For me, the community of people who gather as a Unitarian Universalist congregation is the essential unit of our being together. As we enhance our sense of community, we help strengthen our congregations. In my ministry I have tried to support the process of individuals in building and sustaining that community.
The main reason that community is such an important aspect for me is because it is rooted in my own spiritual journey. The church of my childhood and youth, the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Utica, New York, was a place of community. We gathered often as a community, and not just on Sundays. Some of my earliest memories of religious life are of strawberry socials, mid-winter potlucks and travelogues, pancake breakfasts, rummage sales, church picnics, and so much more.
I remember, as a child, standing outside the door of the church parlor in which the weekly Sunday morning adult discussion group was taking place. Loud, agitated voices rose from within. But, at 11:10, with the call for the start of the worship service, the adults emerged amicably, with smiles and handshakes. I learned early that a commitment to our community together allowed us to disagree with each other as passionately as we cared about each other.
Duncan Cutter, a teenager at my church when I was a child, recently reminisced:
My earliest memories --- my small self, looking up into the security of a warm milling of adults who liked each other and worked steadily deriving much pleasure from sharing church tasks. Community building takes place in many of the activities of a healthy congregation. When we worship, study, work, and play together we build community. Most of a congregation's programming is designed to enhance the sense of community.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
In my various ministerial settlements, I have been actively supportive of many expressions of community: weekly potlucks, intentional family groupings, seasonal fairs and festivals, midday retiree luncheons, and so much more. In addition to these inherent elements of community building, I have created several specific programs within congregations as overt community building exercises:
• The Nurturing Congregation: a four-part process to help a congregation define and practice their process of conflict resolution. Best used during times of tranquility as a preventive exercise, the course leads members to consider communication patterns, meeting styles, anger, and decision-making as elements in a healthy congregation. • Each One, Reach One: a four-hour workshop, based on the "Each One, Teach One" model, to help Unitarian Universalists reach out to those who come to us as religious explorers. The program helps individuals to articulate Unitarian Universalism in clear, positive statements about our traditions and beliefs. The program has a dual effect, helping current UU's feel more included and comfortable with their beliefs, and providing an aggressive presentation of our religion to others.
I have also found that specialized training in certain areas helps to enhance community. I was instrumental in engaging our Williamsburg congregation in the Right Relations workshops presented through our District, and attended as part of our team.
Following on the work of Glenn Turner and Bob Hill, I instituted Covenant Groups in the Williamsburg congregation, and have worked to support and expand existing groups in Park Forest. These intentional small groups have bound people together in deep ways; one of the welcomed results is that the structure of such groups forces both openness and a focus within the larger congregation so the smaller groups do not become cliquish or divisive. Providing some accordion music
for a holiday celebration Along the way throughout my ministry, one of the exciting elements of my changing settlement has always been to discover the ways that community is expressed differently in different congregations. Every congregation develops its own style, its own way of doing things. When those modes and norms are supporting the wellbeing of the congregation, I know my role as minister is to simply support and enjoy these wonderful resources. I don't have to change things to express my ministry: sometimes the quiet ministry of appreciation and participation has the most profound effect over time.
One of the central elements of any community is the way that it cares for its members. This is especially true in the case of our congregations. We not only want to know that our congregations will provide us
with connections in good times, we also want to know that they will provide us with support in the less-than-good times.
How that support will be given depends greatly on the history of a congregation and its current size. Patterns of care giving can evolve in different ways for different groups. Practical concerns often determine how much can be done by individuals and how much must be done by some form of organized response.
When I went to Williamsburg, one person was the designated "Caring Chair." As one of the recipients of that care in that first month of our ministry here, we saw how quickly the congregation could mobilize to respond to a large crisis. However, there was too much for a single person to coordinate.
After 1995, as the congregation grew, and grew again, I responded with different models based on the expressed needs of the congregation and the best management approaches I could learn from colleagues and other sources. When we passed the 150 member mark, the old model of the minister as the main pastoral care provider was no longer feasible, and we developed a system of caring circles supported by caring specialists to provide direct contact with members. I, as minister, trained the care givers and responded to care needs that rose to the level of crisis. As we moved past the 200 member mark, the system of circles became too large to provide for a good continuity of care.
We then embarked on a hybrid system of care in which those needing specialized support (those in immediate crisis, those in on-going care facilities, etc.) have a direct connection to one of our caring coordinators with built in continuity features (A central "caring notebook" database). I was connected into direct care upon a call from a caring coordinator based on the circumstances of the situation. The coodinators also had access to a large community of care specialists (loss, transportation, respite care, hospice, prayer list, etc.) Others were invited into the caring community with their needs or with their resources through a central contact with our office. I continued to train the central lay staff of this model, provide on-going support as requested through the system by either individuals or by the care givers, and respond on a 24 hours a day/seven day a week basis in cases on emergency and dire need.
This Caring Ministry has been expanded by me here in Park Forest, again replacing the old, "one person" caring model.
Other elements of community building are contained in the work I do in support of the structures and leaders of a congregation, as outlined in the Administration and Support section of this packet. |
