WUUC Discernment, Dialogue, and GA 2023 Delegate Plan
Your WUUC Board wishes to foster the development of healthier congregational communication and interactions, aiming to grow mutual understanding among the diversity of perspectives and beliefs represented and build a community where all belong together.
To that end, the Board has developed a plan to support our congregation’s discernment, dialogue, and delegate selection process for the coming UUA General Assembly (GA) June 21-25, 2023. A simple majority vote by delegates at GA will be required to move the proposed UUA Bylaws Article II language forward for further discernment within the UUA in the coming year.
These are the components of the Board Plan:
An Article II Resource List landing page is being compiled with links to content supporting and opposing the proposed changes to Article II. Lori McConnell is managing the list. lorimcco@gmail.com Content is contributed by WUUC members/friends. Link to the Resource List
Rev. Dan Lillie will facilitate two discussions about the proposed Article II amendments. Two 2-hour sessions will be offered: a. Sunday, April 23 rd , from 12:30-2:30 p.m. in-person in the WUUC Sanctuary, and b. Wednesday, April 26 th, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Sometime in early May, a survey of the WUUC congregation will be conducted to guide WUUC delegates to GA 2023 to vote on whether to support or oppose moving the Article II proposed language forward for further discernment within the UUA in the coming year. Terry Santmann and Carol Taylor will work together to create the survey. Results will be shared with the congregation without attribution to individual respondents. Only Terry and Carol will know the names of people responding solely to determine eligibility to participate. Both members and friends will be eligible to participate. A survey format has been chosen instead of a formal congregational vote because the final form of the Article II proposal will not be determined until the review and revision process occurs just before the vote at General Assembly. The survey results will provide general guidance to the delegates.
Terry Santmann, Board Secretary, will invite WUUC members to express interest in being a WUUC delegate to GA 2023. Based on membership size, WUUC can select three delegates for voting at GA 2023. The invitation will be sent in the early April timeframe. Delegate selection will be made consistent with the WUUC Bylaws.
WUUC members/friends are asked to join the WUUC Denominational Affairs e- mail group to participate in in-depth e-mail exchanges and discussions about Article II only. The address is denom@wuuc.org Other discussions will remain on the main list. Contact Terry Santmann at TASantmann@gmail.com or Brad Hull at bkhull@gmail.com to join this group.
The Board invites WUUC members/friends who have specific questions related to Article II or want a one-on-one discussion with a Board member to send questions/concerns to Board@wuuc.org.
The Board and Rev. Dan encourage WUUC members/friends to take advantage of this variety of opportunities for respectful listening and sharing of information, thoughts and feelings regarding the UUA Bylaws Article II proposal. If you have additional suggestions/ideas, please get in touch with any of the Board members or Rev. Dan by e-mail at Board@wuuc.org or via individual e-mail addresses.
The Board is looking for members interested in representing WUUC as a delegate at the 2023 General Assembly to be held June 21-25, 2022.
WUUC is eligible to send three delegates. Registration options are available for full virtual (online) participation. The church will subsidize the entire $300 registration fee for virtual participation. If you are interested in serving as a delegate or have questions, please email the board at board@wuuc.org by April 17th.
Please remember as well that anyone, whether an official delegate or not, can attend GA. Further information is given below.
The responsibilities of a WUUC delegate to General Assembly include the following: 1) Familiarizing yourself with the business items on the GA agenda and staying adequately informed to make a knowledgeable voting decision, 2) Notifying the WUUC congregation of those items that require a delegate vote, 3) Attending GA business meetings and casting your delegate vote.
This year’s GA will be multi-platform, held online and in-person in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Virtual attendees will enjoy robust programming and enhanced delegate discussion tools. The final business agenda is expected to be available to congregations by May 23, 2023. There will be many opportunities to inform yourself about the business items on the agenda.
Registration options are available for in-person or virtual participation. In-person registration includes events scheduled to take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and everything available to virtual registrants. Full virtual registration includes access to the GA app, as well as all on- demand programming, live webinars, and live-streamed events. For voting delegates, there is also a business-only virtual option. Although a delegate can register for the business-only virtual option, we encourage assigned delegates to register for the full virtual experience. The church will subsidize the full $300 registration fee for virtual participation, but we invite delegates to return the subsidy to the church if they can. Complete registration information is available at this link. https://www.uua.org/ga/registration
Virtual participation requires high-speed internet access and a desktop/laptop computer. Smartphones and tablets can be used as supplemental screens for streaming video, voting, or chatting, but they do not accommodate a complete user experience. You will also need a webcam if you want to be seen during Zoom Sessions when speaking. Headphones are recommended.
Further information regarding being a delegate at the General Assembly can be found at https://www.uua.org/ga/congregations/delegates. WUUC board member(s) will be available to help you in any capacity where you may need assistance. Thank you for considering this important task in service to our WUUC community.
In Community, Terry Santmann, Secretary for the WUUC Board of Trustees
Are you passionate about a particular social justice cause? The Advocates for Social Justice is a council made up of leaders of multiple ministries at WUUC. Anyone who feels strongly about a particular social justice movement is welcome to join our quarterly meetings to hear what other ministry leaders are up to and how you might harness the passion of other church members to multiply your efforts toward positive social change. Current active ministries include racial justice, economic justice and indigenous rights. If you’d like to head up efforts toward women’s rights, climate justice, or anything else, please join our next Zoom meeting on March 18! Contact Cora Goss-Grubbs at cgoss-grubbs@wuuc.org for more information.
