books

‘People So Bold’ offers guidance for justice work

Congregations looking for support, guidance, and inspiration in doing social justice work can find it in a DVD and a book of essays, both called A People So Bold. Both were created from conversations on January 4 when a group of UU theologians, social justice advocates, ministers, educators, and others came together to talk about “not how we do social justice, but why we do it and what it means,” in the words of the Rev. Meg Riley, director of the UUA’s Advocacy and Witness program.

“We had a deep conversation about what it means to be engaged in the world,” Riley says, adding that the topics on the DVD include some not normally discussed in social justice contexts, including “how we as UUs talk about evil.” She says other topics include: “How does our faith hold brokenness, injustice, and suffering, and how do we develop a prophetic voice?”

Participants in the talks included the Revs. Rebecca Parker, Paul Rasor, Thandeka, Victoria Safford, and Marilyn Sewell, plus social justice advocates the Rev. Louise Green, Paula Cole Jones, the Rev. Kate Lore, plus Jill Schwendeman, director of youth programs at White Bear UU Church in Mahtomedi, Minn., and Annease Hastings, music director at Bull Run UUs in Manassas, Va. A complete list of participants is here.

The January 4 convocation was the result of a partnership between the UUA and All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, D.C. Three other congregations also participated in the conversations: First Unitarian Church of Portland, Ore., White Bear UU Church, and Bull Run UU Church.

The DVD and book are designed for churches to use every way they can––in lifespan education, by social justice groups, and for sermons, says Riley. Some of the information on the DVD was also used at the UU University session on justice presented at General Assembly 2009.

Congregations can request one free copy of the DVD by emailing socialjustice@uua.org. Additional copies are $10 each. The book, edited by the Rev. John Gibb Millspaugh, cominister of the Winchester UU Society in Winchester, Mass., is $16 from the UUA Bookstore. It is published by Skinner House. A DVD Discussion Guide is available free, online.

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Resources

52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation

Growing a congregation is a matter of mastering the basics––are the bathrooms clean, are guests welcomed, is worship inclusive of people who are not insiders? But sometimes we forget the basics, and that’s why an occasional reminder is a good thing.

The Rev. Randy Hammer, pastor of United Church, Chapel on the Hill in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School, has written a book of such reminders. The book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Practical Hospitality, devotes one page to each of Hammer’s 52 ways of making sure guests are welcomed. They include advice on holding special programs, providing guest parking, creating an attractive roadside sign, providing quality child care, and sprucing up bulletin boards.

The book can serve as a reminder of what we already know we’re supposed to do, and it can inspire us to actually do it. It is also useful as a checklist of items to think about as we review just how welcoming we are.

Hammer is also the author of Everyone a Butterfly: Forty Sermons for Children. Both books are available from the UUA Bookstore.

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Growth, Resources

New book explores governance and ministry

At a time when many congregations are rethinking their governance structures in an effort to help their boards function more effectively and to grow in an ever-changing world, the Rev. Dan Hotchkiss, a Unitarian Universalist minister and senior consultant for the Alban Institute, has written a book that can help.

In Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership, Hotchkiss, who has worked with hundreds of churches and synagogues across the country, calls governance an “expressive art,” like preaching. He invites congregations to grow beyond a “board-centered structure,” instead creating a strong relationship with clergy and other lay leaders in the congregation so that the board is not making all of the day-to-day decisions for the congregation.

Many congregations continue to be organized the way they were in 1950, says Hotchkiss. Yet as a congregation grows and programs multiply, so do the disadvantages of the board-centered structure, he believes. “A board that tries to manage day-to-day operations . . . will spend a great deal of time on operational decision making. If there is no other place for a buck to stop it will stop at the board table. Until a board is willing to delegate real authority to someone else it remains the default chief operating officer.”

Hotchkiss says Governance and Ministry will be most useful to congregations that are at least pastoral-sized––with a median attendance of 50 to 150 children and adults. Among the questions the book strives to answer is: How do we need to restructure our governance to grow larger?

When liberal congregations fail to grow they often think that theology is the problem, says Hotchkiss. It’s not. “Well-organized congregations are succeeding (and poorly organized ones are failing) across the theological spectrum. The key trait such congregations have in common is their strong belief that they have something vitally important to offer other people.” That gives them the courage to let go of old ways of organizing. Improved organization can also inspire more people to volunteer.

He adds, “What healthy structures have in common is a clear understanding about the pathway to be followed when various decisions need to be made.”

