by Kayla Berkey | published on Feb 3, 2026

This February, United Church of Christ Racial Justice Ministries are offering the invitation to commit to a focused study of Black history both this month and throughout the year.

Black History Month resources are available for the month of February that include a Call to Worship incorporating the names of “ancestors who made a way out of no way with God before them, beside them, and lovingly guiding succeeding generations.”

These resources can also be used for the UCC’s designated Racial Justice Sunday, which falls on Feb. 8, the second Sunday in February.

Black History 365 resources are available to intentionally engage with Black history all year. These offer a four-part spiritual journey of reading, listening, and sitting with a long history of God’s human family from the continent of Africa. It is divided into four sections that focus on human migration around the globe, “looking back and moving forward” with Sankofa, the creation of humans, and exploring virtual spaces dedicated to Black history.  

The four Black History 365 sections are intended to align with quarterly learning sessions, with the invitation for people to develop a plan with congregations, groups, or individually to participate together throughout the year.

“Black History 365 is a gateway to remember we are gifted and diverse people, culturally and ethnically. We are made in the image of God and members of God’s human family,” said the Rev. Velda Love, minister for Racial Justice.

From the Open and Affirming Coalition UCC:

Practicing Sacred Storytelling in a World That Tries to Erase Us

In a world of systemic and intersectional injustice that often tears LGBTQIA+ communities down, having confidence in the knowledge of who we are as God’s beloved creations is essential to our survival and flourishing as LGBTQIA+ Christians. As a result, personal storytelling and testimony is a vital spiritual practice of self-care and rootedness that enables us to explore our identity, learn about ourselves in prayerful conversation with God, prepare to engage with an unjust world, and discover ways to thrive and flourish. This session will lay a scriptural, theological, and experiential framework for storytelling as a spiritual practice of self-care and rootedness, provide three opportunities to practice storytelling through creative writing activities, and generate safe space for sharing together.

Tickets are offered on an honor-system sliding scale. Please choose the rate that best fits your circumstances.

• Student Rate – $15 (For students and seminarians.)

• Sages Rate 65+ – $15 (For participants age 65 and older.)

• Standard Rate – $30 (Helps cover the true cost of the workshop.)

• Pay-It-Forward Rate – $45 (For those who are able to give more and help expand access for others.)

Click through for more details.

The journey toward decentering whiteness can sometimes feel isolating, but you are not alone. There are congregations across the Southwest Conference engaged in this work, and hearing from them can be both inspiring and informative. Stories are a powerful way to build community, share wisdom, and remind us that we are all on this path together.

Our website will be a dedicated space for these stories. We are collecting videos and testimonials from churches as they share their experiences, learnings, and challenges. By sharing your story, you can help to inspire and encourage other congregations to begin their own work. We want to hear from every stage of the journey—from those just starting to those who have been at it for a while. Your story, no matter where you are, is valuable.

Click through to read more.

In January and February, three New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light team members are walking from Carlsbad to the State Capitol in Santa Fe, arriving on Climate Action Day.

Rev. Clara Sims of First Congregational and Jerry Kennell of Taos UCC are involved.

This pilgrimage is a spiritual and moral journey — an act of witness, confession, and hope. We walk carrying prayers for a livable climate, for justice, and for future generations.

Our path begins in the Permian Basin, the heart of New Mexico’s oil and gas country, and ends at the State Capitol in Santa Fe, where our leaders face a choice: to serve the few or act for the common good.

Learn more and read the daily updates here.

Read the press release here.

On Wednesday, the UCC officially launched the 2026 Climate Hope Art Contest for children and youth! The theme this year is “A Future with Hope.” Children and youth are invited to draw, paint, or color works of art that bring this theme to life. We will have winners for different age groups and an overall winner who will receive an all-expense paid trip to visit Washington, DC with a parent or guardian. 

Register your congregation now to participate!

 They’ll accept art submissions from February 6th to March 20th. 

From Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ:

Please watch this video. Today marks one week since the killing of Renee Nicole Good. We are speaking because this is our issue, and solidarity across every margin is not optional—it is a moral and faith imperative.

One of the most important steps for any congregation is to establish a person or a committee to drive the work of decentering whiteness. This designated body is crucial for spearheading the initiative, liaising with our Conference's Decentering Whiteness Task Force (DWTF) to access resources and guidance, and providing feedback to inspire other congregations. This is about building local ownership and accountability.

But where do you start the conversation within your church? It can feel overwhelming. To help you begin, our website provides a downloadable reflection exercise to guide your congregation in a process of honest introspection and communal accountability.

The guide is divided into two parts. Click through to learn more.

In December, Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07) introduced her first piece of legislation in Congress - the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act. First introduced by her father in 2015, the landmark bill would repeal the 2014 controversial National Defense Authorization Act rider that handed over 2,422 acres of Arizona's Tonto National Forest, including the sacred site of Oak Flat (Chi'chil Biłdagoteel), to Resolution Copper, a foreign mining corporation.  

As Christians, we are called to care for all of Creation and to promote environmental justice. The Save Oak Flat From Mining Act protects a site of profound religious, cultural, historical, and environmental importance to Tribal Nations in Arizona and across the country. It also halts a mining project that would deplete Arizona's scarce water resources, create one of the largest toxic waste sites in North America, and transfer U.S. copper to a foreign mining venture with direct shareholder ties to the government of the People's Republic of China. 

Urge your Members of Congress to stand alongside the Apache people in calling for Oak Flat's preservation and protection. Take action here.