry (An Information Session and Discussion) Led by Janine Gelsinger

Janine Gelsinger (she/her) began her religious professional career working in membership ministry at the UU Congregation of Phoenix, during which time she served on the UUAMP Board. She has recently been hired by the UUA Board of Trustees as a consultant on Article II Outreach and Engagement.

More about Janine Gelsinger:

Working at the intersection of Justice and Membership is her calling. Currently, Janine holds several roles consulting at this intersection: in addition to her work on Article II, she consults at the IRC's Phoenix Welcome Center for Refugees and Asylum Seekers on restructuring their volunteer program, she executed a state action network mapping project for the Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team; and, after serving on the Un/Learning for Liberation curriculum team to write virtual versions of the anti-racism program for UUs - Beloved Conversations Virtual: Within and Among, she now coaches congregations in Beloved Conversations. 

As a non-ordained religious professional, she has served as 1/4th of the Joint Code of Ethics Steering Team since 2019, bringing us closer to shared accountability between all religious professionals. She is also the Executive Co-Director of UU Justice Arizona, the UU State Action Network. 

You can catch Janine dishing about UUism through an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural lens every Thursday morning as a co-host on the VUU, the Church of the Larger Fellowship's weekly talk show and podcast. 

  • 11:30-11:45 am: Break & DIY SWAG Bags (with our new logo!)
  • 11:45 am-12:15pm: Annual Business Meeting Vote on:
    • 2022 Minutes
    • 2023-24 Budget
    • Board Nominations
    • New Mission Statement
  • 12:15-1:45 pm: Lunch + Optional Activities Topical Discussions online or onsite &/OR Casual Conversations online or onsite &/OR Break for those who desire it!
  • 1:45-2:45 pm: Keynote Address: A New Way Together – A Q&A about Article II Led by Rev. Cheryl M. Walker

The Rev. Cheryl M. Walker (she/her) is the co-chair of the Article II Study Commission. She is also the minister of the UU Congregation of Wilmington, North Carolina, and served as President of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association from 2017 to 2019. 

More about Rev. Cheryl Walker:

Born and raised in the East Harlem section of New York City, Rev. Cheryl grew up appreciating the diversity of her family and city, and “learned to love our differences and not fear them.” Being raised as a Muslim imbued her “with an ontological security in who I was as an African American. Eventually I found Islam’s tent too small, and I searched for a new faith home. It would take me 30 years to find Unitarian Universalism. I still keep some of the practices from my faith background,” including praying 5 times a day, or more.  

After a 25 year career in technology, where she gained analytical and managerial skills, Rev. Cheryl says “eventually I felt a call to serve humanity and my God, through Unitarian Universalist ministry.” In 2004 she graduated from Union Theological Seminary in New York and was the recipient of the Maxwell Fellowship for the promise of Excellence in Ministry. 

For four years Rev. Cheryl served as the Assistant Minister at the Unitarian Church of All Souls of New York, and for the past thirteen, she has been the solo Minister of the UU Congregation of Wilmington. 

  • 2:45-3:30 pm: Group Touch Points - Breakout Discussions - Topics TBD
  • 3:30-4 pm: Takeaways, Closing, Extinguishing the Chalice