UUA Trustee Report

Joan Lund
Boston, MA, April 14-17, 2005

After a fine District Annual meeting one weekend, the next found me in Boston where the weather was cool when I arrived and quite spring-like when I departed. When I left Monday morning (Patriot’s Day and a holiday), the city was in high anticipation for the Boston Marathon scheduled to start at noon. Although the temperatures were beginning to warm the trees are still bare, but there are many window boxes and street-side planters filled with blooming spring flowers. A nice time to be in Boston, considering what was experienced in January.

As reported in January the Board of Trustees is deeply involved in discussion concerning the vision, mission, and ministry related to our work and relationships with our congregations. We met Thursday and Friday nights asking the question, “What is unique about the ministry we offer the world?” We know our faith invites all people to bring their true selves to participate in, and create authentic spiritual community. We know we celebrate the diversity of sources, perspectives, and experiences of truth, which is ever unfolding. We know folks come to our congregations to find faith, hope, and love. But there is so much more we do not know, and the list of questions we asked is far too long to include here. The BOT will continue to seek answers and work on behalf of our Association. As a result of our work both now and in January we agreed on our Statement of Call, which states we are called to lead our Association of faith communities through a web of independence and interdependence: to deeper spiritual awareness and nurture; ways and means for living our faith in the world; and the promise that the many might become and be one. The BOT will do this by: being a faith community; acting with humility; telling our UU stories so that our tradition lives; acknowledging the primacy of congregations and fostering their health; developing professional and lay leadership; being an agency of change through frequent re-examination and renewal of our vision, mission, and ministry; listening to, and mirroring and helping make concrete hopes and dreams in the larger UU movement; aligning our patterns of organization and behavior with a vision of right relations based on trust, generosity, and hospitality; being prudent stewards of our human and financial resources; collaborating with other UU entities; and participating in diverse multicultural partnerships. Our work continues.

Each time I write a summary of the intensive, challenging weekend BOT meeting I wonder about my organization and hope you are being well served. I shall continue to organize the report according to past efforts. As you know the BOT meets Saturday and Sunday, pretty much all of both days. On Fridays the Working Groups meet to receive reports, hear from invited staff and guests, and to discuss the business of the group. From these meetings come the reports and motions presented at the “official” BOT meetings. Both at the working group meetings and the BOT meeting, we have observers. The number of observers varies greatly. Florida’s own UU Clearwater Music Director, Frank Wells, has been with us as an observer for both the January and April meeting representing the Young Adults. The District President’s Association representative is always with us.

CALLING ALL CONGREGATION PRESIDENTS: Remember your registration will be paid for when you attend General Assembly in Fort Worth. Last year we had approximately 11 presidents. This wouldn’t it be great to see at least double that number?

President Bill Sinkford’s Report

  • Congregational growth is ever on our minds and at this time adult membership in congregations show a ½% increase over a year ago. Some see this as miniscule and forecast the demise of our faith because the US population is growing faster than we are, and therefore we are a shrinking proportion of the population. How we look at this depends upon asking the question, is the UU glass half full or half empty? It seems if we look at other denominations we find the Orthodox Church in America has grown 11.1% in the last 12 months but many other major religious bodies have grown in the percentage range we have, several have grown less than 1%, and the Lutheran, the United Church of Christ, the American Baptists, and the Presbyterian Church have declined.
  • Bill reported the UUA continues to be in an experimental mode with support for local growth efforts. (More will be written toward the end of the report about Florida District growth data.) With 20% growth last year in the Kansas City area and Houston exceeding set growth goals, advertising, and marketing will continue to be a part of how our “good news” is spread. Pathways, the experimental new church start in Ft. Worth, has been offering worship for about 6 months. Their average attendance is exceeding 100 congregants, only time will tell just how large this congregation will become. The next major new church start is going to be in the Devon, Pa. area.
  • Decline in reported RE enrollment over the last three years is troubling. Analysis is being completed and the UUA has yet to complete the analysis which will factor in the significant shifts in the racial/cultural make up of the US school age population. Bill expects that analysis to show we are holding our own among Caucasians, but not among the rapidly expanding Latina/0/Hispanic or Asian/Pacific Islander communities.
  • The UUA is taking the approach of “inspiration” to motivate more UU congregations to adopt growth as a way of religious life. Four “breakthrough” congregations will be highlighted in Plenary in Fort Worth. They will tell stories of the triumph, stresses, and struggles that go with growth, and their deep satisfaction regarding their work.
  • The UUA has been in the process of developing a logo, or corporate identity, for the work of the staff. The BOT was treated to a power point unveiling of the progress so far. Bill said “though the logo will be for the work of the staff, it is clear that it will go broader than that”.
  • The President’s Volunteer Service Award will be given in Fort Worth to Ken Carpenter, an old friend of many on the BOT. The planning for the Sunday worship in Ft. Worth is nearly complete. Rev. Rob Hardies, All Souls UU Church, Washington, D.C. will give the sermon, titled “Born Again, and Again, and Again”.
  • UUA public witness in support of marriage equality continues, led by our ministers across the country. On the May 17 th first anniversary of the legal same sex marriages in Massachusetts the UUA will host an “Anniversary Party”, to which the plaintiff couples in the court case, other same sex couples, and heterosexual couples married in the last year will be invited. This will be an opportunity for us to communicate in public that the institution of marriage is “alive and well” in Massachusetts.

