Another update from Jeanne Kerl

1) The No Agenda meeting was held last weekend. Many folks asked “why was I picked to participate”.  We dreamed up this event relatively quickly and we’re busy folks—we also knew that we didn’t want it to get too big (aiming for 25 people).  We also hoped that if the budget allows for it—we fully intend to continue the effort next fall and Greg and his Transitions team will be addressing some of these same issues when they hold cottage groups or focus during the next 6 months or so.  We invited some staff (not all). We looked at a list of the major groups and asked one leader from that group to attend. It was hit or miss because not everyone could come at the appointed time.  But it was a wonderful group. We talked about what UCE means to us and how we knew we found “our people” and why we stay.

We then went on to examine the Covenant of Engagement and pick a few things that we think are essential to it. Then we asked ourselves what are the challenges to meeting those essential things. Many ideas bubbled up—it was clear that our staff are working too many hours and doing a lot—Greg and his team will be talking through that and the board and other leaders will help them sort through the next steps to addressing this. Stay tuned

2)  Rummage sale:  I heard loud and clear from this month’s Treasurer’s report that we need to finish strong by having a successful Rummage Sale. This event sponsors so much that we do.  So, get creative, put some posters up about it at your local Starbucks/Cupitol/the library/the bank—wherever. Use your own social media to tell people about the event. Then: bring your stuff/volunteer and have fun—meet someone new.

3) Pledge drive: We have had an amazing team working on this, Julie, Martha Holman (who is an energizer bunny about Pledge Drive), Sandra, Susan (newly back from Croatia and taking over the Energizer Bunny role from Martha).  We are getting close—but we still need follow through. If you can pitch in an extra $10/$25/$50/$100 please consider it.  Do it online and mark it pledge or put it in an envelope and give it to the office or even put in the plate (but mark it PLEDGE DRIVE.) Thanks to all that keep our amazing community moving along.  Please thank the team members the next time you see them—they are gifts to all of us.

Board Chat on April 28 after both services. Stop by the table and ask us a question or just chat.

Hello UCE community,

I promised that I would update you more often, so, here we go…

1) The board has invited a group of church leaders to attend a Friday night, Saturday morning meeting called the “No Agenda” meeting on April 12-13th. This meeting idea came out of board discussions related to the interim self-examination led by Rev. Greg. A facilitator, recommended by our regional UUA office (MidAmerica), will lead us–her name is Karen Gustafson. She will help us explore several issues: how we relate to our ministers, how we relate to our staff (and vice versa in both cases), how we might discern if we are doing too much? We also want to discuss how we might decide which projects are closest to our mission and say “no” to supporting others. This is all part of the interim self-reflection. Greg and I assume that this will only be the first of these meetings with different leaders/congregants invited in the future. The larger congregation will also be talking about these themes over the next year. Greg has many activities planned. If you have any questions about this meeting—just ask me: figkerl@gmail.com

2) Search Committee: the same weekend that we’ll be holding the No Agenda meeting, the Ministerial Search Committee will be holding their retreat. This is retreat just for them.  They will be led not by Rev. Amy Shaw, but by Lisa Presley from MidAmerica. Rev. Amy’s schedule was too busy for her to lead this retreat or to be our Transitions Coach.  And, due to the reorganization of job roles at MidAmerica, Lisa Presley will no longer be our point person for transitions. After the retreat, our Search Committee will have a new coach.  Christine Purcell will be our coach and she is a member of the Congregational Life staff who is coordinating transitions in the Southern, New England, and, as of now, the MidAmerica region as well. We look forward to learning more from the committee as they settle into their new role.  They will be busy getting our Congregational record ready this summer and fall and I’m sure they’ll be sharing updates with you.

3) Budget: the board’s primary focus right now is the budget. As we find out how much has been pledged—we’ll be able to continue work on the budget. We are making reminder phone calls this week to folks who haven’t had a chance to return their pledge forms. If we get forms into the office a timely manner–the whole process is so much easier. Remember the annual meeting will be held May 19th.  If you have questions before that, please email me.  Sandra Robinson and Tom Ticknor have been holding information tables at the back of the sanctuary for anyone to ask questions about the budget. Again, ask questions if you have them.

