VISIONING WORKSHOP 2003
An informal account of the Visioning Workshop, composed of notes and minutes taken by the Board Secretary Ken Ross. The Raw Data from the workshop has been placed on the website as well.
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VISIONING WORKSHOP
- An All Church Event with Doug Walters UU Congregational Consultant-Facilitator October 25, 2003 |
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As most of you know, we conducted a workshop called A Vision of Our Future on October 25, 2003. At one point shortly after lunch, I took a quick head count and got 90, and there were several of us who had attended in the morning and had to leave. We had a total attendance of over 100, plus the kids in Candee's program for the day, and the youth who participated in absentia with the vision they did last Sunday and left for us while they were at this weekend's conference. I want to say how much I appreciate the participation, the thoughtfulness, and the enthusiasm that was exhibited here yesterday. The whole event thoroughly exceeded my expectations, and I set pretty high goals to begin with. We were over the top in both participation and performance. For those of you who were unable to attend, I'm really sorry you missed it, and I still expect a note from God or we will have to make an entry in your permanent record. I've only gotten one so far, and it was nice, as always, to hear from her.
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So let's take a quick trip through our day yesterday, and review the products you see on the windows. Our first exercise was to recount some of our history, which began at the longest memory in the room in 1954, that of Joy Hainsworth, at 49 years. Close on her heels was Joyce Salisbury at 43 years. We remembered our ministers, our influential members, and our interactions with the community. We talked about building this building, and adding things into it like the piano, and the candleabra. We noted the boom periods in RE, such as the one we're in right now. We talked about happy times and conflicts, and the choir director that ran away with the tenor. Gotta watch those tenors. We also added notes after the discussion, and you can feel free to add more if you have memories to share.
Next we broke into small groups of five or six and talked about our values. The assignment was for each group to come up with six, and only six, values to hang up on the cards you see on the window. That meant a lot of fast discussion, prioritizing, and consensus building. Let me give you a quick accounting of where we came out. Our top six as a whole group turned out to be seven due to ties: compassion, 12; integrity, 11; justice, 11; community, 7; inclusiveness, 5; search or inquiry, 5; love, 5. Respect was next at 4, and the ones that came up two or three times were: humor, acceptance, tolerance, diversity, creativity, service, honesty, commitment, courage, spirituality, wisdom, equality, and openness. The rest, that only came up once, were and equally interesting group: welcoming, vitality, celebration, empathy, consideration, patience, generosity, peace, perseverance, honoring, loyalty, kindness, responsibility, trust, democracy, learning, hope, egalitarianism, and my favorite one vote value, memory.
I will also note that one blank card was hung up as what I interpreted to be a Zen value, and as the day went on it was eventually filled by the ubiquitous "Bob," which I was surprised didn't show up earlier since it was a top contender for church name a few years ago.
Our last exercise of the day was to dream. We relaxed for a few minutes after lunch while Doug gave us the outline of a dream for us to fill in with our own vision-- what would our church be like in five years? What would it look like, where would it be, who would be there, how would it smell? Everything you could think of asking or dreaming. From our small group discussions we came up with the newsprint wallpaper you see, and after the group visions were reported, we each took three sticky dots and voted for the three things we most wanted to emphasize. When you go to look for yourself, you'll see some themes. Bigger space for a bigger congregation was one of the things at the top, with all its trimmings: multi-use spaces, more bathrooms, bigger brighter RE space, bigger kitchen, and more parking.
Some of us thought we'd need to go somewhere else besides this site to accomplish this, and if we did, we'd probably be more centrally located, with better public and bike transportation access, and have a choir loft and rehearsal space. Quite a few of us want to stay here, and if we did, people had a vision of expanding within this space by various creative strategies, or expanding the building in one way or another.
In either case, we had strong feelings about greater outreach into the community, and putting our core values out there for others to become exposed to. We also envision further strengthening of our RE program, maintaining our commitment to fair compensation, and increasing staffing levels. There are also strong feelings about better energy efficiency and a greener building, along with a variety of improvements in our outdoor space.
Finally, some of us don't want to grow, and value the closeness of a smaller community. Those of us who expect or advocate growth also acknowledge the need to maintain the closeness of our community through programs like our small group ministry.
