June 2023 Board Meeting Highlights

The Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, June 13 at 6:30pm on Zoom. Minutes from the meeting will be posted here on the UUCC website after they have been approved at the July Board meeting.

The following is an informal recap of topics discussed at the June meeting.

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The 2022-23 Board held the final meeting for this fiscal year on Tuesday, June 13, on Zoom.

The Board wrapped up its year-long discussion of the book Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism by Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin by discussing our personal takeaways from the book. Highlights of Board member reflections and sentiments included: the importance of working on relationships, being humble, embracing mistakes, and using them (learning from them) to move forward. Board members appreciated how many congregations are grappling with these issues and struggling to improve. The stories in the book helped Board members to acknowledge and accept that the path to Beloved Community isn’t straight, or easy. Further, rather than focusing on multiculturalism as the ultimate goal in itself, we can focus on increasing our spiritual vitality with multiculturalism being a manifestation of our spiritual vitality.

Congregational Ends

The Board discussed the thoughtful suggestions and comments received from the congregation during the Values, Mission, Ends (VME) listening sessions. While the proposed ends were generally very well received during the congregational listening sessions, several improvements were suggested.

Based on this congregational input, the Board adopted several edits to ensure clarity and improve accuracy: adding “in” after “engage” and before “intersectional,” a comma after “poverty,” and “and other” after “indigenous” in the footnote.

The Board also received comments / suggestions regarding climate change, adding multigenerational engagement, and whether religious education was included in these ends. After discussing the various suggestions, the Board agreed that the ends should incorporate fostering the importance of multigenerational engagement and decided to include it under the end on cultivating an ever-wider circle of participation.

3. Strengthen relationships and cultivate an ever-wider, multigenerational circle of participation and leadership at UUCC.

Comments were received questioning the wording on mitigating climate change. The Board discussed how to work the suggestions into the environmental justice end (7b) and decided to heavily edit the wording. New language below:

7. Engage in intersectional justice work as a faith practice led by and in relationship with people and organizations who are most affected. 
a. Dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves, our institutions, and the broader community.
b. Reverse and reduce environmental injustice and damage caused by climate change.
c. Reduce the effects of poverty, including food insecurity and housing insecurity.

Comments were also received questioning whether Religious Education (RE) should be named explicitly in the ends. The Board agrees with the importance of RE as part of the fabric of our congregational work and considered adding additional language. Ultimately, the Board determined the importance of lifelong faith formation and spiritual growth are reflected in ends 1 and 2:

1. Grow in spiritual depth, connect to awe and wonder, and nurture one another in the art of being human.
2. Deepen our Unitarian Universalist identity, teach it to our children, and share it with the world.

A motion to adopt the congregational ends as amended was approved with one abstention and six votes in favor. See the newly adopted ends here. 

Thank you once again for the hard work and dedication of our congregation. Adopting a new Covenant of Right Relations, values and mission statements, and congregational ends is a reason to celebrate!

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Adopted Values, Mission, and Ends

Here are UUCC’s newly-adopted Values, Mission, and Ends. In the coming weeks, the staff will be working to update these wherever they appear on this website and to incorporate them throughout UUCC’s published materials.

Ends

Adopted by Board of Trustees on June 13, 2023

The people of UUCC … 

1. Grow in spiritual depth, connect to awe and wonder, and nurture one another in the art of being human. 
2. Deepen our Unitarian Universalist identity, teach it to our children, and share it with the world. 
3. Strengthen relationships and cultivate an ever-wider, multigenerational circle of participation and leadership at UUCC. 
4. Build a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community where BIPOC*, LGBTQ+**, and other marginalized communities find respite from racism and other oppressions. 
5. Care for one another in times of joy, sorrow, transition, and need.
6. Foster engagement and strengthen relationships within the Owen Brown Interfaith Center, Owen Brown community, and Howard County community. 
7. Engage in intersectional justice work as a faith practice led by and in relationship with people and organizations who are most affected. 
   • Dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves, our institutions, and the broader community. 
   • Reverse and reduce environmental injustice and damage caused by climate change. 
   • Reduce the effects of poverty, including food insecurity and housing insecurity. 

^*BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. 
^** LGBTQ+ = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning + other sexualities and non-binary gender 

Values

Adopted by congregational vote on June 4, 2023

The people of UUCC share these core values:

Awe and wonder
Compassion
Growth & transformation
Interdependence & interconnection

Mission

Adopted by congregational vote on June 4, 2023

UUCC embodies love in action. We:

Nurture spirits
Build community
Act for justice