The Board of Trustees and the Staff Leadership Team met over the two days of August 24th and 25th for our annual retreat. Dr. Melissa James of the Pacific West Region (PWR) of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) flew up from her home in San Diego to facilitate in person for the two days. I want to share with you a brief recap of what we did and some of the progress we made.
During the first day, we all told stories to each other in three rounds, patterned after how water lilies grow in a wetland. On the surface, water lilies have bright, beautiful flowers and leaves—known as lily pads—that provide support to the blossoms. Below, at the bottom of the marsh, are stalks and roots, where the environment can be murky and mucky. In between, there are new stems with lily buds that have yet to reach the surface and fully bloom. In each round, we took turns sharing experiences at East Shore that metaphorically matched these respective stages of water lilies: blooms, muckiness, and buds. It is always remarkable to me how valuable storytelling is in helping us better understand each other—learning about our joys and what gives us a felt sense of beloved community, our struggles in darkness, ambiguity, and difficult passages, and our visions and dreams for the amazing things we hope and believe are emerging.
Later that day, we focused on trust-building by learning about “braving,” a tool developed and taught by Dr. Brené Brown. The seven aspects of the braving mnemonic are boundaries, reliability, accountability, the vault, integrity, non-judgment, and generosity. Dr. Brown has an eight-minute braving video available on YouTube that we watched, which I would recommend to others. Later in the retreat, we had the opportunity to explore where the Board and SLT were strong in terms of braving and where we had growth edges. The tool offers a structured way for individuals and groups to examine what is needed to repair or strengthen mutual trust. Personally, I found it helpful to name one or two areas where the board could acknowledge having fallen short in the past and to begin thinking about how we could commit to the changes needed for better Board and SLT trust.
Our first day ended with an embodied practice of letting go, in which Rev. María Cristina offered us a ritual and the space to be vulnerable and hopeful. I am personally going through a lot in my life right now, and there are things that I know I need to let go of. Being able to share previously unspoken truths with my beloved board and SLT gave me a feeling of support and care that I know will carry me forward throughout the year. The ritual ended with all of us singing a hymn together, which simply put, just felt nice. I went home after the first day feeling so much closer to my teammates and prepared to move into the more practical aspects of board work the next day.
On day two of the retreat, each of us was asked to come up with one or more key initiatives the board might focus on for the coming year. After going around the room a few times, we had gathered a list of around twenty. Rather than jumping right in to start prioritizing that list, our next step was to group those focus items into larger categories or focus areas. But before we started working on that, Dr. Melissa performed a kind of magic trick. She flipped over a large sheet that was on an easel at the front of the room and revealed a list of 5 or 6 focus areas that she had prepared overnight. She had come up with these areas after having listened to our stories the day before. Surprisingly, we found that with few exceptions, our items clustered rather neatly into these areas Dr. Melissa had apparently divined. We quickly added one or two more to round out the list and capture our remaining items, and then we had our list. Of course, there was nothing magical or tricky about what Dr. Melissa had done. She had merely invited us into a space where we could tell our stories and then listened deeply. I marveled at how much we had managed to organize ourselves collectively by going slow, paying attention, building trust, and only then discerning how we might move forward this year.
The rest of the day, we formed small groups to start working on the top three focus areas that were calling to us. We emerged with high-level plans and then assigned owners and named follow-up actions. While I am tempted to share them here, I’m choosing not to for now, as all of this discernment is still quite fresh and raw. I think, for now, it’s more important to just share our process and let you know we are working on relationships, trust, and braving as we move into this year. Borrowing from adrienne maree brown in her excellent book, Emergent Strategy, we are moving forward with the idea that “Small is All.” In other words, large-scale transformation begins with small, intentional steps, and these small changes can accumulate and influence larger systems and structures. I will share more details next month.
Thank you for reading this installment of Board Buzz. I and other board members will be communicating with the congregation here and in other ways throughout the year. We are just beginning, and we are braving these small, intentional steps now so that we are able to lead the community collectively in the larger steps to come.
With Love and Gratitude,
David Langrock
ESUC Board of Trustees
President
As we return with joy to the new church year ahead of us, it is a great time to reach out to those you love, or maybe even just like, and let them know they are welcome! Here are just a few easy things you can do to be more invitational.
1. Leave a Positive Review on Google or Facebook (and Yelp, Nextdoor, etc.).
Helping East Shore achieve 5 stars and some great reviews will help with people search for churches in the area. Why not take a few minutes and share with the world why you are part of this community?
Do you follow us on Facebook? Or Instagram? Threads? If you do, like our posts! Comment on our posts! Share our posts! Make your own posts! If you interact with our social media (not ESUConnections) your friends will see it. When they see it they might just think “wow they really are doing great things and I know my friend thinks like me, maybe I should check them out.” So follow us and let others know how great we are!
