Trustee Report, June 2004

UUA Trustee Report
Joan Lund
June, 2004, General Assembly, Long Beach, California

Being at, and participating in GA this year was a wonderful, challenging, and busy experience for your UUA Trustee. Gene and I arrived in Long Beach on Tuesday morning, easily beginning to enjoy the beautiful southern California coast weather. We were there until the following Tuesday afternoon, when we ?shuttled? back to Los Angeles, picked up a rental car, drove to San Diego, where my youngest son and wife live, and spent another week. Glorious! My report on GA will be mostly personal observations and brief summaries on specific activities during the entire week as the Board does not conduct much business during this time. Although we met Wednesday and Thursday afternoons before GA began, and then again on Tuesday morning following GA, our meetings were taken up with guests, Board responsibilities during GA, and evaluation of the week during our ending session.

According to our Rev. Mary Higgins approximately 90 Florida UUs were in attendance, and 11 of those folks are congregational presidents. I hope each one of our presidents attended the Saturday afternoon UUA President/Board of Trustees/Congregation Presidents/ Moderator workshop. I have heard several positive reports from presidents about it and of course, in order to be reimbursed your GA registration the presidents needed to submit the form distributed at that event. More about the workshop later in the report. As you know most of the significant GA happenings can be found at www.uua.org. I have been there many times to re-live the week. Did you know that the entire text of Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt?s Service of the Living Tradition sermon titled ?Count It All Joy? can be found by going to the website and clicking on Service of the Living Tradition? I urge you to visit the website and find what interests you. If you have questions or comments please let me know. You can use jlund@uua.org or phone me at 813-931-9727.

UUA BOARD OF TRUSTEES INFORMATION

Finance Committee

I am not on the FC of the Board but will note that they worked all of Wednesday morning. That afternoon Board passed the following items: (1) we authorized the Executive Committee of the Board to make adjustments as needed to the GA fee structure for GA 2005; (2) we set the fiscal year 2006 Annual Program Fund per member request at $51.00, large congregations will still be offered the option to contribute an amount equal to 4.2% of their operating budget; (3) we authorized the UUA to conduct a collaborative study with the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to investigate possible arenas of collaboration, spending up to $10,000.00 in this endeavor.

YRUU

The Board welcomed three Young Religious Unitarian Universalists to our Tuesday post-GA morning meeting. Personally I know of no more dedicated and energetic UUs than the young people of YRUU. They presented an historical review of YRUU, beginning after the end of Liberal Religious Youth in 1981. Knowing young people needed a total revisioning of youth programming at that time, Common Ground I brought together all the visionaries and young people with great ideas in the UUA and CUC. Since YRUU was formed over twenty years ago, with a structure, purpose, bylaws, and procedures, the organization has remained basically unchanged and there has been little opportunity for a large revisioning of YRUU by the youth who are invested in it. Although YRUU values the work done and use the ideas generated from Common Ground I, and the fifteen year review, they feel a bigger scale revisioning is needed for their organization. Hopefully this will be undertaken at a proposed Common Ground III, to be held in 2006, by bringing together many different youth and adults who have diverse views on YRUU and youth programming. Ideas for the formation of the Common Ground III Planning Group have been discussed, but there is still a need to reevaluate who will be in this group and how they will be selected. Rev. Bill Sinkford and a youth selected at Youth Council will be the co-conveners of the Planning Group. Further information about this exciting possibility can be found at www.uua.org/yruu/governance or the Youth Office of the UUA.

GA HAPPENINGS

Receptions and Workshops

On Thursday afternoon before the Banner Parade the Districts held their respective In-gatherings. We were welcomed by Mary Higgins and District President, Steve Helle. Steve talked about, and answered questions concerning the Carver Model of Governance. I spoke briefly about some GA housekeeping requests and hospitality opportunities regarding the up-coming days at the Assembly. My only regret about our meeting was not being able to talk with more Florida folks, because immediately from there the District Presidents, Steve, and I went to a reception sponsored and attended by our UUA President, Rev. Bill Sinkford.

