InterConnections Welcomes Leaders

If you've just joined your congregation's governing board, welcome. And welcome to InterConnections. The UUA sends it five times a year to board members and professional staff at all congregations. We write about congregations that do particular parts of congregational life well, in the belief that the best way to build vital congregations is to learn from each other.

Back issues of the newsletter are on the UUA Web site. Another tool for board members is the InterConnections Resource Library on the Web site. InterConnections welcomes you.

— Donald E. Skinner, Editor

The UUA's Midsize Church Conference, for leaders of congregations from 250 to 550 members, will be March 6 to 9 at All Souls UU Church, Kansas City, Missouri, and the adjacent Marriott Country Club Plaza hotel.

Watch the UUA Web site and InterConnections for details or contact Shikarro Sampson at UUA headquarters at (617) 948-6370.

Prospective leaders at UUs of Clearwater, FL, have benefited for the past two years from an in-house leadership training program begun by Bill Norsworthy, the congregation's membership chair and a founder of the Florida Leadership School. "I realized that, as good as the district school is, there was no way to get very many of our people to attend such an intensive and expensive program," said Norsworthy, "so we started our own."

The two-hour sessions are held on Tuesday nights for four weeks and cover listening skills, conducting effective meetings, recruiting and rewarding volunteers, congregational history, structure, and finances; plus relationship with the UUA, district, and cluster. The goal, Norsworthy says, is an understanding of spiritual leadership based on the principles of our faith and the vision and mission of the congregation. The sessions also help prospective leaders get to know one another. In two years 20 of the congregation's 250 members have attended.

Personal invitations are important, says Norsworthy. A church-wide invitation resulted in only one person signing up each year. But when people were invited personally, 80 percent responded. Participants are asked to consider leadership roles after taking the program. Most have done so.

Presentations are by Norsworthy and others, including a psychologist, an experienced business manager, a lawyer, and Clearwater minister the Rev. Abhi Janamanchi.

"This model for leadership development works extremely well," says Norsworthy, "and costs almost nothing. It requires a commitment of less than ten hours.

For a program outline contact Norsworthy by mail at 2470 Nursery Rd., Clearwater, FL 33764.

April 1 is the deadline for applying to become an intern in the UUA's Washington Office. The next 11-month internships begin in September 2003. UUs who are 21 or over and U.S. citizens may apply. An application is on the UUA Web site.

For more information read the on-line diaries of interns Emily Dulcan and Lissa Gundlach, or contact Rob Cavanaugh at the UUA Washington Office, 1320 18th Street NW, Suite 300B, Washington, DC 20036, or (202) 296-4672.

A guest speaker in a UU pulpit was discovered to have twice used written material from others, passing it off as his own words. In another instance, one of our ministers has written about attending a service at another congregation where, to his surprise, he heard his own sermon delivered.

In still another case, a lay leader in a Texas congregation wrote a humorous newsletter piece for the annual canvass. It turned up again some time later in another congregation's newsletter under the byline of a religious education professional.

Plagiarism happens. UUs are not exempt from the misappropriation of intellectual property. Whether it occurs because we're too busy, feel that our own words are inadequate, or because the internet makes it so easy, plagiarism is a recurring problem.

"The issue is a matter of personal integrity, respect for the work of others (as in asking for permission), and paying for the valued work of others," says Rev. Kenn Hurto, acting ministerial development director for the UUA Department of Ministry.

He notes that ministers often have mixed reactions to the use of their work by others. "Some are just happy to know their work is worth sharing. Others feel they worked to create a product and feel they should decide its use and should be compensated if others seek to use it.

"At the very least, due credit should be noted if one uses another's work," says Hurto. "I think simple decency and etiquette would require a release from the author as with any other writer — with the exception of smallish quotes."

The same rules apply to our hymnbook.

Request permission from Mary Benard, (617) 948-4603, before copying any part of Singing the Living Tradition.

Congregations wanting to strengthen their social justice programs and become engaged in community issues are invited to consider hosting a Social Justice Empowerment Program workshop through the UUA's Office of Congregational Justice Making.

The Friday night-through-Sunday workshops have been held in more than 100 congregations in the last six years. Trained facilitators can help social justice leadership teams develop effective social action groups and discover ways to become involved in their communities.

Typically about 20 percent of a congregation participates in a workshop. Cost is on a sliding scale of $300 for congregations of 150 members or less, $500 for congregations up to 500 and $1,000 for large congregations.