As an incentive for change, Hotchkiss notes, “Congregations do some of their best work when instead of giving people what they want, they teach them to want something new.”

Governance and Ministry is $17 at the UUA Bookstore.  Hotchkiss is also the author of the 2002 book Ministry and Money: A Guide for Clergy and Their Friends.

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Growth, Resources

Book table group offers discussions, solutions

An online community for congregational book table folks has been created at http://uubooktables.forumsplace.com/.

The UU Book Table Forum provides a place to discuss problems and solutions, make book recommendations, hear about new titles, get new ideas, and support each other, says Jim Davenport, cochair of the bookstore at First UU Church in Columbus, Ohio, and creator of the online forum.

All bookstore managers, volunteers, authors, and other book enthusiasts are invited to contribute to the discussions, he says. “One of the hallmarks of a Unitarian Universalist community is the openness with which it embraces a diversity of thought and a diversity of people. To serve this questioning community, books covering UU thought, UU history, world religions, spiritualism, social justice, racial justice, GLBT justice, and much more are out there to be found. A UU book table finds these titles and gets them in front of the members of its community for their benefit.”

Davenport explains that, for people new to a UU church or community, the bookstore or book table can be “an inviting refuge amid the sea of well meaning but often daunting post-service fellowship. Visitors can explore the ideas represented by the books on the table, talk with other book-lovers, or just browse in peace.”

He adds, “Book tables are run by volunteers following their own ideas of what books to order and how to run the table. Sometimes they hope to contribute monies to their community from the book sales or at least not run at a deficit. There hasn’t been a good way for these book table managers to talk with their counterparts across the country and the world until now.”

An earlier InterConnections article on bookstores is here. Contact the UUA Bookstore for information on starting a book table.

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Resources

Help update Churchworks

Churchworks: A Well-Body Book for Congregations, published in 1999 by Skinner House and still a key resource for congregations, is being considered for updating.

Its author, the Rev. Anne Odin Heller, former district executive for the UUA’s Pacific Northwest District, is inviting congregational leaders to help her determine what changes to make. In addition to the questions below, she would welcome suggestions for activities or resources that could be included in the new edition.

Here are the questions for congregational leaders:

  • What topics, if any, do you feel are missing from the first edition of Churchworks?
  • What section(s) do you think are most in need of updating?
  • What do you find most useful about Churchworks?
  • What do you find least useful?
  • How do you and your congregation use Churchworks?
  • Is there anything else you would like to say?

Churchworks uses parts of the physical body as metaphors for various facets of congregational life. Chapters are focused on core documents, spirituality and worship, assessment tools, communications, vision, social justice and evangelism, ministry, conflict, organization, stewardship, etc.

Email responses by October 15 to Heller at aoheller@taosnet.com, or send them by ground mail to A.O. Heller, HCR 74, Box 21207, El Prado, NM 87529.

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Resources

UUA halts sale of Spanish-language hymnal

Sales and distribution of the UUA’s new Spanish-language hymnal, Las Voces del Camino (Voices on the Journey), which was introduced at General Assembly in June, have been halted due to a number of serious errors.

The errors will be corrected and a new edition published, said new UUA President the Rev. Peter Morales. He also promised that there will be a review of the process that lead to publication of the flawed hymnal.

Anyone who has purchased the current edition will receive a replacement when a new edition is published.

For more details read “Sales of new UU Spanish hymnal halted” at uuworld.org.

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UUA Announcements

New book offers inspiration for activists

The Rev Stephen Shick, senior minister at the Unitarian Church of Marlboro and Hudson in Marlboro, Mass., has written a book designed to, as he says, “inspire and sustain activists and others who are working for a better world.”

Be the Change: Poems, Prayers and Meditations for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers is published by the UUA’s Skinner House.

Shick is founding director of the Unitarian Universalist Peace Network and former director of U.S. programs for the UU Service Committee. He draws on his four decades of activist experience to offer motivation and encouragement to those just starting out in social justice work as well as reflections and insights for veteran justice-seekers. The book includes quotations from Jesus, Shakespeare, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Rachel Carson, Maya Angelou, and others.

He notes, “I offer this book to those people, to you, who look upon the carnage of war, the cruelty of poverty, and the destruction of our environment with open eyes and simply say, ‘We can and must do better.’ This book is for you, the ones who, despite fears and limitations, give hope and courage to all of us by the way you live. It is dedicated to you who have a pestering need to love more boldly and live more courageously so that others might live better lives.”

Be the Change is $12 from the UUA Bookstore, 800-215-9076.

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Resources