Dearly Beloved UUFM Community,
Springtime is upon us; a time of renewal and growth. Energy that was held within through the winter months now begins to spiral outward, reaching out enthusiastically for connection and engagement in the more creative and life-giving processes that this season nurtures and supports for all living things.
ANNUAL MEETING
It is fitting that our Bylaws state that our Annual Meetings should occur in the month of April. The Board has been internally engaging in a lot of important governance processing over the past several months, and we are excited to bring this work out to the Membership and to connect it to our community life through the democratic process. This year’s Annual Meeting will take place after the Sunday Service on April 14th, 2024.
PRE-ANNUAL MEETING ZOOM SESSIONS
This year, the Board is making additional efforts to support membership engagement and to streamline the Annual Meeting experience. Not only are we providing the membership with written materials outlining business items to review, we are also providing opportunities to present an overview of our two major governance business items and to address your questions. An email was sent out on March 27th with links to the relevant documents and the Zoom session information, including dates, times, hosts and Zoom links. You will also find this information in this newsletter and on the UUFM Coffee and Conversation Facebook Page. Between the two Zoom sessions, we aim to provide the necessary space for conversational processing and questions so that the membership can come to the Annual Meeting thoroughly informed and ready to go. We will be recording these sessions and making them available to the membership for review so that even folks that are unable to attend the sessions live can watch them at their convenience. If you have specific questions but are unable to attend the relevant session, you are encouraged to email your questions to the meeting host so that your question can still be answered in the Zoom session.
INTEGRATING THE DECISION-MAKING MAP
As you may recall from the visual aid featured in the Process Guide (presented as a reference for use in the Nominations Process that the Generosity Team guided us through in March), there has been significant work done to map out how we are making decisions to support the Mission, Vision, and sustainability of our organization. Interacting with this Decision-Making Map has been incredibly helpful in discerning the different kinds of decisions that keep our community going, and where the authority to make those decisions should lie.
One significant distinction that you will notice in the Agenda for the Annual Meeting is the difference between Governance and Community Life decisions. Governance – or policy – decisions require a vote. Some policies and decisions require the vote of the full membership (the Bylaws, the Budget, Board Officer Nominations), while other policies only require the vote of the Board (Handbook), but all require a vote. Community Life decisions do not necessarily require a vote. Rather, these decisions are made by Teams within their given domain and charge.
There are two business items on the Agenda for the Annual Meeting that are Community Life decisions, not Policy decisions: Nominees for Open Team Leadership Positions, and Developing Covenant between the Congregation and the Minister for the Initiation of Called Ministry and Installation Service. These items are not to be voted on, but rather shared with the community, inviting feedback, and obtaining community consent that the Team appointed to the item continue the process.
INITIATION OF CALLED MINISTRY AND INSTALLATION SERVICE
On May 4th, 2024 at 3 PM, all of this momentous, renewing energy in our community gets to have a party – LITERALLY! The Installation Task Force is delighted to have this opportunity to commemorate and celebrate these important and joyous decisions we have made as a community together.
May the fourth be with you.
Emily Fraser
UUFM Board Chair