In July the Board began work on many explorations for what we hope to achieve this year. Our retreat earlier in the month saw us tackle the beginnings of these ideas, with a focus on keeping our ideas in line with how we want to govern the next steps for UUFM. The final wording of our goals will be finalized in this month’s meeting, but there is a clear vision for what we want to achieve.

Foremost we recognize that there is a desire and need for connection, both within our own fellowship and as an institution with the broader Manhattan community. Our year of envisioning and co-creating positive, alternative futures has helped us find the heart of our theology. What kind of world do we want to help build? And what can we imagine being our place within it? Now it is time to act on this vision and build the networks that will help us bring that future into reality.

We plan to do this through strengthening our covenant among each other, providing frameworks and opportunities to build connection and understanding among our members. We plan to focus on outreach, to make ourselves better known beyond our walls and show our faces in spaces that we want to support. And through all this, taking a good long look at what financial stewardship looks like, so that we can shepherd the next phase of handling our deficit puzzle in line with our values as Unitarian Universalists.

And that requires more than just us on the Board to fully enact. At the Co-Parent Circle gathering with the Community Team, the Board brought forward our considerations for both our financial needs and our goals for the coming year. The Board is responsible for the stewardship of our finances, but we know that the deficit and the plans we implement to address it will affect us all. And so, with the advice of the larger Co-Parent Circle, the Board is beginning the next stage of this work. A new team will be forming to help us move forward, not only in terms of income and expense but also in the growth of our community, inwardly and in outreach.

The direction for this growth becomes clearer each month. Though the way is winding, we will make our way by banding together and uplifting the powers of individuals and our interdependence. As always, if there is anything you want clarification on or have concerns about please reach out to a Board member or email me directly at chair@uufm.net.

“Spiritual life is first and foremost about commitment to a way of thinking and behaving that honors principles of inter-being and interconnectedness.” – bell hooks, “All About Love” p.77

In community,

~Sage Phipps-Hinkle

(they/them)