Executive Vice-president Kay Montgomery’s Report

Rev. David Hubner, Director, Ministry and Professional Leadership, will be retiring. Search for a successor will begin in late fall. A new study of 100,000 college students revealed they are in search of spiritual growth. Identified UU students had the highest responses in the areas of spirituality


Secretary Rev. Wayne Arnason’s Report

Wayne reported 925 congregations are certified for General Assembly, including 4 from Canada. The Internet Technology staff made the process smooth and transparent on line this year. The election process is on track; ballot counting will be done by paid staff, there will be a rented scan machine, and delegates will need proper identification.

Financial Advisor Larry Ladd’s Report

Larry is completing an eight-year term as the UUA Financial Advisor. His last history lesson featured Sophia Lyons Fahs (1876-1978). Rev. Fahs was ordained at age 82, after many years developing curriculum and working with children. She actively worked until 1965. Larry offered a retrospective of his work and successes and closed with “parting” advice. He said if we continue to focus on governance and maintenance we will continue to grow at about 1.5 % per year. We should focus on mission, always looking outward, and retaining healthy skepticism. He admonished us to be worthy of our youth; to create a welcoming culture for them. Larry concluded by suggesting to us that money is an instrument of our values. Gini Courter, UUA Moderator said of him, “Larry has made our life religious”.

Working Groups (meet all day Friday)

LIVING OUR FAITH. A guest at this meeting was Rev. Sean Parker Dennison, member of the Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Committee (JTWTC). Discussion has been in progress regarding a possible name change for this committee. The last two years of “monitoring and assessment” has revealed many of our congregations who started the “work” now feel stuck. We have done well at saying we are “on a journey” towards transformation and justice but we still need to explore what it means when we say “wholeness”. We need a UU theology. There is a real commitment to helping make sure this work is connected at the congregational level. JTWTC maintains contact with 56 stakeholders, as well as with congregations. At GA this year JTWTC, in lieu of workshops, will focus on establishing relationships, and have as many face-to-face meetings as possible with congregational leaders and stakeholders. JTWTC will have a boot in the Exhibition Hall. JTWTC stressed the importance of relating to theological schools and training ministers in Anti-racisim/Anti-opression/Multi-culturalism (AR/AO/MC). Needed is a UU theology of wholeness to provide a compelling vision of why to do this work, imagining what it will look like, learning how to do it, and how to be “smart” and skilled in change theory.

  • Symptoms of institutional marginalization of children and youth which arose during earlier BOT meetings around ministry with, and for youth were discussed with Mary Miles, Director of the Annual Program Fund, Rev. Dennison, and Julian Sharp, youth BOT observer. At the congregational level there is a need to look at the meaning of membership for everyone. It is ageist to assume that “youth” don’t have financial resources and wouldn’t be willing to make a contribution to the congregation’s shared ministry. Stewardship and APF were discussed with concerns focused on how a congregation can move into right relationship with youth. At the Association level LOF questioned the APF structure, asking if it is creating a discouragement to having the congregation “count” youth as members.
  • LOF and Bill Sinkford, David Petee, Ned Wight, Tamara Payne-Alex, and Sean Dennison discussed the Panel on Theological Education report focusing attention on the fragility of our seminaries’ financial well-being and what it means to be an effective minister in the 21 st century. Are out seminaries prepared to offer the education needed for ministry in large churches, for stewardship, for transformation, for growth, and for inclusive worship? It is clear theological education is key to the health of our movement and we need to be clearer on what UUism really is. Ministers are trained by other faith groups with no accountability to UUism (we have seminarians scattered among 75 non-UU schools), and our UU seminaries need for enrollment may tend to allow for less rigorous discernment of who brings the most excellence to this calling. Seminaries have little accountability to congregations. What does living out our principles and living out our faith mean to theological education; what does it look like for lay leaders, religious educators, and for ministers? There will be further discussions.
  • The JUUST Consultancy report indicated it will be important for the BOT to receive regular updates on the progress of this mode of program delivery. LOF had questions about this program, suggesting there needs a more full communication about this initiative to us and to our congregations. LOF wonders how this can or should be tied to our District structures.

