THE NEW UU
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 5: HOW ARE DECISIONS MADE? GOVERNANCE AND POLITY
BY JONALU JOHNSTONE
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 9:34:04 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The meaning of freedom and tolerance is revealed more clearly by the way people behave than by the generalizations they utter. — Conrad Wright, Unitarian Universalist historian
This workshop provides an overview of congregational polity and covenant, the foundational principles upon which Unitarian Universalist congregations are gathered and continue to exist as institutions. It will focus not on the mechanics of congregational structure and governance, but, rather the spiritual underpinnings of those structures, highlighting the role and importance of membership in a congregation.
Two activities require advance preparation. For Activity 2, research the story of how your congregation was founded. Invite the president of your congregation to join you for Activity 4.
If your congregation is medium- to large-sized, and especially if you take a particular approach to decision making, such as policy-based governance, consider using Alternate Activity 2. It will require some preparation, but a Leader Resource is provided to assist with that.
Before leading this workshop, review Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters (at www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/newuu/introduction/160181.shtml) found in the program Introduction and make any preparations needed to accommodate your group.
If you only have an hour for the workshop, omit Activity 4 and shorten Activity 2 by five minutes and Activity 3 by ten minutes.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 2 |
Activity 1: What a Free Church Means to Me | 10 |
Activity 2: The Founding of the Dedham Church | 25 |
Activity 3: Covenants Within and Beyond Our Congregation | 35 |
Activity 4: Learning from Leadership | 15 |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: Covenant as Promise | 30 |
Alternate Activity 2: Our Congregation's Organizational Structure | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Consider your own history of participating in congregational governance. What roles have you held? How have you felt about your participation? How has your participation shaped your relationship with your congregation? With other members? Has it shaped or influenced your theological understanding? In what capacities have you been involved in controversial or complicated congregational decisions? What have you observed as the strengths of your congregation in democratic decision making? What challenges have you noted?
Write in your journal and/or share your responses with your co-facilitator(s).
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As people arrive, introduce yourself and invite them to make or find their name tag. If anyone new attends, introduce yourself and invite them to write their contact information on the sign-up sheet. Point out rest rooms and refreshments and direct people to the child care space if you are providing child care.
OPENING (2 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Bring the group together. Invite a volunteer to light the chalice. Share Reading 591,"I Call That Church Free," responsively with the group. Explain that James Luther Adams, the author of the opening words, was a prominent 20th-century Unitarian Universalist theologian.
ACTIVITY 1: WHAT A FREE CHURCH MEANS TO ME (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity by providing a bridge from the Opening with these or similar words:
Our opening reading spoke about a free church. In previous workshops, we have encountered the notion of freedom as a key characteristic of Unitarian Universalism. Freedom in thought and in worship has shaped our tradition. Free responses to conscience have expressed themselves through social justice work. In this workshop, we will consider institutional life in Unitarian Universalism, that is, how our congregations govern themselves. Here, too, freedom plays a role. Considering what you heard in the opening words, what you have learned up to now about Unitarian Universalism, and your own personal experience, what does the idea of a free church mean for you?
Invite participants to identify themselves as they each answer the question in turn, reminding them that they may pass. Write key words and concepts expressed by participants on newsprint.
ACTIVITY 2: THE FOUNDING OF THE DEDHAM CHURCH (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with a brief discussion of church governance. Ask, "Why does it matter how we govern ourselves within a congregation?" Help participants discern that governance, the way we make decisions and handle power, needs to be consistent with our religious principles. Our values are displayed in how we govern ourselves. If we trust people to find their own truths, then our system of governance needs to be consistent with that trust. Point out that the use of the democratic process is one of our seven Principles.
Distribute the story and invite participants to read the introduction and the story silently, or read it aloud. Invite participants to comment about what stood out for them in the story.
Briefly tell the story of the founding of your congregation. Lead a discussion, using these questions to guide you:
ACTIVITY 3: COVENANTS WITHIN AND BEYOND OUR CONGREGATION (35 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Briefly summarize congregational polity, drawing on Leader Resource 1, Background on Congregational Polity, and your own experience. Use words such as:
We have considered how covenant defines the relationships among members of the congregation and provides the foundation for how we work together. Now we're going to look more specifically at how congregational governance works. Because we believe people need to have influence over decisions that affect them, power is vested in the members of the congregation, rather than in a hierarchy beyond the congregation. While elected representatives of the people, including a governing board as well as a minister(s) called by the members of this congregation, make many day-to-day decisions, some decisions are reserved to the membership as a whole. Given what you know about the congregation from attending, reading the newsletter or website, and from conversations, what decisions do you think belong to the members of the congregation, rather than to the elected or called leaders?
