October 2020
Since the last issue of our monthly newsletter, your Board of Trustees and other members and visitors of UUCBV attended a Start-up Session on August 29 with our Interim Minister. Approximately two dozen of us participated in dialogue around planning our goals and priorities during this interim ministry. I reported the outcome of this session in my September blog on our website – So What’s This Interim Ministry All About.
At first read, you, like me, might have been overwhelmed about the list of items related to the work of the congregation to prepare for a settled ministry. However, as I take a deeper look, I see that the questions of interim ministry, the tasks of an interim minister, and our congregation’s goals and priorities are all interrelated. So, as we work on one, we are working on several at the same time. When we break the work down into small, manageable tasks, we will make progress and complete our goals.
That’s not to say that we don’t have our work cut out for us. We need all of you to be engaged in this work that will prepare us for a successful ministry with a called minister – someone who hears the call to serve us and someone with whom we hear the call to lead us; someone with whom we will enter into a covenant of shared ministry. It might take us two – or maybe three years -- to get to the point when we (the congregation and one of our ministerial candidates) hear the call to serve one another. But, no doubt, we will get there by working together.
To create a foundation for a successful shared ministry, we must first “discern what it means to be a church by reaffirming or re-creating our covenant, vision, and mission,” our first congregation goal for this year. We will begin this work soon – hopefully by the end of October. This will lay the foundation for successful completion of the other goals and tasks of interim ministry.
Of course, the other goal that we will continue to work on simultaneously is our building project. We have a great deal to share with you about this and again need your input before we move forward.
Please join us at a Town Hall meeting on October 4 at noon to learn more about the Board’s plans for these two goals and to provide your ideas and feedback. To paraphrase the words of scientist Margaret Mead, never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed [congregation members] can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Take this opportunity to shape our future. Mark your calendars.
Blessings,
Gaye Webb, President
(the Zoom link to the Town Hall meeting is on our website church calendar)
Photo by DynamicWang on Unsplash
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