After the sale of their building, Newcastle Unitarians decided to donate their silver collection to Newcastle City Council. Read all about this generous gift here:
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There is promising news from the Leadership and Design team in the appointment of its new Network Facilitator, Esther Wanjiru Mukera. The Leadership and Design team is an international body working to reimagine a global framework framework for Unitarian, Unitarian Universalist, and Free Churches.
“After a careful selection process we offered the position of U/U Global Network Facilitator to Esther Wanjiru Mukera. Esther is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kenya and in her professional career she served in high level management roles. She also has a deep awareness of the diversity in resources, context and culture among Unitarian-Universalists globally. We look forward to welcoming Esther and we will be supporting her as she puts her energy and faith into action!”
From the UK General Assembly Chief Officer Liz Slade, “It’s been an honour to be part of the LDT’s discernment process over the last couple of years, to envision a new way of collaborating between U/U communities and leaders that’s right for our times. The appointment of Esther as the first staff member is an important milestone – she will begin the work to bring this new vision into reality. The many candidates who applied for this role were exceptionally strong, and it’s exciting to feel the enthusiasm for real relationship-building between the very different expressions of our faith around the world.”
Learn more about Esther here.
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Photo: ‘Ministry In The Making’ at The Nightingale Centre, 2022
Ministers are spiritual leaders, who provide care, guidance and inspiration to our communities – and to the world. We believe in the importance of visionary leadership for our communities and offer training for ministers at Unitarian College and Harris Manchester College, Oxford.
Applications for ministry training beginning in 2024 are now open. Apply online here. Click here to download the application guidance and declaration.
To find out more contact Simon Bland, our Ministry & Congregational Support Officer.
Deadline for applications: 16 September 2024.
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The signed accounts for the financial year ending September 2023 of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches are now available to download.
For more information about these accounts, we invite you to a Zoom call with our Honorary Treasurer, John Bates (see below).
Talk to the Treasurer: Wednesday, 4th September at 6:00 pm
We invite you to join an open Zoom call with John Bates, the GA’s Honorary Treasurer on Wednesday 4th September at 6:00 pm, if you would like to learn more about the GA’s accounts or ask any questions. We welcome questions by email in advance.
Join the Zoom call here.
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A funding scheme to encourage growth and new ways of working.
Congregations will be able to apply to the fund for grants to invest in people – that is, to employ or contract with people who can help them innovate in the way they develop, communicate and deliver an engaging and rewarding spiritual and social experience for current and new members.
Ideally, two or more congregations will collaborate in a joint project, maybe with robust and thriving congregations supporting and encouraging emerging congregations.
District support will be critical to success and a condition to attract the match funding from the scheme.
For more detailed information, you can download this document that answers some of the Frequently Asked Questions about this new fund.
Some examples of possible projects:
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Rev Derek Mc Auley, Chair of the Hibbert Trust talked to The Gleaner, Jamaica’s leading newspaper, about the debt the organisation owes to the island nation and the fund it has developed to take responsibility and start to make amends. Read the full article here.
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Monday, 8th April 2024
The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches are proud to announce the appointment of Prof Geoff Levermore as GA President 2024-25. Prof Levermore is a dedicated and prolific climate scientist, and notably one of the Lead Authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contributing to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC with Al Gore in 2007. (https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/a-nobel-contribution-to-peace-prize/)
He attends services at both Dean Row and Norcliffe chapels in Cheshire Greater Manchester and gives services at nearby chapels in the North West and Shrewsbury. His own spiritual perspective is influenced by the theologian Gordon Kaufman’s ideas about the Mystery of Creation, and philosopher Karl Popper’s views on the Open Society. “I commit the social sin of discussing politics and religion with people. I believe in open religion, open societies, open to doubt… I’m not so spiritual, although I believe in the transcendency of things. An idea can be so wonderful – a lightbulb moment. This happens with my theology.” His personal theology drives him to make the world a better place and he is confident that technology will play a significant role in combatting global warming.
This faith in technology comes from a career in climate science that has lasted more than 50 years, beginning when Professor Levermore earned a PhD from Imperial College in 1975. In 1979, he formed the Energy Management Team at Wandsworth Council, London and inaugurated the London Boroughs’ Energy Management Group (still running), which hosted several Government Ministerial visits. In 1983, he started lecturing at South Bank Polytechnic on building services and energy use in buildings. He moved to UMIST, later Manchester University, in 1992. From 1995 to 2009 he chaired a professional committee on current and climate change weather data for building design in the UK and is still on a similar US Weather Data Committee.
He has authored over 150 journal papers, lectures, and books and his work has earned him numerous awards and grants, including a CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) Silver Medal in 2010. Professor Levermore is currently Emeritus Professor at The University of Manchester and an Adjunct Professor at the China Agricultural University, Beijing. He continues to publish and speak at events on climate change and the potential for good building design to mitigate global temperature rises.
The Unitarians are a progressive faith group with a long tradition of combining liberal religion with rational inquiry and respect for honest scientific endeavour. Professor Levermore continues this tradition of scientific exploration in the Unitarian community, which has included such icons as Joseph Priestly and Charles Darwin. His role as President of the Unitarian GA will bring him around the country, speaking to congregations about his views on mitigating the climate crisis and about our moral imperative to act, as well as promoting the work of the GA.
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