On Friday afternoon I attended a workshop titled Safe Congregations: Empowering Safety in UU Congregations, led by Tracey Robinson-Harris, Director for Congregational Services, and Qiyamah Rahman. They focused on identification of factors that historically have compromised congregational safety, and facilitated a discussion about how to reduce those risk factors and identified available resources. See the next paragraph if you wish to obtain information from Rev. Robinson-Harris concerning congregational safety.

Because I believe our UU anti-racism/anti-oppression/multi-culturalism work is some of the most important social justice work we do I attended the Many Paths, One Journey: Anti-Oppression Consulting workshop. It is important that you know the Office for Congregational Justice Making is offering a variety of resources and programs to support UUs in congregations and districts engaged in anti-racism and anti-oppression work. You can find information about all UU programs at the UUA website or contact Rev. Tracey Robinson Harris at trobinsonharris@uua.org.

A workshop for congregation presidents/board chairs sponsored by the District President?s Association titled ?I?m the President of WHAT???? was one of the best I attended. A sample of the topics covered in this workshop was: governance, board size, length of board meetings, board self-assessment, decision making, and communications with the congregation. The leaders of this workshop, Lynda Bluestein, President of the District Presidents? Association, and Rev. Harlan Limpert, Director for District Services distributed an excellent reference booklet with bibliography which is a valuable reference for church boards and presidents. Contact hlimpert@uua.org it you are interested in a copy.

All of Saturday afternoon was devoted to the ?Congregational Presidents Workshop: Imagining Our Future. This workshop, led by President Sinkford and Moderator Courter, and assisted by the Board of Trustees, focused on the priorities of the Association. I touched briefly upon the topics generated by the presidents in my August UUA Trustee Tidbits and will to expand upon it now, attempting no duplicating of information. The presidents were asked to respond to the following: What do you wish you had known before becoming the president/president-elect of your congregation? More than 300 questions/comments were submitted by the presidents in attendance and were categorized into the topics that follow. (While the some of the Trustees were working on the cards the presidents met in small groups, paired with individuals in the group, and shared specifically outlined experiences concerning their churches.) Growth: growth in depth related to growth in numbers, social justice work as it relates to growth and spirituality, sacrificing humanist and non-theistic beliefs in the effort to grow, and hearing congregational voices in growth program priorities. Congregations: understanding the power of working together and with the District, the UUA helping congregation leaders network like ministers do, developing a UUA identity while respecting diversity and difference, establishing a mentoring program for experienced congregations to help newer ones, helping congregation leadership change the old ?anti-UUA? attitude in some longtime members, the UUA helping clusters and districts provide more leadership training, the UUA helping congregations see the connection between money and services, and assisting congregations in finding help in financing new buildings. Lifespan Faith Development: the UUA helping in increasing the number of children enrolled in RE programs, getting involved in campus ministry, and developing more intergenerational leadership. Communications: methods of communication between the UUA and congregations and among congregations, ways to be included in ?mainstream? media?, learning ?best practices? to articulate our beliefs to the wider world, and making more use of modern electronic technology. General Assembly: increasing Annual Program Fund money to fund delegate attendance, the UUA making more use of technology for distance participation, giving more programming to congregations, GA providing network meetings for church committees to share successes/failures/learnings, taking GA home to the congregations, encouraging young adults to be involved, and obtaining information/resources about models of organizing denominational affairs. Social Justice: learning about spiritual grounding rather than debating language, making our social witness process simpler/more relevant/more attractive to leaders/inspiration to congregations to take action, and

spending more time discussing issues of current social concern, more Plenary time for social justice concerns (less on administrative matters), and implementation of our SOCs and AIWs within our congregations. Our Faith: the faith the UUA expects individuals to share, more GA time provided to talk about our faith/spirituality, history and religious inheritance, and the role an ?atheist/agnostic? group plays in the ?language of reverence connected to the reality across the nation. Governance: UUA use of the ?Carver? policy governance method, and UUA being out of touch with current issues and priorities of congregations.