So, as you might expect, there is no lack of ideas or opinions in this congregation. That's no surprise to anyone. Yesterday, though, we had a chance to do some face to face sorting and prioritizing. We found out some things about majority and minority viewpoints, both of which are important to us. In some cases, I even think we found majority and minority viewpoints that shared the same values, which is something to think about in how we proceed from here. However you look at it, we took a great first step in plotting a course for our future, and now we can start figuring out what that next step is.
Again, thanks to everybody who participated and helped put it together, and to all of you who couldn't be here but gave us moral support from afar, possibly as far as Autzen Stadium.
Minutes:
About 100 people attended this event. Doug outlined the days events: First, a history time-line. Then a discussion of values. Then a visioning exercise. Finally, a collection of some ideas.
Gil Osgood did an excellent job recording our time-line. In the beginning, the church started in 1908 or 1909. Herbert Higgenbotham, who was called in the 1930s, was the most controversial minister. Even though the Articles of Incorporation were established in 1943, the church was inactive from about 1943 to 1948. [Several people recall that there were Articles of Incorporation from 1908 or 1909, but the Board Secretary hasn't seen the evidence.]
It was determined that, of the members present, the two who have been members of this church the longest are Joyce Salisbury (43 years) and Joy Hainsworth (49 years). When Joy first came to the church in 1954, services were held at 11th and Ferry and the minister was Ed Erickson. When Joy was asked why she came to this church, she responded, "I didn't want to be anywhere else." Joyce said that teaching at the school where the church met made attending easy. Both Joy and Joyce had attended Unitarian churches before coming to Eugene. At the time, Eugene was both a university town and a mill town, so it had many liberals and many conservatives. The church population was diverse but middle-class. At this time, Bill Tugman took articles that appeared in the church newsletter and ran them on the editorial page of the Eugene newspaper. Sidney Peterman was a minister starting in 1950.
In 1960, when Joyce joined the church, services were held at Frances Willard School (where she taught). At this time a church choir met at the director's house until she ran off with the tenor. Shortly thereafter the present property was purchased (1961) and the church was built. Many church members were involved including Joyce, Bayard and Evelyn McConnaughey, Wayne and Jean Tate, Carl and Doris Johannessen and the architect Grant Seder. At this time, Eugene was enjoying an architectural renaissance. There were about 100 adult members and about 40 children in the church, though an official membership total was 53. The minister in 1960 was James Meade, but Carl Nelson was the minister who gave the first sermon in the new church, in 1963.
During 1962-1969, our church was one of the few liberal churches in Eugene. It was involved in key social issues of the day, including civil rights and the cross controversy which lasted for 30 years. Carl Nelson was strongly opposed to the Vietnam War and encouraged the church to take a stand, which divided the church since some members felt that the church should not take a stand on this "political" issue. During this period, the Women's Alliance supplied and paid for rugs, dishes that are still in use, etc. Carl Nelson was also a key person in organizing CALC, Clergy and Laity Concern.
A newer member of the church asked whether the minister was provided a parsonage. Evidently Carl Nelson preferred a housing allowance to living in a parsonage and all the subsequent ministers have concurred. There's been no parsonage since the church has been at its present location, but a parsonage was provided in earlier times.
The current piano was acquired around 1971, with the help of Bert and Betty Olin. Bert was a baritone in the church choir. Betty's parents, the Adams, were early long-time members of the church, and it was a legacy from them that made the piano possible. The old organ traveled a bit and was auctioned off at least twice. During the 1970s, a fireplace was added and RE space was rented to LCC, Lane Community College. Frank Phillips built the candelabra. Bob Swain, who was also a Buddhist, was minister for most of the 1970s. Key people in the 1970s include Bob Walden and his family, Carolyn Moses and Teddy Salmon (to whom the Library is dedicated). In lieu of summer services, groups held Sunday meetings on the church deck. Jack Stevens recalls that a fireplace, actually a fire cone, was in place when he arrived in February 1970. Shortly afterward, a fire department inspection suggested that we replace the cone with a more efficient and less polluting stove that drew air for the fire directly from the outdoors though a pipe that passed through the wall behind it. We also were required to improve the fire protective materials beneath and behind the new wood stove.
