From the Board of Directors
Last spring, the Board adopted a policy that regularizes our annual planning. At the beginning of each fiscal year, in collaboration with the Lead Minister, we establish annual goals and, toward the end of the year, we assess our progress toward achieving them.
One of our primary goals for the year resonates with May’s theme of growth and wisdom: “Nurture the congregation as we grow and change.” Our three subgoals were: bring a joyful, welcoming, and open-hearted spirit to our work as a Board; move forward with courage and a willingness to take risks; and identify key hopes of where and how the congregation wants to grow and foster a sense of common purpose. Overall, we evaluated ourselves as more successful in achieving the first two subgoals than the third. Our Board meetings have been fun and fulfilling, we have allowed ourselves to take risks, and we feel excited about the work that lies ahead.
We have not yet focused our energies on hearing from all of you about your hopes for the future of our congregation: how we can continue to grow and serve each other, our local community, and the larger world. We plan to devote much of our effort next year (beginning in July 2025) to these discussions, drawing from your individual and collective wisdom to consider whether to change our name, to revisit our congregational covenant, and to craft a mission statement that represents who we are and who we want to be as a community, in this time, in this place. I hope that you will join with us as we learn and grow together.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the importance of our pledge drive to supporting this work. Aligning our budget with our needs will allow us to move into this year of discernment, with firm and stable support for our basic operations, so that we can vision boldly and creatively and grow as a community into the work we set for ourselves. If you have not yet renewed your membership by submitting your pledge card, please do so as soon as possible so that we can start the joyful work of planning our collective future.
