Unitarian Universalist Church of Chattanooga
Developmental Minister’s End of the Year-Three Report to the Congregation
Rev Cathy Harrington
June 4, 2017
On August 1, 2014, I began my work as your Developmental Minister, hired by the board to assist the congregation in achieving these five goals. With the help of the UUA Transitions Director, Keith Kron, the board discerned that it would be best to try the newly created Developmental Ministry process as opposed to contracting with another two-year Interim process.
The UU Developmental Ministry process began in Boulder, CO as an experiment that was wildly successful. Instead of five years, Boulder wound up contracting with their developmental minster for seven years. It paid off, when they called their new settled minister they had made significant progress. You can learn more about the Boulder Experiment at www.uuworld.org/articles/breakthrough-boulder.
This process is designed for congregations who know they have stuff to work on and are willing to give up some things to make that happen. This is for a congregation that has decided its greater good is what it will work on. The developmental minister is here to assist you with your goals, not here to set the goals for you. The following goals were identified and have been much of the focus of our work together.
- Vision and Mission. Who do we say we are, to ourselves and to the world? How do we express the unity that binds us despite our humanistic and spiritualist differences?
- Covenant and Safe Community Policy. What are the standards for the relationships we want to have with one another? How shall we respond when behavior violates these standards?
- Member Engagement. How do we build a larger core of active members? Are there programming changes that will help? How do we identify and build the next generation of church leaders? How do we build a financial stewardship tradition that will sustain the church?
- Governance. How do we extricate our Board of Trustees from the ever-flowing nitty-gritty of ministerial decision making to create time for governance and strategic thinking? How do we develop policies that will make our decision making more consistent?
- Better Communication. What procedures and habits must we build to make decision making as transparent as possible and build trust within the community? How do we do a better job of telling our story to the larger community?
In the three years since I arrived in Chattanooga, UUCC has accomplished a great deal! It would be impossible to name it all, but here are some things that stand out in my mind:
When asked to raise your financial commitment to increase our Director of Religious Education from half-time to three-quarter time, you responded with enthusiasm!
The downstairs was decluttered and given a fresh coat of paint and new carpet throughout. The upstairs got a new look, too. The kitchen was stripped of out of date wallpaper and repainted. This past year new carpet and flooring transformed the fellowship hall and sanctuary. The church grounds continue to look beautiful thanks to a dedicated team of members who cut grass, plant, weed, water, and tend to repairs.
Other changes were made when we decided to leave the doors open to the sanctuary. There are losses with change; the Sunday morning Connections tradition dropped away and the choir has to practice in an open space that often means noise and interruptions. But, when things get hard, we begin again in love.
In 2016, we adopted a new covenant and this year we adopted a new mission statement. The results are beautiful and eloquent, but the process was most important. Everyone was invited to contribute in discerning the core values and ideals that are important to this gathered religious community. Our task in the coming year is to discern the path towards living out these ideals in our church lives, our personal lives and in our community.
The monthly newsletter has changed, too. Now we have a weekly newsletter delivered to your inbox and is available on our church website. Dedicated members of the Communication Committee continue to work hard to improve internal communication and get the message of our free faith out into the community. We have way over one thousand likes on our Facebook page!
The Social Justice Committee is a vibrant and visible presence in the community and the congregation has donated (Share the Plate) thousands of dollars to local nonprofits such as Welcome Home Hospice, Fathers to the Fatherless, the Humane Society, Chambliss Children’s Center, and more. We also voted to place a Black Lives Matter banner on our building!
We’ve hosted the Transgender Day of Remembrance Service since before I arrived and the Interfaith Pride Service was held at UUCC for the past two years. The Chattanooga Police Department held their Chaplain graduation at UUCC last fall and one of those new chaplains was so impressed with the church, he asked to rent space for his fledgling WE Church!
We had a fabulous Women’s retreat at the mountain last summer and hope to make it a tradition. We have created a new Groundhog Day Senior Luncheon that has been such a success that we will host two luncheons next year.
We raised money through Faithify to host the Healing of Memories Workshops last fall with Father Lapsley and welcomed him in our service followed by a comfort food potluck. Father Lapsley returned this spring for a whirlwind series of relationship building meetings with local religious leaders, police chaplains, Fathers to the Fatherless, the mayor, and Victim Services staff. The dream is to establish Tennessee as a region in the Healing of Memories North America. Healing of Memories is a worldwide organization that was created in tandem with the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. To learn more about Healing of Memories go to http://www.healing-memories.org.
The Lay Pastoral Care Committee created a draft safe congregation policy and updated First Aid equipment during the process.
We have welcomed new members, new babies, married members and non-members, held people in their grief and their joy as life continues in its natural rhythm and its unexpected tragedies and upheavals.
We’ve offered OWL classes, new member classes, leadership development classes, adult RE classes that included Understanding the Bible for Skeptics.
Our stewardship pledging income has grown from $156,050 to $184,651 in spite of the number pledging units decreasing. This year, our treasurer reports that we will actually end the year with a surplus! The first time in decades.
I look forward to our fourth year of developmental ministry together as we continue our work on member engagement, better communication, and governance. I want to thank you all for your hard work and support of our Unitarian Universalist faith and this beloved community.
In a world with so much turmoil and uncertainty, our free and life-affirming faith is needed more than ever.
In faith, Cathy