4) Endowment committee: We are so lucky to have an endowment committee who handle all the applications for funding. They ask the applicants thoughtful questions and keep the proposals moving. They are also the stewards of our Endowment fund—trying to ensure that it performs well. With last year’s major gift to the Endowment fund—there are more applications and a larger fund to manage.  But with this greater responsibility comes more joy as engaging programming, social justice projects and new additions to UCE (like the new teal hymnals) are funded. The board and endowment are working together to discern how the endowment funds should be used. We have guidelines, but the guidelines are open to interpretation.We are working together and will continue to do so. These are conversations that will be ongoing. If your group wants to champion and organize a worthwhile project, please do. The Endowment application can be found on the website>Members>Endowment.

5) Rummage Sale: if you are relatively new to UCE you may not know much about the Rummage Sale. It is one of our largest fundraisers and, more importantly, it’s a huge team effort. I have worked in the clothes department for several years (on and off) and I the people that work in that department have fun as we sort through with the mountain of old t-shirts, etc. that descends upon us.

Consider donating a couple hours of your time, bake a treat that can be sold in the café, or pitch in with the clean-up team. Every contribution matters. If you want to donate a large items that would require pickup—there are special directions, so pay attention to that. If you don’t have stuff to donate—ask a friend who might be downsizing or doing spring cleaning—offer to bring a couple boxes of their stuff to our sale. And then help us advertise the sale to make sure we “move” as much as possible. Those dollars turn into the programming that we all enjoy throughout the church year.

I will do another update soon. Thanks for reading and thanks for being part of our community.

Jeanne Kerl

President of the Board of Trustees

Update from the Board Chair

My apologies for not updating the congregation more frequently during the year. I plan to remedy that in the next few months. Know that it is not because I have been sitting at home streaming all 72 seasons of the Real Housewives of the UUA.

After my medical leave absence in the fall, I came back to full-time board work on Dec. 1^st. One of the main priorities was getting to know Greg and establishing a working relationship with him. This takes time—but Greg and I have worked at it and, even though we both face a barrage of events, meetings, and planning sessions–we speak frequently and try to reflect on matters both philosophical and mundane. I appreciate Greg’s Midwestern roots, his calm/reflective manner and his willingness to learn how to navigate UCE in all it’s uniqueness.

Update on the interim period:  Greg has been listening a lot through feedback forms, listening sessions at Curt’s, affinity groups, and sessions with councils and with board members.  In addition, he’s been leading us through the first stage of the interim process—looking at our Heritage. The scrapbook has been the main activity in this stage, as well as the lovely UCE Through the Decades service in February.  I will let Greg tell you more about what he is learning about us, but please know that we have been having substantive conversations about topics like:

• What is the relationship between the congregation and the minister?
• How do the staff and congregation treat each other?
• How do we talk about money and finances at UCE and how could that improve?
• How do we measure success against our ENDS?
• What are the good things that this congregation is doing?
• How could we be helping the most marginalized folks in our community?
• What do our young people and our young families need?
• What should Religious Education look like? How is it changing?
• How do our processes compare with other UU congregations?
• How do we help members gain leadership skills? How we we encourage new folks to step up to take on new leadership roles?
• How do we raise enough money to not have a leaky roof, a new kitchen, etc.?

Board members don’t have all the answers to these questions, but please be patient with us as we wrestle with them and soon, we will begin to involving you all in these discussions.  Stay tuned.

The Board of Trustees invites members of the church who consider themselves leaders in the church in any capacity to join us for this workshop on Saturday, March 23rd from 10 am – 12:30 pm.

UCE is committed to radical welcoming and we seek to expand our capacity to live our first principle – not just affirming that all people have value but ensuring that those who might feel marginalized in other spaces, know they will find a safe and affirming space among us. This begins at a personal level with education and reflection about our understandings of gender and ways to be welcoming as a community surrounding gender and its effect on social interactions.

