I hope you have had a great summer and are looking forward to a year of fulfilling church activities. The summer has brought us an interesting slate of Sunday morning presentations and experiences, and now the start of our church year is right around the corner. On August 16 we will return to a two-service format, with one service starting at 9:00 a.m. and one at 11:00 a.m.
Benette Sherman, our interim Director of Religious Education, joined us July 15 and will be sharing her ideas on how to continually improve our already strong RE program. We welcome Benette and look forward to sharing our wonderful program with her.
In June, I had the good fortune to attend the UUA General Assembly held in Salt Lake City. As you have heard from many people, GA is an exciting gathering of UUs from all over the country and, in fact, the world. It is an opportunity to experience the energy, diverse ideas, and knowledge of our fellow UUs from more than 1,000 congregations nationwide.
When our UUA consultant, Mary Gleason, was here in May, she recommended that we take a step back from our building project and take the time to redefine our vision. She suggested asking ourselves, “Who have we been?”, “Who do we want to be?”, “Where do we want to be five years from now?”, and “Whom are we serving?” More than five years have passed since we last visited our vision and mission statements. While at GA, I attended several workshops, and in almost every one, the facilitator(s) emphasized how important it is to have vision and mission statements that are updated regularly. Mission comes out of vision and, in fact, vision forms the base for all we do. It is very important for the whole congregation to be involved. Too often a group of lay leaders and the church staff get together and come up with a vision and then spend the next several years trying to “sell” it the congregation. We need to spend the next few months in preparation for a “Searching for Our Future Weekend”, which is an all-church retreat designed to help us determine our vision and mission. I hope you will join in as we deepen our connections as a congregation and define clearly how we want to serve the wider community.
The Mountain Desert District Annual Assembly will be held in Fort Collins, Colorado from October 15-18. The title posted on the web page is Spiritual Harmony: Celebrating the UU Religious Voice. Early registration is available through September 1 and room rates are guaranteed until September 15. You can read more at the web site <http://mdduua.org/>.
I look forward to working with you as president and invite your thoughts and discussion as we continue to deepen our relationships and think about how we fit into the wider community.
Rebecca Howard
2009-2010 Church President