Write the responses from participants on newsprint. If there are items on the list that are not reserved to the congregation, point these out and if possible, designate who would be responsible for those decisions in your congregation. Focus on the items that are congregational decisions, and add any significant items that have not been named, using Leader Resource 1, Background on Congregational Polity, to help you.
Focus now on relationships between and among congregations. Begin with these or similar words:
As the story of the founding of the Dedham church indicated, our congregations have a long history of covenantal relationships between and among themselves.
Invite participants to open their hymnbooks to the page before the first hymn, which begins with the words, "We the member congregations..," Invite a volunteer to read the first three lines, and then read the seven Principles in unison. Call attention to the word "covenant," saying something like:
Our Association, the UUA, is made up of more than a thousand congregations who have covenanted together, just as the members of our congregations covenant among themselves. Some things helpful to congregational life are difficult, if not impossible, to do alone. For example, the workshops we have been participating in were developed by the UUA. Can you think of other ways congregations might help one another through our Association?
If participants have difficulty responding, use the leader resource to suggest examples. Point out that the offices of the UUA are located in Boston at 25 Beacon Street (sometimes referred to as "25"). However, the UUA is a membership organization comprising all the member churches, fellowships, and congregations. A representative General Assembly elects a moderator, a president, and a Board of Trustees, who act on behalf of the congregations.
Explain that the UUA has Districts, determined by geographic proximity in order to better provide the support and program resources to member congregations. Show the map and indicate the area and name of your District. Point out the locations of other Unitarian Universalist congregations in your area.
Highlight any special relationships your congregation has with other Unitarian Universalist congregations, whether nearby or far away. Include Partner Churches, or special cooperative arrangements, such as shared social action projects.
ACTIVITY 4: LEARNING FROM LEADERSHIP (15 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the president or past president. When their presentation is completed, invite questions from participants.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Sing "Building Bridges," Hymn 1023 in Singing the Journey, or "As Tranquil Streams," Hymn145 in the hymnbook. Or, lead a unison reading of Reading 458 in the hymnbook, by Walter Royal Jones.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: COVENANT AS PROMISE (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Distribute the handout and pens/pencils. Invite a volunteer to read the text. Then invite participants to reflect on the relationships in their lives and respond to the questions on the handout.
After five minutes, invite participants to find a partner with whom to share some of what they have written. After two minutes, suggest that the second person in each pair begin sharing if they have not yet done so. After five minutes, invite pairs to turn their attention to the large group. Use these or similar words:
You have had a chance to think about some of the promises in your personal relationships. The promises we make to one another in a congregation, while somewhat different from personal covenants, share many of the same qualities. For example, you may have said you promise fidelity to your spouse. That might not be a promise one would make to a congregation, but it reflects a degree of loyalty and trust which might be appropriate. Often, our promises are not explicit, but are understood. What do you think might be some of the promises we make—explicit or implicit—as members of a congregation?
Write the responses on newsprint as they are offered. If participants have difficulty brainstorming, ask them, "What behaviors would you expect of people in the congregation? What behaviors would help make it safe for you to participate fully?" If responses are slow, make some suggestions, such as:
When the list feels complete, share your congregation's covenant or draw attention to one in the hymnbook that your congregation is accustomed to saying (often Reading 471, 472, or 473). Lead a discussion using these questions as a guide:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: OUR CONGREGATION'S ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:
We have talked in an abstract way about democracy and congregational polity and how they function within our congregations. Each Unitarian Universalist congregation functions a little differently in terms of the specifics, because we are self-governed. This activity gives us a chance to introduce the structure of our congregation. Our hope is to make the process transparent enough that you will know to whom to take your questions or concerns as they arise.
Briefly share about your congregation's structure, based on the information you have gathered using Leader Resource 2, Our Congregation's Structure. Distribute the organizational chart or summary you have prepared.
Invite participants to suggest who they would contact about:
Be sure each correct answer is clearly identified, for example, by a response such as, "Yes, our child care coordinator handles all requests for child care." Gently correct misconceptions, for example, by eliciting other responses. Acknowledge areas where there is confusion or ambiguity. For example, you might say, "It's confusing who to go to about a problem with a staff interaction, since they all have different supervisors. You do want to know who the appropriate supervisor is, and the Human Resources Committee could help you determine that." Invite any questions or comments that participants may have.
