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Florida District Connections
March 20, 2010 | |
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District Annual Assembly
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Notes & Commentary from our District Executive |
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 After thinking about numerical, spiritual, & incarnational growth, I conclude with comments on institutional growth: our elected leadership.
Our District congregations suffer the continued loss of experience & wisdom due to rapid leadership changes. Most congregations elect officers at large [in contrast to a Board choosing its own officers] at the same time they elect trustees ~ and those typically for two year terms. The result too frequently is a Board with over half its membership new to their duties! The congregation is thus vulnerable to the loss of shared memory, an inadequate understanding of roles and organizational development, and a tendency to focus on institutional maintenance rather than leadership.
Every time a group loses a member, the collective maturity of the group declines. New folks just take time to come up to speed. If even close to half your leadership is new, this means your Board is comparatively immature.
One result: in many congregations, power accrues to stalwart [and often over-worked] long-timers or to sub-groups that tend to focus on narrow concerns. Weak and immature boards make it difficult for a congregation to plan well. It is as though no one truly has the "good of the order" in mind for the long haul.
What's to be done? A few ideas:
- The District offers on-going assistance with leadership development, a need anywhere but all the more when groups turn over leadership so quickly. To that end, we host a monthly on-line seminar for leaders, a variety of workshops [including our forth-coming District Assembly!], a "Leadership Roundtable," and the Southland Unitarian Universalist Leadership Experience at The Mountain [this year: August 7-14].
- Grooming leaders is an important part of institutional growth. Building the idea of service in leading is a core issue for institutional growth. Thus, we also encourage re-working the "Nominating Committee" to serve as a "Leadership Development Committee." Rather than asking which warm-bodies can fill slots, the question becomes what gifts does our congregation need this and next year. [See the FLD website for information on Gifts Ministry].
- Another consideration is to ensure your Vice-President is also the President-elect. S/he sits on your Executive Committee to assist the President and to be in training for those duties. Additionally, congregations might consider three-year terms for Trustees. And to be provocative: Have the Board nominate its officers from among its existing membership.
- Lastly, rather than lose the wisdom of previous leaders, a congregation might consider a Council of Elders [aka "Former Presidents Kitchen Cabinet"] to be on-call for the Board or other congregational leaders. With no formal power or need to act, they can be free to think about the overall ministry from a "balcony" perspective. Elders is a named role in our 17th century Cambridge Platform, the founding document of our polity. Lifting up that role often is itself a sign of institutional maturity.
May you continue to grow wise, as a Unitarian Universalist and as a
congregational leader. Blessings, Rev. Kenn |
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Florida Unitarian Universalist Legislative Day |
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 Since 2006, the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Florida (UULMF), has been our state's justice ministry empowering the moral voice of Unitarian Universalist values in the public arena throughout Florida. In 2009, we organized the first "Legislative Day" in Tallahassee in which Unitarian Universalists from around the state came to the capitol to lobby their representatives on behalf of Unitarian Universalist values. We now hope you can join us on April 6-7 for the second annual UU Legislative Day in Tallahassee.
Register by signing up at www.uulmf.org.
Read more, including information on ride sharing, lodging, parking and an evening reception at this link:
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Learning How You Think |
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A 3 week tele-seminar on Leadership
Mondays, April 5, 12, 19 @ 7:30pm.
Leader: Pegotty Cooper, member Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater congregation.
Does this every happen to you at a meeting?
- Someone there has a personal loyalty to a person and cannot be objective about their ability to perform what is needed?
- In discussing hot topics there is a lot of upset caused by emotional outbursts and no one in turn wants to deal with it so it becomes an elephant in the room?
- There are people who created projects or programs years ago and they hold on to them resistant to changing them because they have such a sense of ownership - as though updating them invalidates their original worth?
In this program, you will learn to put your reactions aside and to be able to have people feel heard and honored for their perspectives. You will become fearless in digging deeper into someone's complaints or critical comments. And you will develop a practice of listening from the heart so that people know that you have "gotten" them, and you understand what they are saying.
We know from our own experience that when we feel "heard" we are willing to listen to what the other person has to say. In opening up the dialogue so that everyone feels heard, we can begin to create new conversation and create intentional leadership focused on creating the best of ourselves wherever we are with whomever we are serving!