For more information contact the Rev. Bill Gardiner in the Office of Congregational Justice Making at (617) 948-6450.

The UUA's Washington Office has a new, larger office and address: UUA Washington Center, 1320 18th Street NW, Suite 300B, Washington, DC 20036. Phone and fax remain the same, (202) 296-4672, 4673 (fax). The office will house the director and support staff of the Advocacy and Witness Staff Group (Meg Riley and Theresa Kashin); the newly renamed Washington Office for Advocacy (Rob Cavenaugh and interns); The Holdeen India Program (Kathy Sreedhar and Barbara Wilson), and Taquiena Boston of the staff group known as Identity-Based Ministries.

A new workshop to help congregations put religious education at the center of congregational life is available through district offices starting this fall. Facilitators have been trained in each district.

The Rev. Tracy Robinson-Harris, UUA director of congregational services, says that for a decade a similar program has been focused on directors of religious education and other RE professionals, expecting them to elevate RE in their congregations. The new workshop, called Covenanting for Excellence in Religious Education, is focused on the congregation, not the religious professional.

"In the past we have tended to rely on professionalizing the role of the religious educator to make that happen," says Robinson-Harris. "While the RE professional is an important part of the process, what actually needs to happen to change the institution is for the congregation as a community to commit itself to excellence in religious education."

The Friday night-and-Saturday workshop leads congregational leaders and staff in creating a religious education covenant. The Sunday service will likely be focused on religious education as well.

Michelle Richards, religious educator at the UU Fellowship of Elkhart, IN (128 members), is the trainer for the Central Midwest District. The workshop has been presented at her own congregation. "Our congregation has always been supportive of religious education, but the workshop made people realize in a whole new way how important RE is and how they can contribute their talents, how children can be involved in worship services, etc. We're thinking less narrowly."

For more information contact your district office. Fees for the workshop will vary by district.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) reminds congregations to enroll their seven-year-olds on-line for a free subscription to uu&me!, the only UU children's magazine. CLF makes this offer possible with the help of The Veatch Program of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, NY, and the support of the UUA Department for Congregational, District, and Extension Services.

Individual subscriptions ($17.95) and church bulk subscriptions (5 or more @$10) are available for purchase throughout the year. Visit CLF's Web site.

The UUA is asking congregations to designate a Sunday this fall to recognize, celebrate, and raise money for youth, campus, and young adult programs. The financial goal is to raise $4 million to support local, district, and continental efforts to build up youth and young adult ministries. Worship resources are available to help plan these Sundays, which are part of the Campaign for Unitarian Universalism capital fund drive.

For help, and to register your Sunday event, contact Alison Miller at (617) 948-6198.

Some members of the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo, Ontario (96 members), arrive well before the regular church service, but not to set up coffee. The congregation has established a 15-minute silent meditation as an antidote to the busyness of Sunday mornings, according to the Winter 2002 issue of The Canadian Unitarian.

A new Web site, called Between Sundays, is now available for parents and religious education teachers who need help with questions from children about UU beliefs, other religious issues, world religions, and social justice. The site includes lesson plans, readings, and stories around each question. It was developed by Betsy Williams, creator of the children's magazine uu&me!

A recent survey of several mainline U.S. denominations shows:

• One-third of worshippers have attended their congregations for five years or less.
• Ten percent of U.S. congregations attract 50 percent of all worshippers each week.
• Less than half of worshippers (44 percent) are involved in small groups in their congregation, such as religious education classes or prayer circles.
• Women outnumber men in the pews by 61 to 39 percent.
• Nineteen percent of worshippers contribute 10 percent or more of their net income to their congregation.
• Nineteen percent say they are involved in community service through their congregation, compared to 31 percent who say they are involved through groups outside the congregation.
• Thirty-eight percent have a college degree or other higher education, compared to 23 percent of the U.S. population.

The survey was conducted with 300,000 people in 2,000 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; United Methodist; Southern Baptist Convention; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); United Church of Christ, Roman Catholic Church; Seventh-day Adventist, and Church of the Nazarene. A few congregations of other faiths were also surveyed.

The U.S Congregational Life Survey was conducted in April 2001 by U.S. Congregations, a religious research group staffed by religious researchers and sociologists. It is housed in the offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Louisville, Kentucky.

August is a good time to review your procedures for greeting Sunday morning visitors. Your congregation may move into a slower mode in the summer, but visitors will keep on coming. August, especially, is a prime month for church visitation.