This workshop will provide an overview of key terms related to gender and an opportunity for attendees to explore their own attitudes and experiences related to cultural norms, gender identity, and gender expression.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Rev. Eileen Wiviott, ewiviott@ucevanston.org, or Lane Deamant, emdeamant@gmail.com

We are in the thick of the interim period and Rev. Greg is beginning to help us examine our congregation. As board president, one thing that I have observed while on the board, is this:

We are a lively community, holding a wide range of activities and our Sunday mornings are abuzz with life and joy. We donate thousands of volunteer hours to make everything happen—our social justice work, our Rummage Sale, our religious education, & so much more.

But one place that I think we could improve is this–we could treat our staff better. I’ve heard this observation from several congregants, too.

Policy governance reminds us (the board and the congregants) that we are not the supervisors of the ministers or the staff. The Board monitors the staff & ministers and we ask them to help us work toward our Ends and mission.  We provide them with limitations (things like “the senior minister must not fail to maintain appropriate policies for risk management, safety, and security.” But that’s it. I am not supposed to walk up to Greg and say, “This new pilot for RE is all wrong—let’s change it,” for example. We can suggest ideas, or he (or any staff member/minister) can ask for our advice or opinion, but we are not their bosses.

So, please, be considerate about this. If you are not clear about who does what around here, simply ask, but be kind. The tone is important. Most of us are gracious, open-minded, and patient, but we have some folks who don’t understand policy governance and don’t generally approach the relationships in this manner. We also make mistakes–every last one of us. I, for one, have made my share of blunders and have been gently reminded to approach my “advice” in a different way. And although we have a great bunch of folks on staff, they also are not perfect – just like all of us.

Remember that our staff and minsters are dedicated and committed to UCE—just as we are.

Thanks for considering this and please, feel free to talk with me about this.

Jeanne Kerl

Board of Trustees, Chair

An Update on the Spirit Map Survey

Thanks to everyone who participated in our Spirit Map survey last spring. We now have a report that summarizes the results and you can read it yourself to learn more. The survey offers us insights about what our members view as their spiritual strengths and possible areas of improvement as well as an evaluation of experiences here at UCE.

The Board wanted to gauge how members feel UCE is doing with attaining our Ends. These Ends statements are guiding principles that help us remember who we would like to be in the world and the impact that we’d like to have in our community. The majority of respondents felt that we are doing quite well working toward our Ends. The End that received the highest rating was: We act for peace and for social, economic, and environmental justice through study, advocacy and outreach. The End that in most people’s minds could use a little more attention is this:  We are a people of diverse beliefs united in covenant. We develop relationships that open us to the lives of people in our congregation, community and world.  Please feel free to read more about members’ assessments of the Ends in the report, starting on p. 54.

Another aspect of the report summarizes how respondents reacted to several statements about their spiritual well-being. Of 44 possible statements that were rated, our congregants valued these statements very highly and felt that they were doing well at them:

• I act with integrity.
• I seek opportunities to learn and grow.
• I believe it matters what I do.
• I take responsibility for the consequences of my actions, even those that are unintended.
• I act in an authentic manner.

These are called “signature strengths” by the consulting group that created the survey and they help to describe our congregation’s spiritual identity or who we are at our core.

These strengths are contrasted with the following Key Opportunities. Key Opportunities are statements that we also value very highly, but ones where we indicate there’s room for improvement:

• I make good decisions about when to act.
• I have a clear purpose to my life and am able to articulate that purpose to both myself and others.
• I see beauty all around me.
• I am able to adapt when things do no turn out the way I want.
• I delight in experiences both great and small.
• I give to others fully and generously.

The consultants share that some churches have taken these insights and used them to enhance programming or to guide strategic planning. These insights can help us as we engage in broader conversations within the church about who we are and who we want to be. Board members and staff will be reading through the report and trying to make sense of what it might mean for us at UCE. We’ll be discussing this at our board retreat in August, but also throughout the year. Our new interim minister may also find ideas that are helpful as he gets to know us better. We encourage you to spend some time with this rich resource to see if it sparks any ideas for you. Many thanks to the anonymous donor who sponsored the survey.

