President’s Letter - March 2010
Dear Members and Friends,As I write this, the Board has just scheduled a special Fellowship meeting on March 21 at 12:30 p.m. for all members to hear Francis Sink, our UUA Metro District consultant for “Right Relations,” speak about developing a Fellowship Covenant. You may be aware that several committees have begun the process of drafting a covenant-an affirmation of how members will relate to one another in performing committee work, and…equally important, how we want to be in the world around us. Drafting a covenant is no small task; B&G has been working on a covenant for several months and the Board finally adopted a covenant in December - concluding a process begun in September! On March 21, Francis Sink will address the purpose of a covenant and the value such a commitment will add to all our future work, including discussions regarding our mission, vision, governance and growth- WOW. Yes, we have a lot of big, fundamental, crucial (the adjectives are endless) issues that we must address in the very near future AS A CONGREGATION; the big issues on the horizon can’t be left to committees or the Board or to a volunteer task force. Defining who we are and where we are going is too important to delegate and leave to others; each one of us must come forward and participate in these discussions about our future together. BUT (and here’s where the covenant comes in), before we begin these many conversations, we must ensure that all our discussions and exchanges will occur in an environment consonant with our U.U. faith and ideals. That is why establishing a fellowship-wide covenant is such an important first step to all the other issues, challenges and opportunities we will soon confront. So that is the goal of a fellowship covenant: to create an environment where divergent, conflicting and (even) antithetical ideas are freely voiced…and heard! And if you can read this, you know such an environment does not happen by accident.
Developing a fellowship-wide covenant will not be easy; it raises knotty issues, such as how do we enforce the covenant? How do we respond when a member dismisses the obligation of personal service, or demeans our potential to help heal a broken world and show hope where there is none in sight? I don’t know the answer, but if we can all discuss these issues together, that would be a terrific start. In short, we need everyone’s participation to make this as meaningful a process as it can and should be. The process of developing a covenant will begin with our meeting with Francis Sink on March 21; please come-especially if you are not actively participating on a standing committee, i.e., we need everyone’s ACTIVE engagement. At the March 21 meeting, it is the Board’s hope that a task force will emerge to shape and manage development of our covenant by organizing small and large group discussions of what a covenant might, or should, include. Ideally, this task force will collect the thoughts of our membership and work through the mechanics of drafting a proposed covenant to present to the whole membership for consideration at the annual meeting. Rev. Jim will ask the community circles to spend some time on discussing a Fellowship-wide covenant and if we really pull together, we should have a draft document that everyone has seen, discussed, debated, and thought about for consideration at the annual meeting. Anne Pearl and Gerry Peet will be the Board representatives on the covenant task force; are you interested in serving, participating or helping? If so, please let them know and please come to the special meeting on Mach 21 at 12:30 p.m. All the other news from the Board room is much more mundane. Committee budgets must be in to the Treasurer by no later than April 1 (no joke). If all committees can get a proposed budget in by April 1, the Board will convene a special meeting to discuss a draft budget on May 2 at 12:30 p.m. in the sanctuary-well in advance of the annual meeting when members will be asked to vote a budget up or down.
On March 14 the annual pledge drive will begin. We have ambitious goals that will require generous pledging. For example, the Board wants to increase the time commitment we pay our employees more fairly to more accurately reflect to time they give and their value to our community. We need to keep improving this facility to make the limited space we have as functional as possible. And we need to improve our administrative and management systems-we’re growing and as we grow we must add to our infrastructure: we need a safe to secure petty cash, we need better internet and telephone access and we need to pay for our new roof and bat eviction! In 2009, the Board established a suggested minimum pledge of $750; many are not yet at this level of commitment; if you are not at this level please think about the personal value of our Fellowship to you in you life and . . . the POTENTIAL of the UUBCO, Inc.!
Lastly, the annual meeting has been scheduled for June 6 at 10:30 a.m. There will be a regular service at 9:00 a.m. and at 10:30 a.m., we will convene the annual meeting. Three trustees are up for election; if you are interested in serving on the Board, please contact any member of the Nomination Committee.
Please try to attend - it’s your Fellowship.
Rick Turner, President
Board of Trustees