December 17, 2021
Thanks to all who attended the finance forum last Sunday. We are so looking forward to getting to see more and more folks over the coming months. It has been a long pandemic and the ERUUF Board of Trustees is eager to connect!
As the Board reflected at our retreat earlier in the year, two things were obvious: we are in a time of great transition as a congregation and we need each other. And so, ERUUF’s Annual Vision of MInistry was born: A Year of Connection and Change. While these ideas might feel a bit at odds, this vision conjures for me the image of our joining, hand in hand, and moving as one towards a great new adventure.
This year finds us in the midst of developing new ways of being together, both virtually and in-person, with an increased capacity for multiplatform meetings and services, in the search process for a new music director, and in the search process for a new lead minister. With these fundamental transitions in leadership, we may also see transitions in the structures of our staffing and experience a change in services. Gosh, that’s a lot!
The good news is the constant in all of this: we have each other. There may be great change coming, but there is also great stability in the bonds between us and in our individual and collective commitments to our values, our principles, and our community.
As we prepare for these transitions, the Board thought it important to ensure that our institutional systems are healthy, that we know who our elders are, and where our institutional knowledge lies, and that we codify our commitment to racial equity and inclusion, which Rev. Cayer has so lovingly shepherded for these past 11 years.
In addition to our normal monitoring activities, over the course of the year the Board of Trustees will be reviewing our financial policies and ensuring that ERUUF’s financial health is protected during this time of leadership transition, reading and reflecting on Widening the Circle of Concern (the report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change), and beginning to implement our learning by developing a process through which we can evaluate and update our guiding documents and policies using a racial equity lens, and institutionalizing and empowering the great work of the Change Team by implementing a racial equity committee of the board.
There will be many ways to connect with the Board and with each other over the coming months including cottage meetings and forums focusing on ERUUF’s financial health, forward-looking questions on which the Board would like your input, and candidating activities as part of the ministerial search process. We look forward to connecting with you and sharing updates on our progress.
In Community,
Bonnie LaCroix, Chair
