May
2006 (Composed 2001)
Dear
Members and Friends of the UUCFL,
What a long way we have come in a
relatively short time. There were some
who said it couldn't be done but we
proved them dead wrong. Once again the popular adage "If you
build it they will come" has proven true.
Now our beloved church home is a flourishing center of liberal thought
and a true home for the expression of educational, artistic and social action
interests in Broward County.
Due to the generosity of some visionaries who had gone before and left us some financial resources and the courage of some current visionaries who wanted us to fulfill our promise, we now have our educational and social center. We have also enhanced even further our original structure with the sanctuary, offices and meeting rooms. We have excellent sound systems in both our sanctuary and Fellowship Hall and of course our meditation gardens with labyrinths, places to sit and fountains along with our even more nurturing memorial garden are wonderful. All these new spaces are of course cared for by our full-time custodian and gardener in partnership with our beefed up Building and Grounds Committee.
We all enjoy our regular lecture series where we present some of the most progressive thinkers in our country speaking out on major issues for the benefit of our whole community. We support and are wildly happy about our expanded concert and coffee house series that brings together local talent in jazz, folk and ethnic music with poetry readings, storytelling and great food and drink. Our ability to provide these events was greatly enhanced by our having a social hall so we did not have to constantly break down the chairs and also by our larger and well-outfitted kitchen. It seems we finally really have enough space to store things so we can keep the public areas neat. Also our larger patio with more open space is making it easier to circulate and greet visitors and newer people than our old patio where you were sort of trapped in our seat. Our new custom of having all visitors and those who have only been a few times use red cups for coffee has also been a good move.
Our decision in 2002 to work in partnership with another religious organization (Etz Chaim or another group) to share our pace has proved to be a good one. We have some joint religious education and life enhancement classes going on all the time in our original classrooms as well as our expanded area with its two parlor like meeting and classrooms. Now we can gather for more meetings on the same night and sometimes share a pizza or chinese take out before our various meetings and still have room for our 12 step groups and several progressive groups that regularly use our space. Our improved sign out front also keeps passersby aware of what our Sunday Services are going to be and announces our many lectures, concerts and special events. Of course our regular advertising in the local newspapers for our services and special events keeps our name out in the community.
Our sponsoring of the annual and ever-growing Empty Bowl Dinner has brought us lots of attention as we make our financial and energy support of the Cooperative Feeding Program and ever more important centerpiece of our Social Outreach Committee. We have continued with and expanded Churches in Cooperation and added other causes to our list as individual members have sponsored speakers and spearheaded projects.
In addition to our thriving adult education program for the whole community our children's program has continued to expand. We now have 40 children attending on average on Sunday and over 60 registered. We have also reached out to the gay and lesbian youth of the community through GLSEN and have a gay support group for youth and young adults that meet here. We have reached out to our expanding higher education community and brought in both more students and professors who are searching for a liberal community. Our young adult members can't always give a lot of money but they provide us with much needed energy and ideas.
Our ability to attract and keep new people has certainly been enhanced by our expanded Sunday Service excellence as reflected in more art work to look at, more variety in our Sunday musical presentations (thanks to a grant from an interested donor) and our increasing emphasis on bringing in exciting speakers from other religious and community groups to enhance our regular ministerial pulpit presence. We have engaged in more training programs for our lay leaders and presenters and we now have audio and videotapes of services available for purchase so those teaching our children and those who are ill can still keep up with the community.
Our geographically based caring circles have helped increase our ability to provide pastoral care. We now have a designated person in each neighborhood who regularly checks on folks who haven't been seen at church for a while and who also tries to inform the minister of where calls and care might need to be directed.
Much of our enhanced ability to work cohesively as a group and see the greater good of the whole community ahead of our personal interest and desires came as a result of the church wide covenanting process we underwent during 2001 and 2002 during which 75% or our members attended a five week class reviewing the UU Principles and Purposes and ways we could actually live those out in our expanding facility and growing community. The covenanting classes have continued to be offered yearly finally fit it into their schedule. This review of what it means to live as Unitarian Universalist out in the world has greatly increased our commitments to each other and to our common purpose.
Although we have about 60 more members now than we had when we began this long range planning process in 2001, it is the other more subtle kinds of growth - organic, maturational and incarnational that have really helped us get to where we are today. Organic growth is reflected in our newly enhanced and better cared for space. Maturational growth is expressed in reflected in our ongoing commitment to specific
social outreach programs and our willingness to constantly educate our selves about and work on new community needs. It was only after we had made significant strides in these areas of growth that our numbers really increased and included more of the type of really active and committed members we have now.
It seems to me that in addition to the start of the Long Process itself our turning point came when we decided to stop seeing ourselves as a poor church and use some of our existing resources to invest in ourselves and our own future. This new "we can do it if we really want to" attitude has changed everything and new people really started getting really enthusiastic about us when they could look at our concrete plans for the future as they appeared on posters and in mock up designs of our proposed buildings and grounds expansion. Everyone wants to be a part of something new and something larger than themselves and we at UUCFL finally decided to reach for the stars and give ourselves and our newcomers something to strive for and look forward to and work toward. Aren't you glad we took that first step?
With blessings and love,