Values, Mission, Ends — A Call for Congregational Engagement

Values, Mission, and Ends (VME)

In the words of Laura Park, the UU congregational consultant guiding UUCC through our Values, Mission, Ends discernment process, Values, Mission, and Ends can be understood as answers to a series of increasingly specific questions. Each question lays the foundation for the next. To learn more about her approach, you may be interested in reading her book on governance, Nested Bowls.

Values 

What transcendent, timeless qualities of our religious community will we embody in all we do? Understanding our values allows us to articulate a congregational mission and to define “ends,” or specific goals to be accomplished in the next five years. 

Mission

If we live fully into our values, what is our transcendent purpose? What overarching difference are we here to make and for whom? Whose lives will we change and in what way? Our mission describes the ways in which we live out, and act on, our values. 

Ends

What specific, measurable differences will we make and for whom? Ends help us establish metrics for success.

Vision

In the past, UUCC had a Vision statement in the form of a list, which the Board used as the congregational input to define our Ends statements when we began to use policy-based governance in the early 2000s. In 2017, the UUCC Board decided to eliminate the Vision statement because they felt it was redundant with the Ends. Therefore, there is currently no UUCC Vision statement. Because the Values will serve as the foundation for the UUCC Mission and Ends that are developed during the process that we’re undertaking now, we may no longer need a congregational Vision statement. 

Covenant(s)

Congregational Covenant: Our congregation recites in worship each week the congregational covenant that was developed soon after Rev. Paige Getty was called. This covenant affirms shared promises to each other. A majority of the current congregation joined after the group process that generated our congregational covenant. The UUCC Board has not yet decided whether or when to update our congregational covenant, but it may be appropriate to do so when the decisions are finalized at the UUA level about revisions to Article II of the UUA bylaws, which is expected to replace the 7 Principles. A vote on a revised Article II is projected to take place at the UUA General Assembly in June 2024. 

Covenant of Right Relations (CRR): UUCC is currently in the process of socializing and exercising a Covenant of Right Relations. The purpose of this covenant is to establish specific agreements about how we will interact with each other. Many UU congregations have a Covenant of Right Relations to support maintaining healthy relationships and to support resolution of disagreements when they arise. The Covenant of Right Relations Committee was established by the UUCC Board in fall 2021 in response to a recommendation in the Trust and Reconciliation report. The committee formulated the draft CRR during 2022 and is engaging with the congregation to exercise, evaluate, and if necessary modify it in preparation for a vote to adopt it at the UUCC Annual Meeting in June 2023. We will be using the CRR to guide the conversational norms during the small group meetings for the Values, Mission, Ends development process.  

The UUCC Governance Process states in section II. A. 2. That at least every 7 years, the Board must work with the Executive Team, and “through extensive consultation with and involvement of the congregation” to develop the foundational guiding documents for UUCC. The most recent review was in 2017 but did not involve a congregation-wide discernment process. The process we are undertaking with Laura Park is intended to enable UUCC to develop governing documents that holistically represent the perspectives of our current congregation and our collective intentions for what we want to be and do in our current and future environment.  

The process of identifying our congregational Values will take place throughout Spring 2023. All members of the UUCC community are encouraged to provide input through a series of facilitated conversations. The Board of Trustees will distill this information into a proposed statement of values. At the annual meeting in June 2023, the congregation will vote to accept the stated values or return to the discernment process. 

The process of articulating new Mission and Ends statements, building on the values we establish together and based on the content of the small group conversations conducted this year, will be developed by the UUCC Board. This work will require more time so it will continue into the next fiscal year. 

The brief covenant that we speak at the beginning of each worship service, which refers to the Principles of Unitarian Universalism, will be revised following the UUA’s release of the updated Principles. 

The Covenant of Right Relations has been in progress since 2021 and, if approved by the congregation, will serve as a foundational document to support the Conflict Management Ministry which emerged as an action from the 2022 congregation-wide Group Relations Workshop. You will hear more about this work, and the team supporting it, in the coming months.

Broad congregational engagement is needed to allow the Board of Trustees to draft a values statement that truly reflects our community. 

If only a small part of the community participates, or if participation in the process is not representative of our community, the outcomes may not be sufficiently meaningful.

The discernment process we’re beginning now will help to answer this question. As we consider what difference we want to make and for whom, we will define our intentions for our role within and beyond UUCC. Join a small group facilitated conversation to contribute your perspective!

The Ends that are developed as part of this process are intended to provide a measurable benchmark. Ends should define what we want to accomplish by when, and at what cost. Clear, measurable Ends will support the Board of Trustees to evaluate the extent to which the Executive Team (Rev. Paige Getty and Executive Director Valerie Hsu) guides the congregation to achieve our intended results.

Yes, please!

This conversation will become more productive as more of our community gets involved. Since we’re establishing the foundations and priorities that will guide UUCC over the next 5-7 years, anyone with an interest in the future of the congregation is encouraged to participate. What kind of congregation do you (or would you) want to be a part of? What role do you hope this community can play in the world? You’re here at exactly the right time to help shape the answers to these questions, and your perspective is essential.