GROWTH. Rev. Tracey Robinson-Harris, Director of the Congregational Services, offered an overview of current regional growth initiative, arranged by activity during each quarter. Current UUA regional growth strategy reflects the needs and passions of UUs in particular areas. AR/AO/MC focus is being infused into these growth strategies. The important thing so far, learned about growth strategy is that “we” can be evangelists for our faith in ways that are compatible with who we are. The original New Congregation Task Force Growth Vision (10 new large congregations in 5 years) was a vision, not a plan and there has been learning about staffing, funding, and different measurement outcomes from Association experience. The BOT’s concern is how do we interface with growth initiatives? What criteria will be employed to assess “effectiveness”? Although immense amounts of data are being produced about the success of growth initiatives/strategies how are “we” drawing out the maximum amount of learning from this path? The question remains, “how do we institutionalize healthy, non-defensive relationships and positive collaboration in our growth work”?

  • Olivia Holmes, Director of the Office on International Relations, spoke to the Growth WG about what “we” are doing now to foster congregational engagement in international work. With regard to three specified areas, she described progress toward greater congregational involvement includes: modeling friendship and right relations, economic fairness and responsible stewardship of resources among partners; promoting human rights, religious freedom and international peace and justice; and increasing the visibility of UUism, Unitarianism, and Universalism as an active positive religious presence in the world. It is apparent the international vision does not belong to only one working group. Reporting to the BOT could be through all four WGs, applying the lens of each WG. Questions remain involving how much the BOT needs to know to be able to make appropriate decisions in this arena. Our BOT needs to be in relationship with boards of multiple international organizations prompting the question of whether the BOT needs to name its own liaison for international work.

OUR ASSOCIATION. Part of the day was devoted to meeting jointly with the Growth WG (see that section of this report). Bill Sinkford reported on progress in the development of logotype for branding UUA staff work (see section of report devoted B. Sinkford). Jane Rzepka reported the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) will launch a Church of the Younger Fellowship at GA as an autonomous but not independent part of CLF. CYF will be fully electronically based, designed with transient young adult communities in mind so they can express and fulfill spirituality on line and have a voice within institutional UUism. The young adults desire delegate status at GA and to be able to shape the future of our movement; they will also pay fair share APF. The two goals for CLF’s two goals are: reaching out to isolated UUs, and growing the movement. The CYF website will debut with many interactive opportunities: online community functions, worship resources and experiences, and some social outreach opportunities. Focus currently is interaction rather than content, which will continue to be available through CLF. The BOT expressed concern whether enough content will be there for people new to UUism, and asked where pastoral leadership for CYF will come from.

  • The Association WG put forth the motion to approve the “Recommended Salary Ranges for UUA Congregations”, effective January 1, 2006. Motion passed at the BOT meeting.
  • Gini Courter and Harlan Limpert, Director, District Services, reported on the planning for congregation president training to occur before the 2006 GA in St. Louis. This training will be offered every other year and focus on the needs expressed by presidents: being an effective president; training for congregational finance people; and training for people working on growth/membership. The cost for this additional day and a half has yet to be determined. Harlan sees this training as an opportunity to use districts and field staff well to promote this endeavor.
  • The Congregations WG has been asked to review the mandate and membership of the BOT’s Compensation Committee. This is part on ongoing review of the role and use of BOT members as liaisons and committee members from the Committee on Committees and the Best Practices Committee.

OUR ASSOCIATION. The Independent Affiliates Task Force presented a draft for review, and Beth McGregor reviewed the Planning Committee’s recent discussions about GA program slots. Concerns about the PC being the decision-makers for awarding these program slots were outlined. There is a preference that slots for congregational workshops will be pre-screened by districts/staff, and would like guidelines on how to allocate priorities for program slots. Issues and decisions include: recommending that programs must deal with substantive topics of interest to the movement and congregations rather than recruitment or business meetings; BOT should approve International Organizations for affiliation in consultation with the Director of International Relations; no more than two each for GA workshops allotted to International Organizations; and eliminating the “related” or “other” organizations category. The frame for these changes is the importance of creating space for congregations to do and receive programs benefiting them at GA.

