 It’s a Big UU World Out There!
I just got back from two days in Valley Forge, PA, where Rev Anya, Linda Weaver, and I, plus three other UUS members, attended the Joseph Priestley District Spring Conference. What is the JPD and what is a spring conference, I hear you ask. I’ll answer that at the end of this column. I want to share the energy first because a very important part of this experience is sharing it with those who weren’t there.
I attended three workshops and, while they weren’t intentionally
matched, the topics very nicely complemented each other. Strategic
Planning and The Future of UUism both resonated with our strategic
planning exercise last year. I listened carefully at both these
workshops for ways we can turn our ideas into goals and turn our goals
into action.
We would like to be a public church, involved in and known to our
community. How can we get there? Some questions from the workshops that
can guide us towards an answer: What percentage of our budget is spent
on social justice activities? Do we have a connection with the social
justice projects we fund? What percentage of our members and friends
participate in these activities? Can we connect our actions with our
faith? And there are questions for church leaders. Do we believe we are
leading our congregation rather than just overseeing the operation? And
are we developing a spiritual discipline?
I’m rapidly running out of space, and I think you can see that this is
just the start of the conversation. A very big part of my job is
listening to you. We will have more structured sessions to set goals and
talk about ways to achieve them, but that will never replace your
opportunity to talk to me or other board members. Catch me after church
or send me an email. This is your church and we want to hear your ideas.
Back to the first question, what is the Joseph Priestley (portrait
above, map below) District? Our Unitarian Universalist denomination has
divided the country into administrative districts; our district, the
JPD, includes Northern Virginia, Washington DC, Delaware, Maryland,
Eastern Pennsylvania, and Southern New Jersey. The JPD has a small staff
and provides leadership training, workshops, and conferences. There
were approximately 250 people from 65 congregations at this conference.
It is exciting to realize that we are not alone in this world; there are
more of us out there! We share ideas and learn from each other. We
worship together, sing together, and shout “Amen” together. It is truly
an amazing experience. Hope to see you at the next one!
Bonnie Lepoff
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