Dear MLUUC Family,
We are off and running with our Mountain Light Collaborative Planning Process for how our church will pursue its Missions! We began the process during our worship service on January 12, 2020.
The purpose of this email is to invite you to participate in the planning process overall and in our next steps.
Purpose of the Planning Process
The Congregation will provide guidance and direction to the Board for strategic goals and the process for accomplishing those goals.
Concept of the Planning Process
The desired result is an effective, inclusive, voluntary, and continuing planning process that enables the congregation to set priorities, monitor implementation of project plans, and reach decisions by consensus. The Congregation will gather as a large group three or four times per year, outside of worship services, probably on Sunday afternoons, to reach consensus on major decisions. Between large group meetings, individuals and small groups will contribute and analyze input for the large group to synthesize into consensus decisions to provide guidance to the Board for implementation.
Your Task
To involve the congregation immediately in strategic planning, please complete the following individual task:
Write a 3-part statement that exemplifies a specific action the congregation can take to accomplish our mission and advocate for the 7 UU Principles (our Values).
Format: “We do this … to show our commitment … to UU Principle #___. “
The “We do this…” part of the statements show how we do business.
The “UU Principle” part of the statements show why we do business in that way.
Some examples:
Provide free monthly meals to the community … to show our commitment … to UU Principle #1.
Help prisoners transition back into the community … to show our commitment … to UU Principle #2.
Provide “Strengthening Families” with a meeting place … to show our commitment to … UU Principle #3.
Please write at least 2 statements:
- One that describes an action MLUUC is currently taking.
- The other describes an action you personally recommend that we take in the future.
Please note how short the statements are in the examples. That’s important for managing the input. Please try to keep the “We do this” parts down to about 7 words.
Respond by Sunday, February 16
Send the statements to Bruce Wood by email at woodbonriver@hotmail.com or on paper by Sunday, February 16, 2020. You can also just respond to this e-mail to send your statements to Bruce.
What’s Next?
Next step 1: After February 16, Adrienne Corticelli, Stacey Day and Bruce Wood will organize and categorize the inputs from the congregation, using the respondents’ own words, to identify trends that the congregation can use to clarify the starting points and priorities for strategy. Anyone else may volunteer to help with this part of the process as well.
Next step 2: Clarify when and how we want Bruce to report the task statement results to the congregation and use those results to involve the Congregation in future collaborative planning steps.
The target date for the Congregation’s first large-group meeting: Sunday, March 8, 2020, at 12:00 PM, after the worship service and in place of (prior to) the monthly Board meeting.
Many thanks. We look forward to a coming barrage of input statements from all the MLUUC family.
Bruce Wood
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You can go to the website to hear the recorded presentation from Sunday, January 12, 2020, and to see the slides used by clicking on the links below.
To hear the Recording.
To see the Slides.
To see the “Group Memory” documentation from when this process was used in 2017 for our building’s renovation: https://www.mluuc.org/ML2/property/
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For reference, here’s MLUUC’s mission and the 7 UU Principles:
OUR MISSION:
The mission of Mountain Light Unitarian Universalist Church is to be an accepting community of diverse people, who, with open hearts and minds, nurture one another in spiritual and intellectual growth expressing personal values through service to all people and our planet.
THE 7 UU PRINCIPLES:
1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
5. A right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.