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