Jeanne Kerl
she/her/hers

• Being Spiritually Aware
• Intellectually Excited
• Community Builders
• Diverse in Belief
• Acting for Justice

To evaluate this, we are following a best UU congregational practice and conducting our first comprehensive Spirit Map Congregational Survey with two complementary parts:

• Individual Assessment:  Tracking your personal progress in meeting your own spiritual/ethical priorities.
• UCE Assessment: Evaluating how well we are meeting our mission and goals.

• Each year, we look at the list of open or soon-to-be-open elected positions (usually 3 Board candidates, 3 Nominating & Recruiting candidates, and 1 Endowment trustee per year, as terms end and members roll off)
• We talk to current Board, Endowment, and Church leadership to determine desired qualities in new members for each group.
• We solicit suggestions from current church leadership, from the congregation at large, and from the members of our committee.
• We conduct one-on-one conversations with UCE members to learn about their experiences, skills, interest in various UCE activities, and suitability for available leadership positions.
• We share the feedback from our conversations with UCE members, and attempt to match one or more members with each open position.
• We seek to identify ways that systemic bias influences our decision-making process so that we can interrupt its effect on how power is used and delegated within our organization. Examples of how we do this include:
  • Continual re-evaluation of any bias informing what characteristics constitute a good “fit” for a particular leadership role.
  • Seeking to engage new leaders rather than reallocating established leaders among elected roles.
  • A focus on increasing the diversity of voices within the elected church leadership, by considering characteristics such as lived experience, gender, race, identities, background, and interests.
  • A final slate of candidates, with biographies, is distributed to the congregation no less than 10 days in advance of the Annual Meeting date, which this year is May 20.

Volunteers are the life-blood of any non-profit organization. The paid staff and clergy keep the body healthy, of course, and the Board of Trustees through policy-making builds the skeleton on which the church can grow, but its volunteers who put flesh on the bones and make it come alive.vVolunteers give any program or project its human touch – they infuse their work with beauty and humor and fun. They bring skills to the tasks, they bring energy, an they bring the wisdom of the crowd.

But we are all busy people, and sometimes it is difficult to find volunteers to animate a pet project. Howvto recruit volunteers? It starts by asking for help the right way: in person, face-to- face. The personal appeal communicates your sincerity, your commitment, your belief in the importance of the work. It helps people say “yes” if you explain in some detail what needs to be done. Write a job description, or at least indicate the time, travel and skills that might be required. A good place to begin planning for volunteers is at the UUA website: https://www.uua.org/leadership/skills/development/101254.shtml

As the board moves forward with the Interim Minister search process, we’d like your input. Just click here to answer this one question survey. We will be filling out the application form in the next couple of weeks, so we’d appreciate your quick response. 

The Process

To review: March/April is the application and matching time for Interim Ministers. We will know by mid-May who our Interim Minister will be and they would start on August 1^st. In the meantime, Rev. Eileen will be covering through the rest of May and the first part of June. Then she’ll go to General Assembly and take her vacation. During that time, we’ll have a Summer Minister, arranged by Revs. Bret & Eileen, since they know our church well, know who is available, and who would be a good match for the Summer. So, as they say, “We gotcha covered!”

Why a 2 Year Interim?

Many people have asked if we could replace our minister within one year. We understand that a year would mean a shorter time of uncertainty until we have our next settled Senior Minister in place. However, Interim Ministry is important and vital ministry and our Unitarian Universalist Association Transitions office recommends two years as a best practice. Additionally, the search process can take more than a full year to be done well and thoughtfully. Our focus now is on finding a really great Interim Minister who we will learn from,  inspire us and keep our church advancing forward. So when our next settled Minister arrives we will be setting them up for a strong start.

Yours,

Janelle Brittain

UCE Board of Trustees President