1. Nominations for the UUCS Board of Trustees
- Officers:
- Kris McVey, President
- Jennifer Estes, President Elect
- Trustee-at-Large (1 year term):
- Trustees-at-Large (2 year term):
- Joyce Harrison
- Bobbie Schoss
2. Nominations for the Leadership Development Committee
3. 2008-2009 Budget
- The budget will be ready by next Sunday, May 11.
4. Bylaw Change (change in italics)
- Current Bylaw (Article VII. Section 1):
There shall be the following standing committees: Membership, Finance, Religious Education, Building and Grounds, Social Concerns, Long Range Planning, Committee on Ministry, Worship, Interweave, Publicity, Adult Programming, Hospitality, Caring, Personnel, and Leadership Development. Subcommittees of standing committees may be created to meet identified needs, with the approval of the Board of Trustees.
Proposed Change:
- There shall be the following standing committees: Membership, Finance, Religious Education, Building and Grounds, Social Concerns, Long Range Planning, Committee on Ministry, Worship, the Rainbow Group, Publicity, Adult Programming, Hospitality, Caring, Personnel, and Leadership Development. Subcommittees of standing committees may be created to meet identified needs, with the approval of the Board of Trustees.
5. UUCS Five-Year Plan
In order for our congregation to grow in the upcoming five years in spiritual depth, in size and in level of commitment, we propose the following Long Range Plan:
VISIBILITY
We will work to increase our visibility in the community through classes and programs for the church and the community, increased use of our roadside frontage, and continued improvements to our website. Our goal is to be well known and respected in our neighborhood and the greater Spartanburg community.
FINANCIAL HEALTH
We will work to increase the financial health of the congregation with at least one new fundraiser. We will meet our financial obligations to the member loans. Our goal is to be financially healthy and well on the way to being debt free.
LIFESPAN FAITH DEVELOPMENT
We will work to maintain the Lifespan Faith Development (LFD) program through a creative and broadly based LFD committee. We will create cheerful, exciting classrooms; multi-age groupings; curricula that involve multiple learning modalities; and have at least quarterly family festivals. We will create a friendly, exciting, and usable playground for the children and a dedicated space for the youth. We will make efforts to minister to the students of the Spartanburg area colleges. Our goal is to have a lively and fully multigenerational faith development program.
OUTREACH
We will increase the amount of energy and attention spent in outreach. We will create at least two new outreach opportunities. We will create a Social Concerns Council to better manage these increased opportunities. Our goal is to become significantly more involved in outreach.
GLOBAL COMMUNITY
We will become a more responsible member of the global community by paying special attention to both cultural diversity and environmental sustainability in our programming, our worship, and in our outreach. Our goal is to become a just and inclusive multicultural congregation committed to creating a sustainable life style for its members as individuals and as a faith community.
STAFFING
We will continue to staff for growth, paying salaries that meet or exceed the average for our size Unitarian Universalist congregation.
INTO THE FUTURE
As we look beyond five years, we would like to explore the following possibilities: the creation of an endowment, the hiring of a halftime youth LFD assistant, and the hiring of a part-time associate minister. We would also like to explore the possibility of becoming a teaching church, which would involve having a paid seminary intern supervised by our minister.
6. Welcoming Congregation Resolution
Our Unitarian Universalist principles call on us to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, to seek justice, equity, and compassion in all human relations, and to accept one another and encourage spiritual growth in our congregations. A two year process, consisting of congregation-wide dialogue, study, reflection, and examination of our individual consciences, has enabled us to better appreciate people of various races, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, ableness, classes, ages, ethnicity, political affiliations and opinions. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg rejoices in each individual's unique gifts. With the passage of this resolution we declare our intent to be known as a Welcoming Congregation as defined by the Unitarian Universalist Association. We also declare our congregation's desire and intent to expand our appreciation of and sensitivity to diversity by welcoming all people of good will into this community.
Explanation of the term Welcoming Congregation (WC):
The term "Welcoming Congregation" has a special meaning in our faith tradition. In 1987, a Unitarian Universalist Association committee found a great deal of unexamined and hurtful homophobia in some UU congregations. In response, delegates to the 1989 General Assembly voted to initiate the Welcoming Congregation (WC) Program, as a step toward making our congregations truly welcoming places for people of all sexual orientations.
What do we mean by Welcoming Congregation?
The Welcoming Congregation Program is a voluntary program developed by the UUA for congregations seeking to be inclusive towards bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT) people.
Why does the Welcoming Congregation Program single out BGLT people for inclusion?
Because BGLT people are often met with a disproportionate amount of fear, ignorance, or outright hostility when attempting to participate in religious communities, the UUA developed this program to help UU churches reach out specifically to bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people.
Does this mean we only welcome BGLT people?
Of course not. We think it is important to be intentional and proactive in our welcoming and affirmation not only of BGLT people, but of all people, including, but not necessarily limited to, people of different genders, races, ethnicities, ages, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and national origins.
