A Time for Renewal

 

 

 

“A Time for Renewal” was the theme of our canvass last spring. Today, with everyone’s help, we will begin a process to bring about this renewal. The board has been assessing various areas of MUUS’s functioning in an effort to strengthen our operations, including some of the committees. The Congregational Development Initiative will focus on other areas which members identified in the Open Space and in the canvass as needing focused effort. This Initiative is not intended to replace the work of the committees. Tracy Johnson and I will co-lead this development project. This project has been approved by the MUUS Board and board president Donna Pereira and Rev. Carol Wolff will participate in key aspects of it.

Over the next year, we will be addressing several areas. We are organizing work groups to concentrate on each one of these. We need your active participation, but we want you to work on something you are interested in and have skills to bring to the task. We hope some of you will join one or more of the work groups. Others may choose to participate in a specific project, or event. What is important, is that we will only reap as a group what each one of us sows. Our hope is that this process will be an experience of renewal for us individually as much as it is for our congregation as a whole.

Here are the work groups we have in place. Please email MUUS@muusct.org for the names and contact information of the leaders of each of these groups.

Work Groups and Their Tasks

Membership Growth
Task: To grow our congregation by reaching out to and engaging potential members

Financial Development
Task: To enhance the financial development of the congregation through planned giving, fund raising, grant writing and other strategies.

Community Outreach and PR
Task: To expand visibility and awareness of MUUS in our local community.

Program Development
Task: To develop and expand our program offerings.

Member Involvement
Task: To increase the degree of members’ connection, participation, and involvement in MUUS.

Denominational Outreach
Task: To enhance the connection between MUUS and UUA and the Clara Barton District

Social Action
Task: To develop social action initiatives related to UU values and principles

At a later date we will be implementing a Leadership Development Task Force, the Annual Canvass, and a Capital Campaign

Some members have already joined a work group. We need your help! Anyone who would like to work in a specific area is invited to contact Tracy Johnson, Jerry Ross, or one of the chairs of the work group you’re interested in. If you join a work group, you will be doing so only through June. At that time, we will take a look at what we have accomplished and decide what we want to do next.

The Development Initiative Steering Committee