Preparedness
By Connie Goodbread

The smart church prepares itself, as best it can, for situations that might affect it adversely. What policies do we need to have in place to be safe communities that can then dare to be courageous?
Are we prepared to take in our neighbor when disaster befalls them?
Are we prepared to call the police and allow them to do their jobs if something dangerous is going on?
Are we prepared to have this discussion?
Can we stand the discomfort caused by discussions on background checks and removing people from membership and/or our sanctuary and property?

Blessed is the leader who seeks the best for those (s)he serves. –Unknown

Policies are tools that leaders use even handedly to help the congregation uphold its values and stay on the congregational mission. The mission of the congregation is its ministry.

Does your congregation support its leadership enough to have the kinds of policies in place that might be needed? Yes, let’s hope that nothing horrible happens but it is too late to create the policy when we are in the middle of a harmful, threatening or dangerous situation. Are we supporting the leaders of our congregations with these policies? Thus empowered, leaders take stands grounded in principle not pain, in principle not personality.

These discussions are not easy to have but we must, as good stewards, have them. The issues come in many different varieties and are more and more real. We cannot sit back and say that sort of thing does not happen here. It only happens in other areas on the globe, other denominations, other congregations, other temples or other faith communities. Hurricanes are equal opportunity disasters. We can all be harmed by violence. We are, none of us, immune.

There are many things to do in order to be prepared. There is also a reality that we will never complete the list of the kinds of tragedy that can befall a community. We can only do our best.

1.  A safety policy that empowers leaders to stop dangerous behavior by escorting individuals off the property by the police, if necessary.
2.  A sexual harassment policy.
3.  A living Covenant; said aloud, said often and used to call ourselves and each other back into genuine deep relationship.
4.  A disaster plan for the congregation’s important documents and how people in the congregation will stay connected.
5.  A policy for how the congregation will respond when disaster strikes a congregation near by and one far away. This should include our neighboring faith communities, not just UU.
6.  Background checks for all people who work with children and youth under the age of 18 – starting with staff
7.  Safe classroom and congregation guidelines are in place.
http://www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/congregationalhandbook/34764.shtml  

We need to have a foundation of safety so that we can act courageously – building the beloved community – the world we dream of.

Stages of Faith Development

James Fowler has said that one of the issues facing Unitarian Universalists is that we don’t know what our stories are.
What are our stories?
We are the people who…?
Ours is the faith that…?
We help define ourselves by stories. They are examples, metaphors, or illustrations of our faith. Stories help all people to wrestle with meaning, regardless of age, and the meaning deepens as we change and grow.

Faith Development is all we do. Unitarian Universalism is all we teach.

Do we look at the programs/classes/small groups we are offering to make sure we are covering all six stages of faith development? Do we understand that we do this because there is room for everyone at our table and all must be fed?

Fowler’s Six Stages of Spiritual Development:
“Pre-stage” Undifferentiated Faith (Infancy)
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith (Early Childhood)
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith (School Years or beyond)
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith (Adolescence)
Stage 4: Individual-Reflective Faith (Young Adulthood, Later or Never)
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith (Midlife and Beyond or Never)
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith (Very rare)

When we ask ourselves about the reason that churches exist or how our churches are different from an ethical society or an environmental organization, the answer is Faith Development. Faith Development is all we do. It is the business of the church. We do not exist simply to pay the mortgage or the power bill. We do not exist to hold debates or put together potluck dinners. We exist to help people to become more, become all that they can be. Churches exist to support individuals through the struggles of that process and urge them ever onward. Churches also exist to empower and enable these individuals to go out and build a just and loving world community.

Does Unitarian Universalism have a life saving message to share with the world? Are we relevant for our time and place? Did Unitarian Universalism save your life? Make your life richer? Allow you to live with your life with integrity? Could the good news of Unitarian Universalism help to save others?

People will not learn about our faith anywhere else but from us. It is our responsibility to teach it. How do we teach Unitarian Universalism? What is our message? Do we have a spiritual discipline? Who is qualified to teach our faith?

I think it is important for each of us to struggle with these questions. I know my answers – How would you answer?