3. Invite Someone to a Worship Service
If you enjoy it, what makes you think your friend won’t? Check out the upcoming services! There are some great choices, various topics… really something for everyone!
4. Invite Someone to a Church Event Other Than Worship
Have you seen some of our great non-worship events? Book groups, movie screenings, potlucks, classes… and more. These are great “side door” events that get your friends coming to something that will get them to know us. And come on, once you get to know us, who wouldn’t want to come back?!
5. Share a Sermon Podcast with a Friend
Did you know that the audio of the sermons is available to listen to? We also have them as a podcast! You can find past sermons here. You can find the podcasts using your favorite app and searching “East Shore Unitarian Church Sermons.” What has been a favorite sermon of yours?
by Nicole Duff, Director of Membership Development
What is this new Building Reserve you may ask. Don’t we have an endowment? Yes, we do, but to continue to use endowment funds alone would deplete it only a few years.
Anyone who has lived in or has knowledge about a homeowners’ association knows they have reserve funds to pay for the long term building repairs to avoid special assessments. We now have a reserve very purpose – the Building Reserve Fund. We are trying to avoid periodic Capital Campaigns or major fluctuations in the annual budget. Some years we will need less than $50,000 for our buildings, but other years we require several hundred thousand. By setting aside funds each year it evens out the expenses over time.
We recently completed a detailed spreadsheet showing building maintenance, repair and replacement expenses over the next 25 years. These include the mundane, such as replacing chairs to full roof replacements and everything in between. The total is almost $5,000,000. Now this may not sound like a lot in today’s world, but for East Shore it breaks down to an average need of about $190,000 each year. We hope to have a significant influx of funds once the Holly House property is sold and escrow closed, but that will be only in the 1,000,000 range for the Building Reserve.
By saving as we go, we avoid the need to continually having capital campaigns or dipping into the endowment. The plan is to include a line item in the annual budget every year so we are paying as we go. Those funds will be transferred to a separate account to avoid using them for day-to-day expenses and to assure there are funds for the major expenses on hand when needed.
We all enjoy these facilities so should all be contributing on an ongoing basis through our pledges and other donations to East Shore.
For this first year, we did however opt for a capital campaign to raise the initial $160,000. Thanks to folks donations so far, we are only about $22,000 short of that goal! Please consider making a special donation to the Building Reserve Fund to help us meet or exceed the goal.
If you are interested in seeing the big spreadsheet, just let me know!
Save the Date for Saturday September 7 for an amazing day of volunteer training!
Emergency Preparedness
All are invited to attend an Emergency Preparedness Training offered by our own Rebecca Chatfield. This training will take place from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in Spring Hall. The training will cover topics related to facilities/general population emergencies: overall emergency prep, fire, earthquake, evacuation, and active shooter. It is encouraged that all Sunday volunteers attend. Please contact Amanda Alice Uluhan or Nicole Duff to RSVP.
Religious Education
Join us from 9:00 am-3:00 pm for the Back to Church Teacher Training. This annual in-person training is required and will bring together all members of our teaching teams! Our programs are cooperatively led by members of the congregation. Some of the information you provide below will be shared with volunteers and staff who care for your child. Volunteers are screened and trained on safety and facilitation.
We need volunteers – like you! – to help make our ministry happen. Both parents and non-parents’ volunteer. Every family not otherwise teaching in RE will be assigned one Sunday every two months to assist in the classroom. One of the best ways to get involved is by leading a Sunday school group or coordinating a special event. If you are able, we encourage you to volunteer in a Religious Education classroom or elsewhere in our Children, Youth, and Families programming.
The greatest volunteer need is in our Sunday programs. As an East Shore Kids or Youth Advisor volunteer, you will be part of a facilitation team of four to six people to lead small groups of kids where we build community and encourage confidence and self-awareness. The time commitment is approximately two Sundays per month, and you work with your team to schedule, plan, and when needed, call in for a sub.
Volunteering is a great way to connect with other folks in the congregation while getting a wider window into what our church is all about. We have an intentional focus on building intergenerational relationships at East Shore, and volunteering in Religious Education is one of many ways we facilitate opportunities for multigenerational engagement.
This form helps us to learn a little more about you and what volunteer opportunities might be available to you. Additional information, assessment, and training will be required to complete the volunteer application process. ESUC R.E. programs adhere to all UUA’s youth safety and inclusion guidelines.
Please complete this form and we’ll be in touch within 7 days. If you have any questions, please email or call (425) 747-3780 ext. 104.