THE NEW UU: WORKSHOP 5:
STORY: THE FOUNDING OF THE DEDHAM CHURCH
From Our Covenant: The 2000-01 Minns Lectures, The Lay and Liberal Doctrine of the Church: The Spirit and the Promise of Our Covenant, by Alice Blair Wesley (Chicago: Meadville-Lombard Press, 2002). Used with permission.
Religiously, Unitarians are directly descended from the Puritans and Pilgrims who settled Massachusetts beginning in 1620. Although those colonists perceived themselves to be settling a wilderness, they were actually displacing the Wampanoag, Pequot, Narragansett, and Mohegan tribes that lived in that area. Colonists gave little thought to accommodating these people, believing that they had a superior style of living and religion. Tensions and violent confrontations arose between the colonists and the native peoples as a result of the increasing number and size of colonial settlements on native lands and from efforts to convert Indian people to Christianity. When they arrived from England to settle, colonists duplicated the arrangement of English towns, building their houses close together with fields surrounding the town. Generally, the colonists who settled a particular town came from the same place in England and knew one another. By contrast, the settlers of Dedham came from different places in England and were unacquainted. This is the story of how they came to form a church and a town.
By 1637, about 30 English families were newly settled in Dedham. They were not acquainted with one another prior to the founding of Dedham because they had come to New England on different ships from different parts of England and had lived for a while in different towns. They had come to Dedham to form a new township with the permission of the General Court of Massachusetts.
To settle this parcel of American land, they first had to design a town government, so they could legally allot fields for growing crops and smaller, town lots for building houses. After they had built pens for their animals, planted initial crops, built houses, unpacked or pegged together furniture and so on, they began to think of founding a church. But they had been working so hard they really hadn't had time to get to know one another very well. In other words, except for the fact that many of them—though not all—were farmers, these people were something like present day suburbanites, almost all of whom may have moved quite recently to where they now live. Certainly, if suburbanites of today think they might want to start a new Unitarian Universalist church, they will have to start by talking with strangers, maybe much like themselves religiously, maybe not, but who certainly do not know each other in any depth.So, guess what these New Englanders did in 1637 to get to know each other and to approach—gently, slowly—some very profound and personal religious issues? They set up a series of weekly neighborhood meetings, "lovingly to discourse and consult together... and prepare for spiritual communion in a church society, *** [gap in the record] that we might be further acquainted with the (spiritual) tempers and guifts of one an other [sic]." Meetings were held every Thursday "at several houses in order," in rotation. Anybody in town who wanted was welcome to attend.
...The account in the Dedham Church record lists the questions the people in 1637—not yet a church—discussed at their weekly meetings, which continued for a whole year. Several features of this event are intriguing. For example, we all know the New England colonists were a "people of the Book," the Bible. But they did not begin to talk about a church by talking about the Bible. By way of laying a basis for discussion of the church, they began by addressing a question of common sense or natural law. I quote, "For the subject of thes disputes or conference divers meetings att first were spent about questions as pertained to the just peaceable & comfortable proceeding in the civill society... [sic]"
In a word, a foundational concern of a free church is for the justice, the peace, the laws and regulations—the conditions of—any healthy, free society. Here in the wilderness these people, having just come from the anguish of European society in the 1600s, knew there could be no peaceably functioning free church—in the long term—if it was not set within a larger society wherein concerns for justice, peace and reasonable laws can be freely and effectively voiced, without suppression...
.... After much general talk about "civill society," they began to edge toward talk about a church. Their first question on this subject was: Here we are, not presently members of any church. We don't know each other well, religiously. Are we qualified to "assemble together... [and] confer" like this? Their answer: We are, if, "in the judgement of charity," we seem to be and think we are acting out of (in our terms) genuinely deep, religious love...
Next question: Well, if we can meet like this, just as neighbors, isn't this enough? Maybe we don't need a church. Their answer: No, this is too casual. If we really want to live in the ways of our deepest love, then we must intentionally form a much deeper community of love... And besides, others in the larger society need the example of love which a free church will publicly show forth... My point is that they understood the role of the church as filling needs of both the members and the larger community...
These laypeople's central conclusion, from all these weeks of discussion, was this: Members of their new free church should be joined in a covenant of religious loyalty to the spirit of love. And once members were joined in a covenant, of their own writing and signing, the members' loyalty in the church should be only to the spirit of love, working in their own hearts and minds. No one—not the Governor, nor the General Court, not even members of other similarly covenanted churches—would have any authority in the local free church. They were not sectarian loners... They thought they should and they did seek counsel from neighboring churches. Yet they were very careful to make sure everybody understood that they would seek and consider counsel from others often, but accept rulings or commands contrary to their own experience of the spirit—never.
