Category Archives: Specialized ministries

Ministerial practice, Specialized ministries, Unitarian Universalist Association

Clergy sexual misconduct site resumes

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I’m glad to see Speaking Truth to Power — a site addressing clergy sexual misconduct (CSM) resume. In its own words, “its specific focus is Unitarian Universalist processes for dealing with CSM.” Though popularly conflated with child sexual abuse, the risk of clergy sexual misconduct remains and in a congregational system there’s little natural recourse for grievances (or protesting innocence).

It is a part of the larger Safety Net program, designed to address CSM and sponsored by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville (Tennessee). This kind of sponsored program — I should add — might be a good model for some of the functions lost by an over-stretched UUA and which might have once been picked up by the now cast-off independent affiliate organizations. Indeed, it looks like a manifestation of the growing fiscal sponsorship movement in non-profits, which should be seriously considered by any group hoping to start something new of a charitable nature.

Church administration, Liminal places, Specialized ministries

Newsletters: more on the “why?”

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The snow has stopped falling here in D.C., and I’m tired of writing about it. Back to church administration.

Earlier, I wrote that much of the utility of newsletters — not e-newsletters, but the ones handed to you or sent by mail — comes from their physicality, thus providing a connection to the ministry that sends them. I think this is why printed newsletter’s biggest defenders (and backseat copy editors) are the elderly, and not so much because of their age but because of the added difficulties of getting to church. It’s also more than “not getting the technology” — very often they have a vested interest in getting those printed pages. Think how many snow-bound people here will miss church but — perhaps unconsciously — leaf to see what the church news is as a touchstone or connection. (The instinct is akin to bringing and receiving food in times of distress.) For shut-ins and moved-aways, and for extra-congregational ministries, every Sunday is a snow day.

So I think the church and ministry newsletter will survive. But it needs to value the readers’ time and sensibility, be more clever in its production and attentive to quality.

Some thoughts about what I’ve seen next time.

Specialized ministries, Unitarian Universalist family matters

What was a Unitarian Universalist organization? Mellower days

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The following is a verbatim listing circa 2005 of what UUA.org had as “all organizations” — including independent affiliates, seminaries, local ministries, various resources (including three of my own defunct or re-routed sites) and even businesses. There was a wisdom to this, echoed today in the listings at UUpdates.net, that I’m afraid has been lost. No further comment, except to note that a bar through a URL means it’s dead, though even for lives ones, what might be on the other side isn’t necessarily the same resource.

Continue reading What was a Unitarian Universalist organization? Mellower days →

Ministerial practice, Mission and Polity, Right living, Specialized ministries

End-of-year giving: good choices and a particular option

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I stand for fiscal responsibility in non-profit organizations. Money entrusted for the common good should be used wisely and efficiently. Donors should — and increasingly do — seek out organizations with desirable missions and with the capacity to work efficiently.

I’ve been critical of churches that function like clubs as betraying this calculus; why, for instance, should a snug and private concern be tax-benefited? Church leaders have a responsibility to review their program against the public good they provide; in other words, through the eyes of taxpayers who support common infrastructure and other good organizations who are natural rivals for contributions. By which I mean general funds, building funds, organ funds.

That said, I have a warm place for ministerial discretionary funds. I’ve given them, given to them and received funds from them. (I graduated seminary so broke I didn’t have gas money from Texas to Georgia. Tough times.) World change won’t be funded through ministerial discretionary funds, but they do (or can do) a good job with the kind of emergencies that need a social net but for which there is often no kind of appropriate service organization. Money to pay for a prescription, travel funds to see a dying relative, transit fare for someone returning to work . . . very often that kind of thing.

As a matter of practice, I’d like to see financial controls in place, but in the end if you don’t trust a minister to be a good steward of the funds, then no amount of control will do much good to what end the funds are used.

So I’m getting my checkbook out and suggest you do too. That said, and not thinking of anyone in particular, there’s no rule you have to give to your minister.

