CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

UNITE Students believes in empowering every generation in God’s vision of love and grace in our world, and our team is inviting YOU to be a part of the vision and creation of UNITE!

What does that mean? We are looking for students, lay members, children, adults - everyone - to submit writing, art or other creative pieces that may be used as a part of UNITE: this year, in the future, or in some way we haven’t dreamed of yet.

What is UNITE looking for? Whatever you feel inspired to create and submit, we are interested in seeing! You are more creative than our wildest imagination. Whatever ideas you have, submit them below! You will find this year’s Bible stories and themes for each day, for inspiration and guidance, at the bottom of this page.

Here are some suggestions of types of content we’re looking for:

  • Calls to Worship

  • Prayers, Blessings and Benedictions

  • Art: digital, hand-created and scanned-in, music, poetry, photography, etc.

  • Devotions or reflections on the scriptures or stories

  • Spiritual practices

  • Other ideas for UNITE: Worship song requests, games, quotes, future themes, anything you want to share!

  • Really, any other ideas or creations you want to share, we’d love to hear it!

Will my work be used at UNITE? Maybe! UNITE’s creative team loves new ideas and implementing them in creative ways. By submitting words, art and work below, you are consenting to your working being used at this or future UNITE events or any other way Missouri Conference NextGen Ministries may dream of.

Can I submit multiple things? Of course! We just ask that you submit them separately.

Thank you for joining the UNITE team as we dream in new ways! You may be contacted after submitting your work; a parent or guardian will be copied on any communication with minors.

How to Submit

Fill out all fields of the form linked below. If you are under 18, an email address for your parent or guardian is required. Please only submit original works. If you would like some advice or guidance on how to start or craft your words, you can find more information below!

UNITE 2026 Daily Themes

Day One: The Poor in Spirit

Evening: Christ-followers live in this tension: We let go of what makes us feel important and cling to what God calls important, which is to trust God’s love and to love others (Matthew 5:1-3).

Day Two: The Merciful

  • Morning: Christ-followers live in this tension: We show mercy even when we feel like people should pay for what they’ve done (Matthew 5:7; Micah 6:8).

  • Evening: God’s compassion challenges us to love ourselves and others when it doesn’t seem to make sense (Jonah 4:1-4).

Day Three: The Peacemakers

  • Morning: Christ-followers live in this tension: We make peace in a world filled with fear and hate (Matthew 5:9; James 3).

  • Evening: Fighting for your own empire destroys peace. Loving others expands God’s life of peace God has for us (Genesis 13).

Day Four: Those Who Mourn

  • Morning: Christ-followers live in this tension: We allow ourselves to feel burdened in a world desperately promoting happiness (Matthew 5:4; Matthew 11:28-30)

  • Evening: We can trust God with our broken hearts because God’s heart breaks too (John 11:1-44).

Day 5: The Meek

  • Morning: Christ-followers live in this tension: We want to feed our own desires, but God calls us to channel our energy into service (Matthew 5:5; Colossians 3:12).

  • Afternoon: Jesus’ crucifixion shows us what true meekness is and shows us what true love looks like (Galatians 2:20; Matthew 26:36-46)

Tips and Tricks for Writing

Thoughts on Writing a Call to Worship

A Call to Worship is a beautiful invitation for all present to ready themselves, together, for what is about to come. Spoken aloud in one voice, these words have power!

First, we recommend you ready yourself. Pray! Consider one of the themes, Bible stories, characters, or the In Tension theme and see what really stands out to you.

How can you use your words to prepare the room to hear this message or story? What words or phrases do you want to highlight?

As you write, erase, rewrite, adjust and play with your call, remember:

  • Take moments to pause and read your words out loud. Remember, this will be spoken aloud. Does it flow well?

  • Consider the way your words look printed. This will be on a screen. Is it easy to read?

  • Calls to Worship are very flexible! You can have just a few words or several in a response, though consider how easy or difficult the words will be for a room of people to read together.

  • Repetition can be helpful for a crowd to read, but it is not required.

  • Be mindful of your readers, try to avoid words that are too big, but don’t let that limit you too much.

  • Calls to Worship can be inspired by other prayers, scripture, songs or hymns, or even using the words in the theme itself. Feel free to look in other places to add to your call. If you do, be sure to cite, or give credit to, those other sources.

  • Calls to Worship can be quiet, but they can also be loud! Or sung! You can even include actions! Use your imagination.

As you can see, there is so much flexibility for a Call to Worship: They are beautifully steeped in tradition, yet leave so much room for you to play and dream!

Thoughts on Writing a Prayer, Blessing or Benediction

Prayer is such a unique experience that we get to share with the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God. The opportunity to write a prayer, especially one to be shared out loud, is special and holy! There is a lot of space to dream and imagine here.

A benediction is a sending off prayer, a blessing to give to everyone before they leave this worship space and reenter the world. These are usually pretty short prayers spoken over those who are gathered, but you can reimagine them to be loud, interactive, especially quiet, whatever feels right!

Submit My Work