...Then and now and for as long as human history lasts... the integrity of the free church comes down to our loyalty to the spirit of love at work in the hearts and minds of the local members. The laypeople who founded First Church, Dedham knew so and clearly said so, and that is why we still say together, so often in our churches now, "Love is the doctrine of this church..."
THE NEW UU: WORKSHOP 5:
HANDOUT 1: COVENANT AS PROMISE
A covenant is not a contract, but rather a voluntary relationship. The idea of a covenant has biblical origins and traditionally includes the understanding that the relationship is sacred or blessed.
The focus of a covenant is on the promises one person or group of people make to another person or group of people about how they will support one another and what shared values they will uphold together. Thus, when a covenant is broken or violated, the parties involved focus on restoring relationship through reconciliation and forgiveness. Most Unitarian Universalists would agree with Jewish philosopher and theologian Martin Buber, who is credited with describing humanity as promise-making, promise-breaking, and promise-restoring. Covenant, or sacred promise, is at the heart of our free faith.
Reflect:
What relationships in your life have a covenantal quality? What are some of the explicit and implicit promises within that relationship?
THE NEW UU: WORKSHOP 5:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: BACKGROUND ON CONGREGATIONAL POLITY
The idea of congregational self-governance developed on this continent because the Puritans who arrived from Europe wanted to have responsibility for their own churches, not to have bishops dictate their practices. The church structures the colonists knew best were hierarchical; they were familiar with the Episcopal structure, where bishops and archbishops have the final word, and with the Presbyterian structure, a form of representative democracy where a body of elected representatives holds authority over the churches. They rejected hierarchical forms and adopted a different structure, the congregational system of governance, which requires each church or congregation to be independently governed and to make its own decisions in such major areas as:
In the matter of governance, Unitarian Universalist congregations today are directly descended from the Puritan churches that were self-governing. Each congregation has title to its property. No official in a religious hierarchy may close a Unitarian Universalist congregation, or fire its minister. No authority outside the congregation can define membership or dictate the annual budget of the congregation. Only the members of the congregation can make such determinations. This structure of self-government is called congregational polity.
While members cannot be consulted on every decision, they do vote on the most important issues. One of the important decisions is the election of leaders, generally a governing board and the call of the minister(s). Implicit in our congregational covenants is a promise to trust leaders to make decisions within particular realms, and to ask when they need guidance. For example, ministers generally have responsibility for worship-related concerns, though some issues such as adding an extra worship service may require a congregational vote, or certainly, input. A religious educator or Religious Education Committee may create a Coming of Age program for youth, but the congregation will determine when a youth may become a member of the congregation.
Membership means that you are able to help make the important decisions. The members collectively own the congregation and are vested with the power of governance. Elected lay leaders and called ministers are accountable to the congregation.
Relationships between congregations are mutual relationships of equals, regardless of the congregations' size or influence. Unitarian Universalist congregations covenant to form the Unitarian Universalist Association of congregations, coming together for mutual benefit. Together, we can do what would be difficult for any but the very largest congregations alone, such as:
Unitarian Universalist congregations also participate in Districts, geographic groupings of congregations which work together to promote Unitarian Universalism and to support one another. Clusters are smaller groups of congregations within a District.
THE NEW UU: WORKSHOP 5:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: OUR CONGREGATIONS STRUCTURE
Talk with lay leadership and the minister to discover the answers to these questions. This discovery process will give you a starting point for understanding the structure of your congregation and making it transparent for newcomers.
Does your Board function under a particular model of governance, such as policy-based governance? If so, describe it.
How do the various committees, task forces, teams, and/or working groups in your congregation work with the Board? How do they relate to one another? To whom is each of them accountable?
What staff people are employed by the congregation? How do they relate with the various groups, including the Board?
Is there an organizational chart? If not, create an organizational chart or summary of the organizational structures.
FIND OUT MORE
Read one or both of these pamphlets: "Becoming a Member (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=497)," by Polly Laughland Guild, and "UU Views of Church (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=517)," by Lawrence X. Peers.
Governance for Unitarian Universalist Congregations (at www.uua.org/documents/congservices/governance.pdf) is a handbook which has information about both the history and practice of governance.
Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=1056), by Dan Hotchkiss (Alban Institute, 2009) and All Are Chosen: Stories of Lay Ministry and Leadership (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=568), Margaret L. Beard and Roger W. Comstock, eds. (Skinner House, 1998) are both available from the online UUA Bookstore.
Ask about visiting a Board or congregational meeting. Most congregations welcome visitors, though they may restrict participation of non-members.