September 2025 - Monthly Newsletter
- Helms Jarrell
- Sep 3
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 4
AT A GLANCE
Upcoming Events
Gathering Dates
2025 BCC worship gathering dates: September 7 & 21, Oct 5 & 19, Nov 2, 16, 30, Dec 7, 14, & 21
Save the Date: Nov 2
All Saints Day and Children's Blessing
On November 2nd, we will celebrate the saints who inspire us. Their examples of wisdom and love help us to know how to work toward the kind of liberating future we imagine. We will take the time on this day to bless all of our children, especially our newest and youngest community members. Feast days are full of food, friends, and creative elements, so get ready to celebrate.
Save the date: November 11th-
Song and Salve: Music and Practices for the Soul and the City
Join the Carolina Music Social Club for an immersive community experience where music meets medicine-making — nurturing both the heart and the body. Song and Salve invites you into a shared circle of sound, story, and creation.
Together, we’ll breathe deeply, sing boldly, and explore the songs that have carried us — from lullabies and anthems to chants of protest and empowerment. Through improvised harmonies, collective songwriting, and the weaving of new verses into beloved tunes, we’ll discover how music connects us across generations and struggles.
Alongside the music, we’ll engage in the age-old art of crafting healing salves, learning from the plants that thrive around us. Guided by knowledge of native herbs, you’ll explore their protective and restorative properties — and create a balm to carry home as a reminder of the day’s shared care.
Bring the songs you remember from your family, your community, or your own life’s journey. Bring the remedies passed down through stories or experience. Together, we’ll create something that lingers — in voice, in body, and in spirit.
Come for the song, stay for the salve —
and leave with your hands, heart, and city a little more whole.
This event is co-sponsored by Beloved Community Charlotte and QC Family Tree
Community Life
Response Requested!
Leadership at Gatherings:
Here’s the list of who’s leading what through December 2025.*** If you need to switch leadership with someone or let folks know you’ll be absent, the document should be editable. And here’s a guidesheet for preparing to lead Creative Contemplation or Community Response/Prayers for the People. For the fall season, folks who are assigned these roles can use the field guide as a prompt. There is not as much pre-planning during this time.
Sept 7: Helms leads with volunteers determined at the beginning of the gathering
Sept 21: Murphy’s lead music, volunteers lead other elements (determined at beginning of the gathering)
Oct 5: Murphy’s lead music, Shelly leads Creative Contemplation (using field guide, volunteers lead other elements
Childcare:
Sept 7: Shelly Murphy
Sept 21: Paul Pearl
Oct 5: Greg Jarrell
Governance
The next Governance meeting is Sept 27 via zoom at 7:30pm. Here’s the link: https://commonchange.zoom.us/j/7046546546
Here’s our Governance meeting agenda:
Check in
Working group updates
Comms
Justice praxis
Visitors
Budget/finance
Childcare
Misc
UCC status
Space updates
Close
The Future of Ophelia Garmon Brown Center
The Ophelia Garmon Brown Center, where we meet, may have some big changes coming its way soon. Sept 3rd: Meet at the Ophelia Garmon Brown Center at 5:30pm for a tour of the building and to hear about the new Incubator space there. I'm not sure yet whether this means Beloved Community Charlotte will have to begin renting rather than using the space for Free. This is an opportunity for us to learn more. QC Family Tree folks will be there too and will stay at the OGB Center to continue the Rhizome meeting after the tour. 2647 Freedom Dr
Remember to RSVP
Please remember to RSVP to the Google Calendar Invite for BCC Gatherings so that we can make proper childcare arrangements.
QC Family Tree & Praxis Updates
The following are a list of opportunities, organized by QC Family Tree, for you to engage in justice action in our city.
Here’s a link to QCFT Rhizome Coalition announcements.
There’s so much going on with QC Family Tree right now. Are you following QCFT’s social media? Do you get the monthly emails? Please reach out to Helms if you need help signing up for this information.
QC Family Tree’s annual Here for Good Fundraiser Breakfast will be on September 10th at 7:00am Please invite friends and family to attend. Get your tickets now.
Beloved Community School for the Common Good
forming a culture of justice, connection, and collective care.
Fall Season: September- Nov 23, 2025
Wayfinding: Wisdom for Action in the Public Square
What can we learn from our ancestors, the earth, and our traditions to help us build a better future?
How can we use stories, art, and our own experiences to tell the truth about what’s wrong and imagine what’s possible?
How can we use art, actions, and community events to stand up against injustice?
What does it look like to show care and fairness in our communities through public efforts?
Tentative Activation (not confirmed yet)
Carolina Social Music Club facilitates a pop up concert/choir- talking about the background and influence of their songs, their cultural and spiritual lineage (human and More-than- human) They lead folks through singing and crafting a playlist/book of songs that can be used on the streets in protest, public actions, press conferences, etc.
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 our Field Guide for this season of the School for the Common Good. In it, you’ll find all sorts of DIY resources.
Beloved Community Circles: Chris and Shelly have volunteered to host the circle this season. Stay tuned for time and date coming soon.
Ritual Gatherings: Bi-weekly practices of ceremony, creative contemplation, story sharing, and connection rooted in the Christian tradition at Ophelia Garmon Brown Community Center, 2647 Freedom Dr, Charlotte, NC 28208, from 5pm - 7pm.
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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