Ironicschmoozer’s Weblog

Four of us on staff and two volunteers from the congregation will attend.

Pacific Central District Assembly (DA), April 27- 29: great programs, workshops, entertainment, inspiring speakers, and the chance to connect with UUs from Northern California, Reno and Honolulu. In addition to fine programs for adults, children and youth, this year’s assembly features the Rev. Peter Morales, UUA President,  and the Rev. Dr. Robert Latham, PCD-UUA Interim District Executive.

A UUSS member  is on the slate to be elected to the District Board at this meeting!  Our delegates can vote for him!

Delegate or not, we hope that you will go and bring what you have learned back to UUSS! If you’re interested in carpooling or sharing a room, let the church office or me know.

Deadline for registration is April 23.

To learn more and register, click here.

How much of my time is “ministry” and how much is “administration”–some ask.

The answer is that it’s all ministry.

It is artificial and harmful to assume there can be “silos” in congregational support and leadership.  Everything touches on everything else.  We are a not-for-profit business, to be sure.  We have personnel policies, employees, finances, buildings and grounds, utility bills, computers [grrr!], renters, publications…

But we are also a community of all ages, a religious institution, a mission-driven organization.  We are  a network of learners, leaders, volunteers, visitors, donors, and many stakeholders of many different perspectives.

In this community, we are all consumers and producers of ministry.

All the above shows why it can be complicated and challenging to be a church lay leader, staff member or minister.   Whatever your role here, once you are working in a church, that role becomes “Job Title” plus Ministry Provider.

A key ingredient in this ministry of administration– as in all kinds of leadership:   communication.  Communication matters among staffers, and between the church staff and our members and volunteers.   Communication is the linchpin of any large or vital organization, especially a congregation.  Most frustrations or catastrophes in church life come from bad communication, wrong assumptions, and  misunderstandings.

As is normal in an active and changing church, I devote about six days a week to most areas of congregational ministry and leadership.   A big chunk of this is in supporting our office and program staff.  I also support the program council, board of trustees, treasurer, finance committee, and property management committee; and have conversations with personnel committee leaders.  Again, communication is key.  Listening, following up, speaking, and following up.

I meet once or twice a month with each direct report for a 60-90 minute conference.  I set the agenda and lead staff meetings biweekly; I thank our Music Director for attending so we can build better understanding and mutual support among key members of the whole team.  I also hover around the main office and RE office a lot, so I can be present to staffers, tuned in to what’s going on, and handy for quick questions.

This is on every staff meeting agenda:

UUSS seeks to promote an environment in which ministers and staff support one another as members of a team whose primary purpose is serving, supporting and encouraging the members and volunteers.

I appreciate the talent and dedication that our staff members bring to their work here, and I appreciate them:  from our part-time child care providers to our custodians, from our music staff to our office staff.

I hope you do too, and that you remember to say Thank You to them.  We want to say Thank You to you also.  You are why we are here!

Attention, members and friends of UUSS!
Theater One is looking for an organized person, who likes handling money, to be in charge of ticket sales for our March production.

We are also looking for people to manage the ticket sales table.  We could use someone to help backstage.  This job could be a lot of fun for a young adult who enjoys theater, or wants to gain useful experience.

Or the ticket-selling team could be  a youth and parent working together, or someone of any age who wants to help out.  Just call Bobby Stewart at 489-4248 or Pat Skeels 572-0590
You will receive comp tickets for your participation.

For the rest of us, tickets are a good value, and the evening  will be enjoyable (the matinee too)!  More to come!

Near the end of my week in Dumaguete City, I met a bright and cheerful man of 24 in a cafe next to the university campus.  Though he has a degree as a nurse, he has not found a job in nursing.  He works 6 hours a night in a call center for an internet/long-distance floral company.  Two days later, sitting in the Dumaguete airport, I sat next to a man (I think he said he was 21) who had not slept the night before because he was excited about his first airplane flight.  He was moving to Manila to start a job.   He will be working at the same fast-food restaurant that his mother has been working at.   Manila has grown as the country has grown, due to births but also because so many people have moved from the rural or smaller islands to the big city to find work.  Like all such major cities, it is crowded, loud, dirty.  Most of life takes place on the street.  Poor people work and beg and travel among middle class people, but most rich people are hidden away in walled-off mansions with manicured gardens, working and shopping in shiny towers, and hidden in quiet air conditioned comfort behind car windows, while all others crowd the streets in pedi-cabs (in both motorized and bike powered versions, on motor bikes, in regular taxis and on foot ).

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