In the early 1980s, there was considerable growth of the RE program and the church acquired a house on Donald St for offices and RE space. The house was sold around 1990 under the guidance of Issy Hill (then current Board President) and her husband Merlin Hill because Issy was President and Merlin a realtor. In fact, Jack Stevens was most instrumental in both the buying and selling of the house. The church had about 150-175 members, but the RE program had shrunk somewhat.
There was considerable social action in the 1980s, including protests at Boeing and at the Nevada nuclear test site. Kathy Dillon believes that there were nine UU women who attended the Women's Encirclement of Boeing. Sally Bryan and Kathy Neeley, among others, went to Nevada. Kathy believes that Gail Katul and Joy Hainsworth attempted to travel to El Salvador on a peace mission, but the plane was turned back. Refugees from Latin America were provided refuge. Families from Vietnam, and later from El Salvador, were sponsored. Key people who were mentioned included the Hills, Bonnie Phipps, and Dick and Barbara Cheatham. In 1984, Barbara initiated our excellent program of "personal reflections." Richard Highland continued running this program until 2002. In January 1985, the minister Pete Peterson left amidst a big controversy. He was paid through August of that year.
In 1985-1986, Eileen Karpeles was the interim minister. She was a healing force after the Peterson controversy. The 1980s were a very active time for women, and for men, in support of the UUA Women and Religion Resolution which called all UUs to examine their religious and spiritual practices, works and words, to see how women were excluded from full participation, and to work for change. This included rewriting our denominational church Purpose & Principles and creating a new hymnal.
Sally Bryan was called as the minister in 1987 and served until January 1995. She resigned at that time during a controversy that is still remembered in different ways by different people. Around 1991 the church became a Welcoming Congregation. This is a formal program of the UUA in which the congregation instituted a church education program and then adopted policies that explicitly welcome gays and lesbians and other disenfranchised groups. The name of the church was changed in 1996 to our present name. Social activism became less focused, but individuals were involved in various activities including opposition to the first Gulf War in 1991. In 1997, the church began participation in the Homeless Emergency Living Program (H.E.L.P.). Estelle Singleton commissioned and supported the chalice bas-relief at the front door.
Betty Pingel served as interim minister 1995-1997. She oversaw and inspired a massive overhaul of the church Bylaws and Board Policies. Heather Lynn Hansen was interim minister for the year 1997-1998. During her term the Board determined that there shall be two services during the regular church year.
Candee Cole came in 1991 and has built up a fine RE program over the years. There are now about 160 children from 104 families involved. There are 43 RE teachers. Tom Sears, the Music Director, came in 1994 and the music program has thrived ever since. There are now four choirs!
Carolyn Colbert has been minister since 1998. A major recent commitment of the church is to "fair compensation" of its staff and employees. Recent actions include updating the Bylaws and Board Policies and changing the fiscal year to coincide with the church year. Just this year a new small room was added for the RE program. The official total church membership in January 2003 was 265.
Doug, who seemed to know a lot of the church history, indicated that he got his information from our excellent website. In fact, he often recommends our website as a model for other churches. Our webster, Martha Osgood, received suitable accolades. It was noted that the first church website was created by Jerry Nelson.
As a lead in to the "values exercise," Doug mentioned that honesty is a key value in his family. He mentioned that his previous UU church in Knoxville selected 18 values which were chiseled into the concrete on the building of the church. Some member was irate that the word, "tolerance," was not among them. Finally, a separate plaque with this word and an explanation of its importance was made.
As a lead in to the "dreaming exercise" in the afternoon, Doug first clarified that a covenant is an agreement whereas a mission statement is an indication of what we intend to DO. He reworded our covenant and mission statement so that each was a list of FOUR points. He reminded us that our mission statement is seven years old. Before members broke into dream groups of 4 to 6 people, Doug provided a very smooth imaginary dream wherein we tried to visualize a Sunday morning in 2008 and imagined what our church would be like at that time.
Ken Ross, Board Secretary
Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene