February 2026 - Monthly Newsletter
- Helms Jarrell
- Feb 3
- 5 min read
AT A GLANCE
Upcoming Events
Gathering Dates
Until further notice, we meet at 2916 Parkway Ave; Charlotte, NC 28208
2026 dates: Feb 8, Feb 18- Ash Wed at noon, Feb 22, March 1, March 15, March 29-Palm Sunday, April 5- Easter, April 26- Nina Simone Day, May 10, May 24- Pentecost, June 7, June 21, July 5- Funeral for the Empire, July 19, Aug 2, Aug 16, Sept 13, Sept 27, Oct 4, Oct 18, Nov 1- All Saints/Children’s Blessing, Nov 15, Nov 29. Dec 6, Dec 13, Dec 20.
Please remember to bring a snack to share at communion each time we gather.
February 8th is a gathering date, but it is also the day of the Super Bowl. We will meet at 3pm rather than 5pm. We will meet at 2916 Parkway Ave.
Big News! We got the CASA grant! There'll but updates coming soon with more details on the goodness coming our way.
Lent begins on Feb 18th. The theme for this season is: Field Notes for Change: remaining attentive to place with a critical eye toward change
Special meeting dates coming up:
Feb 18- Ash Wed - we will gather for lunch and a noonday observation at 2916 Parkway Ave.
On March 8th at 5pm, we will gather for a meal and discussion led by Tom Warren, Director of the Western North Carolina Association of the Southern Region of the United Church of Christ denomination. This meal will be a time for us to learn what it means to be affiliated with the UCC.
Community Life
At Beloved Community Circle at the beginning of January, we were invited to share what we could offer and what we needed in the spirit of mutual care. Many voices named a longing for friendship and deeper connection. That conversation created space for tenderness and practical care, including a shared way to record our offerings and needs so no one carries them alone. At the end of January, we had a great community conversation over zoom. During the conversation, we listened to Gretchen share about her experience organizing with MARCH in Minneapolis and we highlighted that Beloved Community Charlotte members are showing up for each other and reaching toward connection. Gretchen’s reflection gave language to what we are living into: in a moment thick with overwhelm and despair, she named hope not as something big or centralized, but as something grown over time through small, faithful acts—mutual aid, shared childcare, walking a neighbor’s dog, lingering in conversation. Drawing from her experience organizing in crisis, she reminded us that relationship itself is a discipline and a form of defense—something practiced with intention so that trust, love, and care can sustain us beyond flashpoints and into the long term. We named how BCC folks have been practicing these small faithful acts of mutual care: group hikes, childcare, photography help, writing grants, filling the Freedom Fridge, praying for one another, sending encouraging moments....and more. We are finding that these small acts help us to build a structure of care that is strong enough to hold sorrow, laughter, wisdom, and hope in the same circle.
Leadership at Gatherings:
Stay tuned for leadership requests coming soon.
Governance
Please add your thoughts to the governance discussions on our slack. [email hello@belovedcommunityclt.com if you need to be added to the slack.] We're talking about budget and location changes there. We will also talk about budget at the end of our Feb 8th gathering. We hope to get a zoom or in person governance meeting coordinated soon. Watch for an invitation in your email.
The next Governance meeting will be (date TBD) via zoom at 7:00pm
Here’s the link: https://commonchange.zoom.us/j/7046546546
Here’s our Governance meeting agenda:
Check in
Debrief how the activation went, in terms of BCC leadership/hosting.
Looking ahead at 2026 calendar.
Working group updates
Comms
Justice praxis
Visitors
Budget/finance
Childcare
Misc
UCC grant status
Space updates
Close
Remember to RSVP
Please remember to RSVP to the attendance text that went out. If you did not get it, please reach out to Shelly Murphy.
Beloved Community School for the Common Good
forming a culture of justice, connection, and collective care.
Nov 30, 2025- Feb 17, 2026
This third season of school for the common good, we journey as travelers who make the path by walking—trusting that each step of faith, care, and connection shapes the way ahead. Like Mary, we carry and nurture a future not our own, tending what is growing even when we cannot yet see its fullness.
Rooted in interdependence and mutuality, we seek to build eco-community: networks of care grounded in shared governance, mutual aid, and economic redistribution.
Our work is to plant, water, and build—trusting that the kin-dom of God emerges through our collective becoming. We practice this becoming not through grand gestures, but through the ordinary acts that sustain life: sharing meals, tending gardens, visiting the sick, repairing what is broken, marking sacred moments, listening well, exchanging stories, and mourning together. These small, steady gestures teach us that to be human is to be in relationship—to care and be cared for, to depend and be depended upon.
The rhythms of body and earth, through song, ritual, and embodied practice, teach us that each act of love creates a pathway toward wholeness. Together, we make the path while walking—an ongoing creation of community rooted in love, solidarity, and hope.
Interdependence and mutuality: building networks of care through mutual aid, shared governance, and economic redistribution.
Seasonal and embodied rhythms: engaging the body, the arts, and the senses through ritual, song, movement, and observance of cultural- social, imagination, historical, economic- and ecological cycles.
Activation= We Remember event on Jan 6.
Toolkit - Resources to use at home, with family, and in small groups. become a sponsor of the school to receive an all seasons pass to this toolkit or order a season at time. Here’s a link to a pdf of our toolkit for this season of the School for the Common Good. In it, you’ll find all sorts of DIY resources.
Beloved Community Circles: Tim and Christine hosted the community circle this season. We had a full house and a robust check in.
Ritual Gatherings: Bi-weekly practices of ceremony, creative contemplation, story sharing, and connection rooted in the Christian tradition.
Communications
Ways to stay up to date
Slack is a communication tool that BCC folks use to update each other throughout the week. If you want to join the slack, let Helms know.
If you don’t want to find us on Slack, you can still find updates on our Linktree.
You can also add the Beloved Community Charlotte Google calendar to your calendar.
If someone you know wants to join our belovedcommunityclt email list, email iamhelmsie@gmail.com and she’ll add you to the list.
If you want to schedule some time to connect with Helms, feel free to find a time that works for you using this link: https://calendly.com/helmsjarrell
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