The Board Wants to Hear from You

The Board Wants to Hear from You

Submitted by Kerry Heckman

This year the Board of Trustees set the following goal: “Increase Congregational Linkage Through Communications”

Our original intent was for us to communicate more to the congregation, through media such as the newsletter. Then, we realized communication goes two ways and we’d like to invite the congregation to communicate with us.

The recent Presidential election may have some of us questioning, “Who does the government actually work for?” The government is supposed to work for us. That is the purpose of the Board of Trustees. We are here to work for you. We are here to understand and bring about your vision for the church.

In October of 2014, we developed the “ends statements.” We met as a church to brainstorm what matters most to us. Then, the Board consolidated our vision into 5 short statements:

Spiritually aware: We cultivate spiritual awareness, joy and wonder through words, music, the arts and the natural world;

Intellectually excited: We foster intellectual excitement, lifelong learning, truth seeking, and respect for our traditions of reason and faith;

Community builders: We build beloved community through inclusive welcoming, compassion, care, generosity and forgiveness. We create a supportive place to take risks and grow in service to others;

Diverse in belief: We are a people of diverse beliefs united by our covenant. We develop relationships that open us to the lives of people in our congregation, community and world;

Acting for justice: We act for peace and for social, economic, and environmental justice through study, advocacy and outreach.

Each year the Board, ministers, and staff “monitor” each of the ends statements to determine whether or not we are living our vision. We evaluate based on the content of the worship services, the programming of the church, and the connections we are building outside of UCE.

The nine of us do our best to represent each and every member of the congregation, but we are only nine people. We welcome input from all of you. How are we living our “ends”? What are we doing well? What could we be doing better?

For those of you who don’t know who is on the current Board of Trustees, here is a list of our names (our contact information is listed in the church directory):

President: Barbara Ghoshal
Vice President: Janelle Brittain
Susan Comstock
Heike Eghardt
Ann Gadzikowski
Kerry Heckman
Jeanne Kerl
Tom Ticknor
Gary Zacny

Pull one of us aside after the service, request a one-on-one conversation, email us, or call us.

We are here to listen.