Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries

Beyond the Walls Monthly eNewsletter

UU Society for Community Ministries Newsletter

April 2016

In This Issue

New Board Members

President's Letter

Annual Meeting Notice

New Board Slate

General Assembly

UUSCM Board Meetings

The Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries (UUSCM) is a Unitarian Universalist movement of lay ministers & ordained clergy committed to promoting a broad spectrum of healing and social justice ministries. We believe that only through many diverse forms of ministry can we heal the broken, create justice, and live in harmony with the spirit of life. We hold a vision of a larger ministry that sees the world as its parish.

Quick Links...

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Make a Donation to UUSCM

Introducing the Proposed New Board Members

Mr. Gregory Rouillard
Gregory holds a Master of Science degree and an M.Div degree (from Naropa University in Boulder, CO). He is a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. His lay community ministry is with the Seven Principles Project. Here is what he says about it: "The Seven Principles Project is a Unitarian Universalist ministry devoted to cultivating covenanted relationship within and among communities of faith by offering ministry, coaching, trainings, and the experience of beloved community grounded in the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism. We believe that Compassionate Communication is a spiritual practice for living these principles every day. Our primary calling is to companion UU congregations, ministers and staffs during times of transition and challenge. We also offer workshops and other opportunities to learn and practice Nonviolent Communication (Compassionate Communication or NVC). Our intention is to provide a lived experience of Beloved Community for people of all ages who long for covenanted relationship in their lives."

Mr. Douglas Jones
Doug is the Director of Outreach and Development for the Channing-Murray Foundation in Illinois, a dynamic campus ministry in Urbana, Illinois. Douglas is a long-time member of UUSCM. Here is what the Channing-Murray Foundation says about itself: "The mission of the Channing-Murray Foundation is to provide educational opportunities to explore Unitarian-Universalist spirituality, reflect our concern for social justice, and affirm diversity through outreach to the campus community of Urbana-Champaign. The tradition of Channing-Murray is not only to provide artistic, social, educational, and religious programming, but also to be a haven for those who dream of a better world, who try to make a better world, who need a place to express and discuss their ideas and to understand the spirituality of Unitarian-Universalism."

Greetings from YOUR professional organization. We're here for you, and we're grateful for your ministry.

UUSCM Board
Email Amanda

President's Letter

Visit Scot's Website

Dear Colleagues-

Once again the Board Meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries was led by the Rev. Cat Cox, our President-Elect. Cat and I had agreed that it would be good practice for her to handle the last few meetings of my term as President so we can be sure she is up to speed on everything needful when she takes office officially.

There is actually a lot the presiding officer has to keep track of during a Board Meeting. Not only are there occasional technical glitches with our video conferencing software, but one needs to keep one eye on the agenda, another eye on interaction among the Directions, and a third eye on Robert's Rules of Order. Rest assured, Cat did her usual great job.

We are moving forward on our Endorsement Project with a consultation coming up with the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. They have a special need to credential their religious leaders and it is likely that our program to seek ecclesiastical endorsement for laity will be useful to them as well. Also the Unitarian Universalist Association is about to hold the second round of its Financial Summit, and one of the items on the agenda is the credentialing of laity. Therefore, we think we will be the right organization at the right place at the right time on this issue.

We explored some tweaks to our new UUSCM logo as the previous "new" design turned out not to reproduce well on ads and identification badges. So we're darkening some lines and looking at a few other modifications.

With the UUA General Assembly just around the corner we're getting our final plans in place to have the UUSCM presence well organized. In addition to our table in the Exhibit Hall we are planning on having certain members identified as "UUSCM Ambassadors" to encourage conversation and visibility about our organization. In the meantime, all UUSCM printing has now been transferred from my office to the office of our Administrator who now has a computer and printer capable of keeping up with our needs.

A final concern, that we will explore at our next meeting, is a concern that UUSCM continues to be ignored by the UUA website. Even on the pages relevant to community ministry, there is no mention of us. We will see if we can get that changed.

Sincerely,

Scot

Rev. C. Scot Giles, D.Min.

President, UUSCM

Fellowshipped Member, UUSCM

Official Notice: Annual Membership Meeting of UUSCM

The Annual Meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries will be held by video conference on Wednesday, June 8, 2016, at 7 pm Eastern, 6 pm Central and 4 pm Pacific Time.

All members are welcome to attend. Just email our President to be included. If you have a computer with a web camera you can participate by video. Alternatively, it is possible to participate by phone. Instructions will be sent prior to the meeting.

The purpose of the meeting is to receive reports of officers, solicit input from the membership on future directions for the organization and to elect the slate of Directors for the next term.

Slate of Your Proposed Board Members

The UUSCM Board has approved the joint recommendation of the Executive and Nominations Committees for election of the following slate at our Annual Meeting in June.

President: The Rev. Cat Cox

Vice-President: Ms. Terri Pahucki

Membership Director: The Rev. Esther Hurlburt

Treasurer: The Rev. Kelli Clement

Secretary: Ms. Susie Idzik

Good Officer: The Rev. Suzanne Marsh

Director at Large (returning): Mr. Lincoln William Statler

Director at Large (returning): The Rev. Ron Robinson

Director at Large (new): Mr. Gregory Rouillard

Director at Large (new): Mr. Douglas Jones

Members wishing more information about any of the Candidates are welcome to use the Directory of Members on the UUSCM website to review the qualifications and interests of the Candidates.

Are You Giving a Workshop at General Assembly?

We want to recognize and honor those of our members who have been selected to do workshops at the 2016 General Assembly in Ohio.

If you will be leading or co-leading a workshop, please let us know by clicking on this email link. We want to help you promote your workshop as well as say "Well Done!"

Here are the workshops by UUSCM members that we already know about (updated list):

M'ellen Kennedy: "Prayers from the Parliament of the World's Religions": Worship service, with Revs. Terre Balof, Cheraga Hayat Bain, Patty Willis.

Darrick Jackson: "Yes, And..." Tools for Multifaith Dialogue

Kellie C. Kelly: "Building Bridges of Understanding Across Class and Racial Differences." With Denise Moorehead, Rev. Christian Schmidt.

Howard Tolley: "Witnessing Race: State Action Network Advocacy and Organizing" -- Multicultural Growth & Witness Staff Team and Coalition of UU State Action Networks: Dr. Howard Tolley, Rev. Ashley Horan, Malaya Davis, Rev. Craig Hirshberg.

Barbara Meyers will be among the presenters of the following two workshops: "AIM to Create Justice" and "Anonymously Yours: A Worship Service."

Contact Us!

Got an Issue? Got a Milestone? Report an Obituary? Something to Pass on to the UUA? We want to hear from you.

Email our President.
Email Scot

Email our Administrator.
Email Amanda

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UUSCM Board Meetings...

Will now be on the second Wednesday of the month, at 6 pm Central time. If you'd like to sit in, please email our President for an invitation. You'll be more than welcome!