The last workshop I want to talk about, ?Getting Ready to Grow?, was held on Sunday and sponsored by the Board of Trustees. This workshop featured three ministers from rapid-growth congregations, one each from a small, medium, and large church. These ministers shared their experiences regarding what has to happen within congregations to get to growth and how to manage continued growth. ?Nothing succeeds like success? (I don?t remember who said that) and I found this to be a very valuable workshop, so worthy, in fact, the information gained will probably be used by your faithful Trustee in Sunday services in which I am invited to speak.

Plenaries

Paraphrasing an often quoted book title?All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum, all you could possibly want to know about the four plenaries can be found on the UUA website. However, I must note an important award was given to a Florida District UU at the Monday plenary. Katie Templin-Culbert of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa received The Social Action Leadership Award given by the UUSC. This award was established in 1977 to honor creative, inspiring, and effective leadership by an individual or group working for justice in cooperation with the UUSC. Katie participated in the UUSC?s Alternative Spring Break work camp to train activists for the upcoming national election, something on which she will be working in the churches of Florida. For several years she has been involved in various social justice activities including the Earth Charter movement, the Alliance for Peace and Social Justice, and the Democracy Rising Super Rally. Congratulations Katie!

The Service of the Living Tradition

The highlight of this Friday evening service honoring UU ministers and credentialed religious education leaders was the sermon, titled ?Count It All Joy?, and was delivered by Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt. The full text of the sermon is at the UU website. To me the message spoken to all of us, addressed the privileges ministers experience as agents of love. The Service was marred only in the fact that some folks, despite being asked to refrain from applause/reaction during the recognition of ministers in various stages of their ministry until everyone had been recognized, insisted on clapping/hooting following the name of their particular favorite minister.

As you can imagine there were more events, performances, and workshops that I attended. I know there are folks in your congregations who were at GA and are probably more than willing to share this wonderful experience with you. Talk to them?and talk to me if you wish. I await your calls and emails. And thanks for taking the time to read this report.

Tidbits, 06/2004

UUA TRUSTEE TIDBITS
Joan Lund, June 2004

Ah, June, a month when schools break for the summer, the weather is hot, and UUs make their way to wherever General Assembly is being held?this year in Long Beach, California. However, GA was the subject of my May communication; therefore a different topic this month. It goes without saying that UUs have rich history of working to be a vital part in our political system, dating back to the earliest days of our U. S. government. Our fifth principle states ?we will covenant to affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process with our congregations and in society at large?. As people of faith we are called to promote civic action as part of our moral responsibility.

Faithful Democracy is part of our UUA Advocacy and Witness Programs and is an interfaith, grassroots coalition drawn from many religious traditions: the strength of the coalition is found in encouraging voter registration, educating voters, getting out the vote, monitoring the polls, and advocating for voter rights. Our congregations need to be involved in these five important areas of work and can begin by forming a voter task force and deciding together the issues most relevant to your congregation and community. The UUA Advocacy and Witness staff believes that this work should be done in partnership with community groups, perhaps groups that work with communities with traditionally low voter turnout. You can check www.faithfuldemocracy.org for faith groups active in your area.

It is recommended that congregation work be planned so that it includes some activities in each of the five above-listed areas, and begins by brainstorming goals in each area and then narrowing them down to a manageable list; then repeating the process for each area. An example of one goal could be to make certain all eligible folks in your congregation are registered to vote and to have a voter registration table at several after-service coffee times. Note that a Federal Election Commission Regulation requires that signs be posted at voter registration sites stating the services are available without regard to voter?s political preference. In brainstorming sessions you might think about activities that would excite the media. Partnerships and joint activities might be positively covered by the media. The UUA has provided a time-line for your voting work: present-September, 2004, registration and voter education activities; August-October, intensive voter registration as most state?s 30 day registration deadline is approached; September-October, Get Out the Vote (GOTV); November 2, 2004, work as poll monitors and/or facilitate rides to the polls; Post-election, reporting back to the UUA best practices voter activities.

Perhaps I have crammed too much in one column but you can find out so much more and get a guide, authored by the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy, by logging on to www.uua.org/justice or www.uua.org/voting. I urge you to do this vital election work this summer and fall. If I can be of help or answer questions don?t hesitate to call (813-931-9727) or email me at jlund@.uua.org or lundjb@verizon.net.