Now's the Time . . .

. . . to compile the annual membership report which is due at the General Assembly Office of the UUA by February 1. The report is used to calculate the number of delegates a congregation may send to General Assembly and to determine contributions to the Annual Program Fund.

. . . to take another look at www.uuintergenerational.org, a Web site developed by the Rev. Greg Ward of the UU Metro Atlanta North congregation, Roswell, GA, containing guidelines and scripts for ready-to-use intergenerational services. Examples include Earth Day, water communion, environmental issues, teacher dedication and flower communion. The site also has a Q & A for effective services.

Deadline is March 15 for congregations to submit applications for funds from the Fund for Unitarian Universalism and the Fund for UU Social Responsibility. For details and types of projects eligible, go to www.uua.org/uufp. Proposals should strengthen UU institutions and community life, celebrate our liberal religious heritage, and/or encourage a generosity of spirit among UUs.

Stewardship, the Joy of Giving, a new five-session curriculum, is available free on the UUA Web site to educate children about responsible stewardship.

The curriculum has separate units for primary children, intermediate children, youth, and adults. It also has information for an intergenerational worship service and a children's chapel.

The curriculum is designed to be used immediately before an annual canvass.

Use caution when discussing congregational issues on e-mail, reminds the Rev. Bob Hill, district executive for the UUA's Southwest District.

"E-mail is wonderful," Hill says. "But it's also a terrible way to discuss difficult issues.

"Please, please, please, whether you are a minister or a lay leader or a loyal critic, do not use e-mail as a forum for dealing with complicated church issues or as a means of gathering support for one side or another of a controversy."

"I have assisted with more than one situation in which e-mail messages made problems worse than they had to be. E-mail has these dangerous qualities:

• E-mail gives a false sense of conversation . . . without the help of non-verbal signals: voice tone, facial expression, body language, and so on.

• E-mail lets you react almost instantly. I don't know about you, but often my second thoughts are a lot wiser than my first reactions.

• E-mail messages are available to everyone in the world. They can be forwarded, accidentally or on purpose, to anyone who is on-line. Say nothing in e-mail you wouldn't be willing for everyone to read.

• E-mail messages are immortal. Any message you send about a church controversy today may be plucked from someone's hard drive, zip disk, or CD next week, next year, or 10 years from now and quoted totally out of context.

"I'm not urging you to refrain from criticizing what needs criticism or to hold back your opinions about any legitimate concern of church life. Sometimes needed change can come about only through struggle and difficulties."

Beginning July 1, 2002, the Fair Share contribution that congregations contribute to the UUA will increase to $46 per reported member. The $2 increase will be applied to fiscal year 2003.

Fair Share contributions are the way that affiliated congregations support the work of the association. The new amount was approved by the UUA Board of Trustees, on the recommendation of its Finance Committee. Congregations with 550 or more members have the option of paying per member or paying 4.2 percent of its budget. That percentage remains the same for 2003.

The Finance Committee will review both the per-member and percent-of-budget formulas later this fiscal year before making recommendations for FY2004 and beyond.

Congregations are asked to pay Fair Share based on their membership as of February 1. A member is one who has full or partial voting rights at congregational business meetings. Any questions? Contact Mary Miles (mmiles@uua.org); (617) 948-6513.

Spring is canvass time in many congregations. Here are five resources to help you through that process. The first four are available through the UUA Bookstore, (800) 215-9076.

• Fundraising with a Vision: A Canvass Guide for Congregations, by Edward Landreth. Offers practical guidelines for anyone who cares about raising money to fund a congregation's vision. (UUA #7250 $25)

• Giving Voice to Our Vision. Companion video to Fundraising with a Vision. Depicts canvasser training, kick-off events, pulpit testimonials, and an actual canvass visit. (UUA #7001 $12)

• Creating Congregations of Generous People, by Michael Durall, a UU who works with many congregations on fundraising issues. Explains why people give or don't give. Gives a rationale for a consistent stewardship program rather than the "new theme every year" approach. Identifies pitfalls volunteers often encounter. (Alban Institute #7018 $13.95)

• Asking Makes a Difference, by Jerald King, UUA fundraising consultant. Helps establish a canvass based on a year-round approach. Includes materials for face-to-face, Commitment Sunday, and potluck campaigns. Includes computer disk to personalize your campaign materials. (Jerald L. King #7020 $39.95)

• Singing for the Green, a songbook produced by the Annual Program Fund Continental Committee. These "songs for fun and money" can be used before and during a stewardship campaign. Also on the Annual Program Fund site are canvass songs by Ed and Madeleine Eckert of The Unitarian Church, Westport CT. Copies of Singing for the Green are also available by contacting Julie Lichtman (jlichtman@uua.org), APF Assistant; (617) 948-6512.