  • A spokesman from the RE Credentialing Committee (RECC) reported on their work. The AWG raised the issue of how the Board’s relationship to the RECC functions, compared to that of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC), where the BOT appoints two representatives. The AWG recommended the BOT have a direct voting member liaison with the RECC. MFC proposed rules changes were discussed.
  • Motions from the AWG recommending: the BOT pass the proposed amendments to the rules of the MFC; the BOT adopt the recommended grants from the Panel on Theological Education; and the BOT pass the rules of the RECC. All motions passed.

Best Practices Committee

The Open UUA Implementation status report indicated the group meets regularly by conference call, and maintains an active email life on the UUA website. Open UUA will present a report during GA plenary. There was a brief discussion in January about the need to develop policies to manage the safekeeping/distribution of sensitive data on email lists. The discussion continues. Orientation of the 5 incoming BOT members and the October BOT retreat were discussed. Motion: Moderator Courter and two Trustees be approved to join two senior UUA staff members in attending a 3-day seminar on policy governance, June, 2005. Motion passed.

Finance Committee

Bill Sinkford reported that although the Administration is not required to deliver a balanced budget for “out year”, the 2007 budget is “virtually” balanced because of the increase in projected income. In addition to 4.2% growth in APF, Friends of the UUA income is projected to increase almost $600,000 to $2,100,000. Total Income for General Support is forecast to grow by 6.5%. Spending by program area remains basically unchanged from the 2006 budget, reflecting consistency of strategic investment. Priorities: increased visibility/voice and UU growth.

The FC moved to amend the motion of January, 2005, regarding the Investment Policies and Guidelines presented in December, 2004 report of the Committee on Socially Responsible Investing by reinstating the language “or those companies where weapons represent over 5% of revenue” after the phrase “are major weapons manufacturers (top 50)”; and that the BOT receive the FY07 Operating Budget dated April, 15, 2005. Both motions passed.

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression/MulticulturalismCommittee

Identified “break through” congregations will be asked to highlight their AR/AO/MC work. A member of the AR/AO/MC team will be observing the Committee on Committees to educate ourselves on their competence in work and to help us develop a better lens for understanding change theory and commitment to AR/AO/MC.

Other News/Information

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION COMMISSION ON APPRAISAL REPORT. Rev. Earl Holt, chair of the Commission on Appraisal (COA) reported on the Commission’s upcoming publication. The nine-person Commission is elected at GA, rotates on three new Commissioners every three years, and reports directly to GA, but it is the custom for the BOT to preview the report prior to GA. In 2002 the Commissioners created a mission statement that was inspired by this charge: Grounded in the living tradition of our free faith, yet charged with acting independently, the COA’s mission is to provoke deep reflection, energizing and revitalizing UUism. Rev. Holt said the report (a result of four years work) is a fair representation of where our Association stands today. Its lasting impact, in part, will be in providing a picture of where we are at this time. We need to use where we are to deepen and widen our focus; we don’t have to believe together but we need to “do” together. A copy will be sent to each congregation. This report should be read and discussed in every congregation; it is a great resource for congregations to reach greater clarity and understanding.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD WILL BE GIVEN TO REV. EUGENE NAVIAS

GENERAL ASSEMBLY. There is a website for GA on a budget, found at uua.ogr/ga. Click on “accessibility” and then “economic accessibility”. Scholarships for 2006; applications must come from congregations or districts, not individuals, and the scholarships will be matching grants of up to $500. Starting this year, only congregation and district banners will be hung in the common areas. Other groups are welcome to hang their banners at their exhibit booths.

SOME FLORIDA DISTRICT DATA (over a 10-year period). Today there are 43 congregations in which there are 4,993 members. Ten years ago there were 4,667 Florida District UUs; I don’t know how many congregations at that time. Our percent change over ten years has been 7% and the average annual percent change has been 0.7%; numerically we have added 326 members.

There is so much more I could write but, keeping with a pledge made to myself, using up this much paper is enough! Thanks to all of you who read this report. PLEASE, please contact me if you wish additional information about a specific topic or one I seem to have omitted, jlund@uua.org or 813-931-9727. I enjoyed being with UU friends at the District Annual Meeting. Stay connected and in good health.