Specialized ministries

First Universalist, Providence hosts expanded food bank

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A church close to my heart — First Universalist, Providence, R.I. — is the new, larger home for a food bank sponsored by the Providence In-Town Churches Association, of which First Universalist is a member. With the new site comes a change of method: clients can choose the food they need rather than receiving pre-packed bags. (This returns some agency to the clients and saves resources, so it sounds good to me.)

Local news coverage

Bloggers, Food, Specialized ministries

Obligatory weightloss resolution

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Graham (and comment team) at Leaving Munster and Brian at The Beautiful Heresy — two religion bloggers I follow — have announced their weight-gain agita and a resolution to loose the same.

Last year was good for weight loss: I have kept off more than thirty pounds, but yesterday’s weigh-in shows I have another 19.5 pounds to meet my own goal, which I would like to reach before my 40th birthday at midyear. (The doctor would like another 10 pounds on top of that but I’ve never been that weight in adulthood, so I’m not considering that yet.)

I have other New Year’s goals — some personal, some private — and two are related to a new public Internet ministry. More about those as they mature.

Social networking, Specialized ministries, Unitarian Universalists

So, what happened to FUUSE?

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Was the once-much-acclaimed youth and young adult site FUUSE.com simply a victim of social networking concentration — mainly to Facebook — or is there something more to the story? ‘Cause I went over there to see what was new and it’s a ghost town.

Not that I have much love for anything name with a pronounceable UU in the middle of it — one of the least pleasing Unitarian Universalist habits — but it’s not like I wanted to see it die. (OK, maybe a little because of its “Voice of the RevoUUtion” tag.)

If you know some of the backstory, do tell.

Church administration, FOSS, Specialized ministries

OpenOffice.org 3 is out

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Like Michelle Murrain, I’ve been using the free and open-source office suite OpenOffice.org “before it was OpenOffice.org” — thanks to the good example of the Labarum military chaplaincy liturgy site, which released some of its files in the older Star Office format.

I’m also glad the new version of OpenOffice.org has, for the first time, a native release for all you Mac users out there. (Both Intel and PowerPC chip sets, she reminds.) At the same time, I’m going through the available extension to see what might be useful for an office setting, and particularly for churches. Extensions was what gave the Firefox browser so much of its appeal; perhaps OpenOffice.org is about to break out? (I’m especially interested in an extension that allows the editing of existing PDFs.)

And the price (free of charge, as well as free to be modified and redistributed) is right, especially in this economy.

Do go grab it, or upgrade. Three million others have.

With this post, and long overdue, I’m opening the category FOSS, meaning “free and open-source software”

Specialized ministries, Technology

Use case: helping the small town pastor

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Let me introduce my user case doppleganger, The Rev. Angela Mather. She’s the minister of the Lower Walnut Universalist Church in Lower Walnut, Maine. I mention her because she could use some help with free and open-source software solutions. Actually, she could use any number of solutions. And we’re going to help her out.

Her position is half-time and the pay is low, but it gives her access to health insurance and a cottage the church owns as a parsonage. She works part-time for the local tourism board to make ends meet for herself and her thirteen-year old son, Absolom. Angela’s quite talented, but she’s “geographically limited” since her marriage ended. (Robert, her ex-husband, convinced her to move back to Maine, where today he runs the family business, a heritage grist mill/bed & breakfast in nearby Upper Walnut.) For her son and work’s sake, she keeps the peace. Settlements and other opportunities in the area are few; best to make the best of the situation.

One reason the pay is low is that the economy is bad — and threatens to get worse — and the congregation is a shadow of its historic size. The families that founded the church also founded the mills but the mills are closed and the families — at least those with money — are gone. Angela has no support staff, but a reliable handful of the elder women in the church help around the office and flower beds. She has an old computer — a 2001-era Windows machine; a relic she’s been told — that stalls and sputters and causes her so much frustration. Not only does she write the orders of service and newsletters, but calendars for the Senior Lunch program and reports for her other job. Oh, and a web site? Not so much.

This is Angela’s story. This matches many stories, at least in part. When I describe or develop solutions, I will have her — the meaning of a use case — in mind.