Thematic Ministry is an approach to congregational life devoting worship and reflection to one theme every month. By adding the SpiritJam Model, the possibilities for learning and reflection through mind, body and spirit are expanded for the entire congregation. Too often, it takes huge amounts of time to invent theme-related sessions, write them up and share them with volunteers. In SpiritJam, the faculty develops the Jams in brainstorming sessions each week. We offer "SpiritJam Co-Creator Labs" once a month at which we invite interested congregants, minister, musicians and others to co-create ideas for Jams for the upcoming month.

At Boulder Valley UU Fellowship, they are subscribed to the Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a cooperative of 100 congregations, who share resources on a theme per month. What an ideal partnership!

The Soul Matters themes samples:


Sept: Invitation
Oct:   Letting Go
Nov:  Ancestry        
Dec:  Expectation
Jan:  Resistance  
Feb:  Desire            
Mar:  Liberation  
Apr:  Creation      
May: Blessing        
June: Simplicity  


Here are resources for thematic ministry – 

• article by one of the  General Assembly presenters Rev Matthew Johnson http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/tagging/292668.shtml

•  All Souls, Tulsa UU congregation, Tulsa OK  website: http://allsouls.publishpath.com/monthly-themes
• Soul Matters Sharing Circle - 100 congregations sharing resources on the themes, by subscription. 
• Rochester NY website: http://www.rochesterunitarian.org/worship_themes.html (Sheila Schuh, the DRE, is another of our presenters)
• The Western regions “Touchstones” http://pwruua.org/touchstones-journal/
•  Interconnections article: http://www.uua.org/interconnections/interconnections/174595.shtml

•  UUA Tapestry of Faith searchable online stories, activities, in research phase.
• A collaborative resource to empower Unitarian Universalists to think theologically - Themebasedministry.org
•  "Seeding the Conversation" reflection sessions on the theme by minister, staff and others.

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