Adapted from Belonging: the Meaning of Membership, a report issued in June 2001 by the UUA's Commission on Appraisal on membership issues in our congregations:

Ultimately it is in the congregations that our vision comes to life, or does not. No matter what is stated in the UUA's Principles and Purposes and our bylaws, our congregations are at liberty — with very little limitation — to define the nature of religious life and expression. Though many people are attracted to us because of our public expressions of religious tolerance, opposition to oppression, and inclusion of diverse populations, what they find in practice does not always match the principles we espouse.

The Commission's conversations with people who self-identify as UU, but feel left out of their local congregations, lead to the inescapable conclusion that exclusion is indeed a problem. One respondent said, "I cannot tell you how appalled I was when visiting a Unitarian Universalist church, one of the very few persons of color in the congregation was introduced to me as "our token black."

The Commission was told about opposition to incorporating neopagan and earth-centered rituals, ignoring of visitors week after week, criticism and disapproval of sermons or worship services presenting theologies other than those shared by the preponderance of members, financial policies that imply an assumption of middle-or-upper-class status, assumptions that people of different classes, cultural groups, or ethnic backgrounds would not be attracted by the UU principles.

Copies of the report and an Adult Study and Process Guide were mailed to each congregation. Additional copies of the report are available from the UUA Bookstore 7252 $12 (800) 215-9076. The study and process guide is available on-line as a PDF document.

Need a way to finance a special project? Do it one square foot or one piano key at a time. For instance: to buy a new piano, take the total cost and divide it by 88, then "sell" one key at a time. When a Texas congregation renovated its fellowship hall, but had no money for new tables, it invited families to buy one apiece. Within two weeks it had money for 30.

"This can work with other projects as well — landscaping, recarpeting, a new kitchen, sanctuary chairs," says Myrtle McMahan, Annual Program Fund chair in the UUA's Southwest District.

Skinner House invites UUs to submit original poems, prayers, or short prose pieces for possible inclusion in an anthology of meditation to be published in May 2003. Pieces may be serious or funny. They should be suitable for both private reflection and public worship. Prose meditations should be 200 to 650 words; poems 54 lines maximum. In a cover letter, state your UU affiliation. If your work has been published, give details.

Send by May 1, 2002 to Kirstie Anderson (kanderson@uua.org), Publications Dept., UUA, 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108. If sending e-mail, type "Spring 2003 meditation" in the subject line. Acceptances will be sent after Oct. 1. Send questions to Skinner editor Mary Benard (mbenard@uua.org).

The deadline for the Annual Program Fund/UU Ministers Association Sermon Award is April 1, 2002 for the sermon judged most effective in exploring and promoting financial support of Unitarian Universalism. The prize is $750 and an opportunity to deliver the sermon at General Assembly. Click here for details.

A new six-session adult religious education curriculum, designed to help congregations explore issues of economic justice, is available from UUs for a Just Economic Community.

The curriculum, Towards a Just Economic Community, includes one session introducing the new UUA study-action issue Economic Globalization, approved at GA 2001.

The curriculum includes two videos, Free Speech for Sale (about the role of media in making democracy work) and Global Village, Global Pillage (about international labor issues and alternatives to sweatshops). The curriculum was developed by the Rev. Dorothy Emerson, author of Standing Before Us — UU Women and Social Reform.

Congregations can use the curriculum to build an ongoing economic justice group. A facilitator's guide, participant's handbook, and both videotapes are included.

Two related videos are available separately: The Global Banquet: On Food and Politics (2001, $20), and Banking on Life and Debt (2000, $15), using situations in Brazil, Ghana, and the Philippines to explore the impact of globalization on poor countries.

The curriculum is $65 from UUJEC, 110 Arlington St, Boston, MA 02116. Questions may be directed to uujec@uujec.org or (617) 542-0634.

Music directors, conductors, singers, instrumentalists, composers, music committee members, members of congregations, and ministers are all eligible to join the UU Musicians Network.

Benefits include a quarterly newsletter, e-mail discussion list, Web site, summer conference, and advice on music programs. Dues are $40. Contact: uunadm@aol.com; (800) 969-8866.

An e-mail list, UUMIL@uua.org, has been created for all Unitarian Universalists who are serving as active and reserve members of the United States Army, National Guard, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Civil Air Patrol.

All topics of concern to military UUs are open for discussion. All postings to the list are confidential, although postings will be moderated to ensure that someone doesn't inadvertently describe a military setting or situation that might put someone in danger. Military rank will not be used so that all participants may speak freely. Inquiries should be sent to Eric Johnson (UUnavychaplain@aol.com).

To subscribe, visit www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uumil You will receive an automated message; then one of the list moderators will contact you. Civilians who know a UU in the military are encouraged to forward this information as soon as possible.

Resources to help congregations respond to a world changed by terrorism are available on the UUA Washington Office Web site. They include a study guide which addresses US foreign policy, just war theory, restorative justice, and civil liberties. Also on the Web site is a listing of proposals in Congress, updates on Washington Office activities, links to alternative media, and a brochure on military service and conscientious objection.

The office also provides e-mail alerts about issues in Congress and includes a calendar of social justice conferences.

Subscribe to the e-mail list washofc-l at www.uua.org/lists.