Sunday Morning Welcoming
If you are excited about possible membership growth… you are perfect for helping with Sunday morning welcoming! We need greeters, ushers, coffee makers, seat buddies, and online greeters each week. After the Emergency Preparedness Training, plan to join Nicole Duff in the Sanctuary as we talk about what you need to do to feel comfortable being a Sunday Morning Welcoming Volunteer. The training usually takes 60-90 minutes. We will go over everything from how to be welcoming, how to collect money, and I can even show you how to make the coffee. Volunteer time is flexible as you pick the days you are available to help. If you want more information on what it takes, please contact me at [email protected].
We are a Board Committee that works for East Shore’s Board of Trustees and the congregation to improve relationships within the community of East Shore. We do this in a number of ways including the 3 C’s – covenant, communication and conflict resolution.
Covenant
The entire congregation is responsible to create, practice and uphold the Covenant. The Covenant is the collective commitments that provide the landscape and inspiration for us to be our best selves in the ESUC Beloved Community. In 2018, the congregation adopted a Church RR Covenant that is below and is a living document to be revisited and revised as needed.
Communication
Right Relations support/facilitate a range of communications that include emails, meetings, listening circles, town halls and restorative events. We support direct communication and deep listening – individuals, pairs, groups and congregation wide. Creating a space where all voices and perspectives can be heard is often at the heart of these communications.
Individually and as a group, RR continues to seek out relevant trainings with the goal of improving our own skills and sharing those knowledge/skills with the congregation.
Conflict Resolution
Tandi Rogers, UUA minister says “conflict is a faith formation opportunity and part of religious community and the human journey”. RR hopes to normalize conflict at ESUC and help our congregation recognize, name and lean into discomfort, impact and harm. The UUA RR training says “conflict that occurs within Covenant, means that we are prioritizing restoration of relationships over being proved right or wrong.”
Practicing with small conflicts helps us develop the skills and be prepared for larger conflicts if/when they occur. Goals for conflict at East Shore:
Direct communication with other person about conflict (no triangulation)
Bring a friend if needing support to communicate with the other person directly
Come to any RR member to get additional support
Upcoming Opportunities to Learn More About RR April 28 Worship Service
Join members of the RR team after service for an informal discussion to learn more about what we do at ESUC including communication and conflict resolution.
Right Relations Committee
Susan McDonald
Milly Mullarky
Mark Norelius
Maury Edwards
Nancy Barnes
Amanda Strombom
Karin Elofson
Covenant of Right Relations, East Shore Unitarian Church (2018)
We respect and honor our beloved community, ourselves, and others when we:
Enter this space with a spirit of gratitude for this community and share it openly.
Hold this community as sacred, balancing our personal spiritual needs with those of others to preserve a brave and safe space.
Openly share our real selves, being vulnerable and trusting.
Seek the joy and richness of diversity of people, experiences and culture. Embrace the voices and leadership of marginalized people in all areas of the church.
Listen to others to discover their deepest needs and intent, with a willingness to be changed.
Speak our perspective with honesty and respect, recognizing and caring about the possible impact on others.
Commit to personal life-long learning of skills to help resolve and restore relationships through healing and forgiveness.
Support the success of our staff, minister, board, and our congregational groups and committees.
Strengthen and promote the values of our beloved community and Unitarian Universalism and carry them into the future and the larger world.
East Shore will be a little busier starting in September. In the Education building during the weekdays you will see a group of about 25 high-school aged students using Spring Hall and a few upstairs classrooms. We are renting space to a homeschool enrichment group from September until June! They follow a nature-inspired Waldorf curriculum and they are so excited to be able to learn on our beautiful 5-acre campus with the trees, plants, and native wildlife. If you need to use the Education building during weekdays, it is possible but please confirm with Dianne Upton on those arrangements so we can respect school security protocols.
The lower gravel parking lot will also be a little busier than before. Parking spaces rented through Diamond Parking are striped in yellow; please avoid parking in those spots during the week. During evenings and weekends, the entire parking lot is ours to use so don’t worry too much about finding a spot on Sunday.
Rentals help with East Shore’s bottom line financially and we work hard to make our church events happen seamlessly around other uses of our campus. If you have any questions about what’s going on at East Shore, please reach out to Dianne Upton our Facilities Manager who keeps the calendar updated. Dianne can help you book space for your team’s needs; email to [email protected] for help.
by Rebecca Chatfield, Director of Finance & Operations
1. Leave a Positive Review on Google or Facebook (and Yelp, Nextdoor, etc.).
2. Follow Us on Social Media… and SHARE!
3. Invite Someone to a Worship Service
4. Invite Someone to a Church Event Other Than Worship
5. Share a Sermon Podcast with a Friend
