by Admin | Nov 21, 2019 | Pastoral Associates, Support Group News
This Life Crisis Form is for the confidential use of the Minister and others authorized to access this information. Please complete the form with information you would like to have on file with the Minister. You may wish to complete only some parts of this form and leave others blank. We encourage you to share this with your family.
Update this form as needed. Having this information on file will enable your church to serve you and your family in the event of a death or other crisis. Please call the church office at 805-644-3898 if you would like assistance from the Minister in completing this form or to facilitate a family discussion regarding making decisions.
Confidential Life Crisis Form for UUCV
(web version to fill out)
CONFIDENTIAL LIFE CRISIS FORM (v. 2.1)
(download, print & fill out)
by Admin | Nov 21, 2019 | Justice Actions
The Memorial Service for Our Homeless Neighbors
Saturday, December 14th at 3:00 pm
Plaza Park in Ventura.
This is a beautiful service to remember those who have died homeless in Ventura County this year.
by Admin | Nov 14, 2019 | Between Sundays
Good People,
Welcome to Between Sundays!
Often things arise at church – between Sundays – that are interesting or needful of raised awareness, but rarely do they fit into the rhythm of our newsletter. Sometimes I get a spark of creativity or insight that doesn’t fit into a particular sermon, and I still want some way to share. By the time it might come out in the newsletter 2-3 weeks later, it doesn’t feel as timely or lively or even as insightful.
As a way to communicate about matters in the church and beyond in a more timely way, we are introducing “Between Sundays” written by the minister, and sometimes the board president or a member of the staff.
Have you noticed lately that with all the options we have for communicating, that we actually seem to be missing more and more? I hope Between Sundays will be a way to cut through some of the overwhelm and the eye-glazing stupor we can fall into while staring at an inbox with so many things to read.
So here is a way to get word out in a timely and engaging way.
Between Sundays will be posted with a link from our website home page. We’ll send it out on a e-blast, and you’ll find a link to it in UUCV This Week on Thursdays. We’ll also post the link on our internal Facebook page – Unitarian Universalist Facebook of Ventura. (Just like the page to gain access.)
Yours in service of good, clear, lively, useful communication,
Rev. Dana
by Admin | Sep 29, 2019 | Children's Curriculum, News (home), Religious Ed News
After a lovely summer, it has been powerful to come back together as a community for ingathering and fall classes. One parent said it’s amazing to see how comfortable her son is in this community after he stood and volunteered to speak in a worship service. We seek to provide a space for children to feel a sense of safety and belonging, and also learn and grow in a community that holds us all accountable when we see injustice.
One community I have belonged to for over ten years is the young adult camp at De Benneville Pines, a Unitarian Universalist campground in the San Bernardino mountains. The theme this year was radical resilience, and I experienced the value of centering joy to promote resilience, as collective joy disrupts oppression, and is a revolutionary act. With all that each of our hearts is holding, and as our hearts break with all that we see, may we not take this community for granted. May we offer a meal, a cup of tea, a warm hug, a listening ear, a smile, and center joy, as we work, despite it all.
The Religious Education team is excited about our fall course offerings! The youth are undertaking the longstanding tradition of Unitarian Universalist teens visiting other faith communities within our city. Crossing Paths is the latest rendition, which uses the lens of analyzing what problem each religious notices, and which solution they provide. The upper elementary students will use Sing to the Power, a Tapestry of Faith curriculum that affirms our Unitarian Universalist heritage of confronting “powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.” Participants experience their own power, and understand how it can help them to be leaders. The lower elementary will use the Soul Matters theme-based ministry packets for religious education to deepen the connection to the monthly themes with age appropriate activities, including a wonder box! I’d love to speak more with you about these classes if you have questions or comments.
With Armfuls of Love,
Emily Carroll
Director of Religious Education
by Admin | Sep 29, 2019 | Notes from President's Desk
Living in Paradise
In September the UUCV Board hosted a joint Retreat with the Board of the Universal Unitarian Church of Santa Paula (UUCSP). This was a collaboration that brought our two congregations closer together. We were led in a workshop on Multicultural Transformation presented by Rev. Johnipher Kwong from the Pacific Western Region (PWR) office. In preparation we were assigned some videos to watch and had optional reading of the book “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo.
This material complements the “Beloved Conversations” program that members of our church participated in last year and which will be offered again in 2019-2020. I encourage you to learn about this work and expand your understanding of what it means to be inclusive. As a congregation it impacts how we welcome the stranger to our community. We also explored what “Open Questions” to hold as a Board for the year. These are questions that are on the Agenda for every Board meeting as a reminder of the larger view needed when we do our work as members of the Board.
The use of open questions comes from “Governance and Ministry” by Dan Hotchkiss and is a resource that the Board has been using for many years. The first time the Board developed any open questions was in 2017-2018. Open questions create space for “balcony work,” where the Board and its conversation partners reflect together about the future. Often, the most important open questions facing a congregation are versions of: Who are we? What are we called to do and to be? Who is our neighbor?
Choosing a short list of questions – up to three, is important. With three years of this process completed you can see how the questions have changed over time. This year we let go of “What is our Mission?” because that is well in hand by the 545 Task Force as part of our 5-Year Planning process. We added a question based on the workshop on Multicultural Transformation. Two others were revised reflecting a deeper inquiry. You can see that the questions have all moved from asking “What” to asking “How” which implies a forward-looking view for the congregation.
2017-18
What is our Mission? What are the ways we want to grow?
2018-19
What is our Mission? How shall we achieve financial stability?
How do we “right size” our professional and volunteer staffing?
2019-20
How do we begin to create a community more racially and culturally inclusive?
How do we develop financial and spiritual resources to support our vision?
How do we support our professional and volunteer staff?
The Board will hold a Congregational Conversation in November. The new questions will be part of that event. what comes up for you as you reflect upon them and our future together.
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, President