Register by e-mailing or calling the Florida District Office (FloridaDistrictUUA@cfl.rr.com or 407-894-2119) no later than April 2nd. Cost: $13, payable to the FLD; $37 for on-line materials, paid directly when you register. |
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Southland Unitarian Universalist Leadership Experience |
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Call to Congregations to Nominate Leaders to Attend the 2010 Southland Unitarian Universalist Experience
Once again the Southland Unitarian Universalist Leadership Experience (SUULE) offers a chance for turbocharged training for leaders - lay and clergy alike. SUULE offers intensive and diverse lectures, exercises, case studies, theological dialogue, and skill building from organizational skills to worship arts, from UU history to contemporary trends, from lifespan faith development to mission and vision, from small group ministry to stewardship. The SUULE experience is an investment in the health and vitality of your congregation and to Unitarian Universalism.
2010 SUULE will be August 8 - 13th at The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center on Little Scaly Mountain near Highlands, NC.
Participants will be asked to do a significant amount of preparation before the training. The week at The Mountain will be glorious, intense, and ultimately fulfilling. During the year following SUULE we will follow up with periodic teleconferences for peer and coaching support.
Letters will be/ have been sent to congregation Presidents and Ministers requesting nominations. Make an investment in the future of your congregation by nominating your best and most promising leaders including your best youth leaders. Peter Kandis, Dean SUULE pkandis@sc.rr.com |
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Florida District Racial Justice Conference |
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Stimulating and Inspirational!
Seventy-five people from fourteen Florida congregations participated in the Racial Justice Conference in Boca Raton on Saturday, March 13. Dr. Mark Hicks led an inspiring and stimulating workshop in which we explored the tools and skills we need to be effective and relevant in the increasingly multicultural world in which we live. Dr. Hicks introduced specific indicators for measuring the ways individuals, groups and congregations effectively adapt to multiculturalism and institutional change. We also received an overview and introduction to the new curriculum "Building the World We Dream About: A Welcoming Congregation Curriculum on Race and Ethnicity" that will be available later this year through the UUA's Tapestry of Faith program. Learn about ways you and your congregation can engage in a racial justice ministry of inclusion and reconciliation in upcoming editions of the Racial Justice Connections newsletter.
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Naples Congregation Votes to Become a Teaching Congregation |
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After hosting two ministerial interns in recent years, the Board of Trustees has committed to becoming the first registered teaching congregation in our District. To this end, a committee has been formed to institutionalize internships into the congregation's operations. Further, the Board increased the Internship stipend from $2,000 to $8,000 in the forth-coming budget.
All ministerial aspirants are required to serve an internship under the supervision of a senior colleague. Regrettably, finding suitable internships adds to the financial burden our candidates must bear. This stipend and commitment represent a real commitment to our future.
Congratulations and thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Naples and their minister, the Reverend Katy Korb. |
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UUA Launches New Video Series |
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Announcing "A Religion for Our Time"
 The Unitarian Universalist Association and President Peter Morales are pleased to present a new video series, "A Religion for Our Time." These short videos will highlight inspiring work in Unitarian Universalist congregations, including innovative projects relating to worship, religious education, social justice, membership, and fellowship. The first episode is now available and features the Ogden OUTreach Center, the UU Church of Ogden's drop-in program for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender youth and young adults.
Please share the news about this exciting series and watch for new installments to be released every couple of weeks between now and General Assembly. Join in recognizing and celebrating Unitarian Universalist congregations as they build "A Religion for Our Time."
Watch the six-minute first episode: "Ogden UUs Reach Out to BGLT Youth <http://tinyurl.com/ReligionForOurTimeEpisode1> ."
If you're having trouble with the link above, please cut and paste this address into your browser:
http://tinyurl.com/ReligionForOurTimeEpisode1 |
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Sound System Squawking, Wheezing ...? |
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If your Sound System is squawking, wheezing, or otherwise not working as you expect it to, there's an inexpensive solution to your problem. VonHenry Media, located in Clearwater, FL, will bring your sound system to its original and optimized state and train your volunteers to operate it properly. "Their knowledge of sound and sound boards allowed us to upgrade without having to replace our entire system. The quality of the sound was vastly improved and the value we received more than exceeded the amount we paid for this service," said Rev. Abhi Janamanchi, Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater.
Learn more at this link:
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