Calling of Mutual Ministry

The Board of Trustees charged Natalia Averett, Lee Bory and myself, David McTaggart, to formulate the meaning of membership--what we ask of each other to be faithful members and friends of our congregation. This is our draft report with our open invitation for your comments.

We took much of our inspiration from the Michael Durall book The Almost Church Revitalized. Please read my discussion "Heaven on Earth" posted under Team Leadership Group to understand our objectives.

We begin with an articulation of our identity, of who we are and what we do:

We are a faith community united in a commitment to Beloved Community, Spiritual Deepening, and Social and Environmental Justice.

We aspire to a vision of heaven on earth by living transformative lives with courage, integrity, compassion, generosity and gratitude—all in the name of love.

We invite all souls to find loving support in this community, to discover the sources of their own spiritual strength, to work together to make the world a better place to live, to renew their faith in life.

Natty handily expressed this identity graphically:

Now, on to our meaning of membership:

Calling of Mutual Ministry

As members and friends of our faith community, we call upon each other:

1. To intentionally engage with one another to form relational bonds of trust within the caring commitment of beloved community.

Together, we build community by caring for each other, by creating opportunities for fellowship, discussion of issues, working together, sharing of life stories, celebration and mourning of life passages, and by the practice of one-on-one conversations.

Core Idea: People in right public relationships find community, pastoral care, common purpose, and power to act.

2. To nurture our spiritual inner strength by attending worship services regularly, by deepening our understanding of our faith, by living responsible and ethical lives, and by developing a spiritual practice.

Together, we create soulful worship services, teach and learn life lessons in religious education, and foster contemplative practices and creative expression.

Core Idea: Spiritual maturity gives us the courage to act on our principles.

3. To serve or stand in public witness for reason, justice and compassion through one or more environmental or social action initiatives.

Together, we express our faith and nurture our souls by working to conserve the abundance and diversity of nature and by speaking and acting against public injustice, intolerance and oppression.

Core Idea: Justice work is soulful work.

4. To consume less and give more, to contribute our fair share of financial support towards the stewardship and outreach of our congregation.

Together, we challenge the prevailing consumer culture of materialism and individualism by living more meaningful, spiritually fulfilling lives through disciplined simplicity, constraint, and generosity.

Core Idea: Stewardship is about consuming and giving consciously, wisely for the greater good.

5. To tell others of why our Unitarian Universalist faith and religious community are important to our lives and to invite them to learn more about us.

Together, as Unitarian Universalists, we welcome people of all religious beliefs and of all social, sexual or cultural identities, orientations and circumstances.

Core Idea: The sharing of our religious convictions is about coming out, of speaking of who we are, and why our faith is important to us.