On March 19 ASJ will be sponsoring a Special Collection during the service for Camp Ten Trees, the Pacific Northwest’s only residential summer camp programming for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and their allies, and for children/youth of LGBTQ or non-traditional families.
On January 15th we collected $363 for our Special Collection which will go toward Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest, which serves immigrants in detention and when released, through welcoming services focused on transitional support and connection to vital resources for resettlement.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.
The nursery at WUUC will be experiencing a staffing transition in the month of March. Our wonderful nursery coordinator, Jen Ikeda, has decided to take a step back in her role at WUUC. She will still be with us, but now as a childcare provider rather than the program coordinator. You will definitely still see her around the church, but maybe a little less frequently than before. She has graciously helped us as she transitions out of the coordinator role and we appreciate the dedication she brought to RE for the past 8 years as well as what she will continue to bring to her new position. Moving forward, please direct any questions about childcare or RE to me.
Here is a personal message from Jen:
“Watching our children grow over all these years has been such a treasured experience in my life. Although I want to free up more hours for working with my official students, and so will be spending fewer hours with the church, I am very committed to remaining part of this community. Mostly it’s the behind-the-scenes work that is changing for me so it won’t look all that different on Sunday mornings. I can’t wait for Skylar’s events and to continue connecting with our UU families.”
Blessings, Skylar Hopkins, Director Of Religious Education
WUUC Discernment, Dialogue and GA 2023 Delegate Plan
Your WUUC Board 2023 goal is to foster the development of healthier congregational communication and interactions, aiming to grow mutual understanding among the diversity of perspectives and beliefs represented and build a community where all belong together.
To that end, the Board has developed a plan to support our congregation’s discernment, dialogue and delegate selection process for the coming UUA General Assembly (GA) June 21-25, 2023. A simple majority vote by delegates will be required for moving the proposed UUA Bylaws Article II language forward for further discernment within the UUA in the coming year.
Here are the components of the Board Plan:
An Article II Resource List landing page with links to content both supporting and opposing Article II proposed changes. Content is contributed by WUUC members/friends and Resource List is being managed by Lori McConnell.
Article II Discernment & Dialogue sessions facilitated by a neutral non-UU mediator, Ryan Nakade, engaged by Rev. Dan Lillie. Two 2-hour sessions will be offered: Sunday, March 26th from 1:30-3:30 p.m. PST on Zoom and Sunday, April 23rd from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. PST in-person.
A survey or vote (TBD) of WUUC congregation conducted to provide guidance to WUUC delegates to GA 2023 for the purpose of voting on whether to support or oppose moving the Article II proposed language forward for further discernment within the UUA in the coming year. The survey or vote will be conducted in the early May, 2023 timeframe.
An invitation from the Board Secretary, Terry Santmann to WUUC members to express interest in being a WUUC delegate to GA 2023. Based on membership size, WUUC is eligible to select 3 delegates for voting at GA 2023. The invitation will be sent in the mid-March timeframe and (if needed) delegate selection by Congregational vote will be done consistent with the WUUC Bylaws for fair representation of congregants’ differing preferences.
WUUC members/friends will be asked to join the WUUC Denominational Affairs e-mail group to participate in in-depth e-mail exchange and discussions about Article II.
The Board will invite WUUC members/friends who have specific questions related to Article II or want a one-on-one discussion with a Board member to send questions/concerns to Board@wuuc.org.
The Board and Rev. Dan encourage WUUC members/friends to take advantage of this variety of opportunities for respectful listening, sharing of information, thoughts and feelings regarding the UUA Bylaws Article II proposal. If you have additional suggestions/ideas, please contact any of the Board members or Rev. Dan by e-mail at Board@wuuc.org or via individual e-mail addresses.
What do you actually do at Board meetings? That’s a question I’ve heard more than once, so I thought it might be helpful to write a short note each month to let you know what we are up to. First, a reminder of who is on the Board this year: myself (President), Jan Radoslovich (Vice-President and lead on the Ministry Council), Terry Santmann (Secretary), Kermit Sprang (Treasurer), Linda Sherry and Jeff Lu (Members at Large) and of course Rev Dan. We meet 1-2x/month.
This year started with an all day Board retreat where the focus was on setting some goals for the year. We came up with three goals: Healthier Congregational Communication and Interactions, Building a Safer Congregational Culture and Matching the needs of the church with volunteer availability (or, Rightsizing the Church). For the Healthier Congregational Communication/Interaction goal, Rev Dan has organized the Braver Angels workshop and the Monica Guzman discussion and the Board has restarted Community Conversations with more work to come. For the Building a Safer Congregational Culture goal, we have created a “Safer Congregation” task force comprised of two Board members (myself and Jan Radoslovich), R&R member Lori McConnell and at large member Justin Gertler along with Liz Ligon and Marlene Katz. Our goal on this task force is to create clear, well publicized policies and procedures along with education to prevent sexual abuse, sexual harassment and professional sexual misconduct at WUUC. The other goal for this group is to create a comprehensive Safer Congregation policy that addresses sexual abuse, harassment, misconduct and disruptive behaviors. So far, we have had our hand full with these goals and have not made progress on the third goal, but it is certainly not forgotten.
Please let any of us know if you have questions/concerns; we are here for all of you.
