Greetings from the 8th Principle Implementation Team (PIT) and thank you for engaging in the online review of the current draft of our First Parish Covenant. Our process so far has been as follows:
- During the 2021/2022 church year, PIT led several workshops that discussed UU
theology and the importance of “Covenant” in UU congregations both currently
and historically.
- In the Fall of 2022, during a church service focused on UU Covenants, our congregation was asked to contribute direct input on what kinds of promises and commitments we would like our community to consider.
- For several weeks, these “stickies” were on the wall leading to the Sanctuary.
- From this input, the first draft of a congregational covenant was created. The responses were organized by five areas: Welcoming and Including, Learning and Connecting, Relating and Belonging, Acting and Responding, and Caring and Celebrating.
- On December 4th during a workshop after the Sunday service, the wording of the draft was reviewed, and more input was submitted by the participants and emailed to the PIT. From these comments a new draft has been created. A survey was made available during March the requested feedback on the draft.
- After the editing the draft during the workshop April 2nd, comments made during survey process and Board discussions in May were integrated into the latest draft included in THIS SURVEY. In May, the Board endorsed the draft.
Each section has an aspirational value statement and each section has actionable items that reflect how we live those values. Having these actionable items helps clarify how having a congregational covenant influences our programming, how our volunteer contributions lead to common goals and helps inspire us to innovate creative responses to ongoing challenges. Reflect on the five areas and also on the action items. Do they lead you into deeper engagement of Why, How, and When? Do they reflect our intentions and the work we currently engage in?
Our new First Parish Covenant, which will be on the agenda of the Semi-annual congregational meeting in June, will be a living document. This means it will be reviewed regularly to reflect the mission and vision co-created by the Board and the congregation. The review process is not yet decided and could be annual or bi-annual. Our congregation will decide.
Please use the following form to comment on the current structure, its wording and the feelings it evokes. The form begins with the five aspirational statements and short responses. Later, the action items for each statement are listed with opportunity for longer comments.
What are your touchpoints? What are your questions? How does it describe how we hope to engage our faith within our community and share it with others?
The congregational covenant is an opportunity for us all to raise the “we” above the “I”, the community above the individual.
