The UCG Sunday Seminar Committee is proud to announce a lineup of coming seminars we are certain you will enjoy. Join us every Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. in Reimer Hall or on Zoom. May 5 – We welcome Chelsea Bowlin and her team from Partnership for Strong Families. They are the lead child welfare agency…
DetailsBecause of the timing of our financial reports and newsletter article due dates, I can only report to you on our budget through the end of March. Through 25% of the year, we have already received 28.3% of our revenue budget. Particularly encouraging is that the church has already received 38.5% of the amount budgeted…
DetailsDear United Church, As I reflect on the past year, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the journey we’ve shared. Your generous retirement gift of a pilgrimage fund allowed me to embark on a transformative journey through Italy, walking the ancient path of the Via Francigena. This was my fifth pilgrimage, and though the circumstances…
DetailsCompassion in Action held its annual Break-Fast Feast on the evening of Thursday, March 21 – a lovely fellowship event including communion and delicious homemade soups and salads. Prior to the feast, we fast, however known, and donate what we are able to support solutions to world hunger. United Church of Gainesville partners with the…
DetailsWe have so many super awesome things coming up in Tribes. This May will be our final month with Tribes classes. We will be having Children’s Sabbath on May 19th! We look forward to all of our children advancing and 5th graders graduating and moving on into our amazing middle school youth group! If your…
DetailsIt’s Spring! And things are growing and blooming all around the UCG campus. Thanks to Erick Smith and more than a dozen volunteers, we tamed some of the vegetation in the East Parking lot and the area north of the Sanctuary on the work day at the end of March. We learned our lesson from…
DetailsDear friends, In March, a UCC consultant interviewed a sample of UCG congregants to better understand the congregation’s readiness for a capital campaign. In short, the consultant determined that our estimated “probability of success” was 62%, which she characterized as “typical” for churches preparing for capital campaigns. The study identified a number of areas where…
DetailsDear UCG, As you may have heard, I’ll be taking a sabbatical this summer: officially beginning on May 13 and returning for the Gathering of the Waters service on August 11. What you may not have heard (though we’ve had it in a host of newsletters and emails) is that UCG has received a grant…
DetailsFriends, There has been a lot going on in recent weeks, and we want to share with you as faithfully, honestly, and transparently as possible what has happened, and what to expect as we look to the next chapter in the life of the United Church of Gainesville. First, it is with great sadness that…
DetailsDear friends, I write two days after Easter Sunday, still flying high after the glory of being present with you throughout our Holy Week observances of the past week. I have long loved those days, for the depth of sorrow and grief, for understanding our own complicity in human suffering and the even more powerful…
DetailsDuring the month of March, Jill White, a team member of the UCC’s Church Building and Loan Fund, conducted 36 interviews with members of UCG, as part of a feasibility study, an important step in planning for a possible capital campaign. White asked questions about the participants’ sense of UCG’s strengths, about their understanding of…
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