Final
Push for UUA Healthcare Plan The plan would be the first UUA-sponsored national health insurance plan in eight years and would make affordable health care possible for many congregational employees for the first time. Many cannot currently afford health insurance because they have no group plan to join; others are paying extremely high amounts for individual policies. Congregations do not have to sign up every employee, just those who want the coverage. Congregational boards do not need to vote to join the plan. Employees can sign up online. As of August the plan was three-fourths of the way to its membership goal. The Rev. Alex Holt, minister of Woodinville UU Church in Woodinville, Wash., and a former insurance adjustor, says the UUA plan offers better benefits than his current plan. He says it's about $200 more a month, but "I'm willing to pay that to support the pool of others who need it." The plan details can be reviewed online at uua.org/leaders/insurance. Call Jim Sargent in the Health Plan Office at 617-948-6405 with questions, or email him at healthinsurance@uua.org. All congregational staff working at least 1,000 hours annually are eligible. UU
Congregations Survey Completed In addition, the website also has links to the Faith
Communities Today interdenominational survey results in which a
random sample of UU congregations took part. A uuworld.org report on
the survey appeared on August 21. Find the story in the news archive
at uuworld.org/news/.
Two other DVDs are available from district offices on request. The
first, created by Jefferson
Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo., features that congregation's
exemplary welcoming and membership practices. The second features excerpts
from UU University, the
day-and-a-half program of workshops on membership, fiscal, and leadership
practices held just before GA in June. The Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA's director of district
services, says the response to the first Drive Time Essays CD, issued
last year, was very positive, and prompted them to look for additional
ways to share useful information with lay leaders electronically. A
Different Approach To Joys and Concerns "There's no laughter or applause when the minister reads it,"
he says. "And it eliminates the nightmare of the four-year-old
who got a new puppy being followed by someone whose mother just died."
People are invited to come up and light a candle in silence, and that
is when they give their slip of paper to the minister. Shelton adds that this approach opens the ritual to many people who would never get up and speak. Once a month a microphone is available so people can speak their joys and concerns. "The morning we knew our new system was working was when we offered the microphone and no one wanted it," he says. "We moved the focus of joys and sorrows from the individual to the universal acknowledgement of celebration and sorrow in each life, and that's where it should be." For
more social Justice, Follow Your Youth Group WUSY G does an annual service trip, including one this March to New
Orleans, and is active in local social justice efforts. When the church
did a visioning process a few years ago many adults said they wanted
to be more socially active the way the youth group was, says Rubenstein.
And it's happening. This is the first year that adults made service
trips. "I hear over and over that the congregation has learned
from the youth how to act on their beliefs," she says. "The
youth have led the way." UU
University Success Leads to a Second in 2007 The Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA's director of district services, and
a coordinator of UU University, says, "Lay leaders said the information
they received at UU University was very useful and inspirational and
that they took many ideas home to use in their own congregations. And
many of them wanted us to do another one next year and so we're going
to begin planning it." The event is open to congregational presidents and other lay leaders and ministers. The next UU University will be June 19-20, immediately preceding GA, which will be June 20-24 in Portland, Ore. There is no overlap between the two events. Information on UU University will be available at uua.org/leaders in late winter. Unitarian
Universalism is a Really Long Name Published by Skinner House in 2006, the book is $12, available at the
UUA Bookstore, uua.org/bookstore
or (800) 215-9076. Notes
from UU University On Welcoming, Anxiety, And Congregational Health Steinke urges people to talk directly with each other rather than to
a third party: "Don't take responsibility for other people's issues.
Enlist them in the solution. Pastors are especially vulnerable to this
and are very likely to be pulled into a conflict." From a workshop on welcoming and integration of friends and members,
by the staff of Jefferson
Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo.:
Two
Books Useful As Newcomer Gifts The second book, My
UU ABCs, Info and Fun for Kids of All Ages, has pictures of
birds, animals, and insects (coloring is encouraged) with simple lessons
for young children. This 40-page book is $4.95. Steeple
Falling Down? This Book is for You Grumeza has parleyed his many years as a church restoration planner and estimator into a 131-page book that will be helpful to anyone challenged by how to maintain old church buildings and how to explain problems to the congregation so it will give money to fix them. Most of the book is dedicated to a description of various problems, including what steps are involved for each type of repair. It is not a how-to book for amateurs, but it provides excellent descriptions (and photos) of each type of job so church leaders will have an idea of what will be involved when they call in a professional to do the work. For instance there are no less than seven pages on what is required to do an interior plaster job. The book is $16, available from thepilgrimpress.com. 101
UU Congregations Engaged in Organizing To support this growing interest, the UUA Office for Congregational Advocacy and Witness has produced a new CBCO guide entitled Congregation-Based Community Organizing: A Social Justice Approach to Revitalizing Congregational Life, available online or by request. Congregation-based community organizing is a process in which congregations of various faiths work together to effect change in the community by influencing community leaders and demonstrating broad support for social issues. A UU Ministers Advisory Council on CBCO has also been formed. The council will advise UUA staff and volunteers on CBCO-related matters and materials, and serve as a resource to ministers and leaders in their district considering involvement with CBCO. The council roster is online at uua.org/programs/justice/cbco_mac.html. Says Partridge, "Unitarian Universalist congregations are truly having an impact on critical issues while building relationships across social differences and lifting up a liberal religious voice within interfaith organizations." The guide is posted on the UUA CBCO website at uua.org/programs/ Now
There's Another Way To Fill Wayside Pulpits
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