FAQs from our Webinars on Regionalization

compiled by Margie Manning, Florida District President and Communications Task Force member

What will delegates to the District Annual Assemblies be asked to vote on in April?

Delegates will be asked to give full authority to District boards to complete all of the legal and other tasks necessary to dissolve the District or merge the District into a Unitarian Universalist Association-related entity, on such terms as the District Board of Directors and our UUA may agree.

Is dissolving the Districts a new idea?

The Orlando Platform, developed by the four District boards and representatives of our UUA in December 2010, called on us to identify changes in our governance, in order to best support congregations and grow our faith. Since then, each District board reduced its own size; ended co-employment of the Field Staff, who are now employed by our UUA; put aside its own ends or goals, in favor of UUA ends; and piloted a new way of sharing financial resources, the GIFT program.

The four District boards met again at The Mountain in North Carolina in September 2013, and at that meeting determined there was no need for District governance going forward; instead, lay leaders could best serve the faith by working as Elders, providing hands-on services to congregations and supporting Clusters.

In the intervening months, a Covenant of Understanding has been developed to deal with legal, governance, staffing, financial and stewardship issues for the Southern Region.

What does the Covenant of Understanding say?

Here are some of the highlights:

Governance responsibility for the Southern Region will be handled by our UUA Board of Trustees and General Assembly.

Our UUA Board of Trustees will take responsibility for linkage with the congregations of The Southern Region.  

All regional field staff will continue to be employed by our UUA and the regional administrative staff will become employees of our UUA.

All assets (savings and investments) currently owned by the Districts will be transferred to our UUA and held in restricted funds for the purpose of funding Southern Region programs and initiatives. The Southern Region Field staff will actively support and promote GIFT and our UUA commits to the responsibility of collecting congregational dues through GIFT or similar single ask stewardship models.

Our UUA affirms its intention to maintain the Southern Region’s current staffing levels and robust programming.

An Interim Southern Region Fiduciary Oversight Committee will work with our UUA staff for two years after the Districts disincorporate to provide oversight in finance and staffing levels.

The UUA Director of Congregational Life will create an advisory council of 7-8 regional leaders for the purpose of giving input about Southern Region program priorities and goal setting.

What will disincorporation of Districts mean for congregations?

Congregations will continue to get direct services from Southern Region Congregational Life field staff. Congregations have a designated Primary Contact on the staff; in addition, each staff member has expertise that can be shared throughout the region. 

Staff will focus on development of geographic and affinity Clusters, or groups of Unitarian Universalists working together in a deep, mutually covenantal relationship that gives individuals and congregations an opportunity to practice our shared faith. A recent article on the Communications Task Force blog describes the Clusters model. 

Our UUA Board will take responsibility for linkage with Southern Region congregations.

What is “linkage” and can you give me examples of how it might work in regard to our UUA Board and my congregation?

Linkage is direct communication between the governing board and those to whom it is responsible (member congregations). The UUA Board recently conducted a linkage exercise, in which 100 congregational leaders nationwide were surveyed in detail about how we gather and govern. In addition to personal phone calls between board members and designated representatives, the board also conducted an online survey on the same topic, open to all individual congregation members. Information collected in the interviews and surveys is being reviewed by the board as it considers potential changes in General Assembly.

What will disincorporation of Districts mean for those individuals seeking leadership roles outside their own congregations?

The Region’s lay leaders can practice shared ministry through a model of elder leadership. An elder is a wise leader of any age – including youth and young adults – who serve their congregations and the faith based on their deep personal commitment to Unitarian Universalism, Elderhood provides greater opportunities for members to deepen their understanding of covenant and faith, and to enter into shared ministry.

Elders can do a variety of tasks, depending on their own skills, their availability and demand. Possible actions include mentoring other leaders, developing and facilitating training sessions, or community organizing.

Click here for more information about Elders.

How are Elders in our tradition going to be different than elders in the Presbyterian tradition where they serve on the Session/board of the congregation?  How are they chosen by the congregation? And since this similarity exists--what are your responses to a criticism I have heard regarding our presbyterianizing our polity?

Elders in the UUA Southern Region will not govern as board members do. Elders will minister to the faith, and can serve at a congregational, cluster, regional or even national level. A Council of Elders, working in shared ministry with Congregational Life Staff, will help congregations recognize and celebrate elders, and identify opportunities for service.

If there’s no District governance and no voting at District annual assemblies, how can my congregation’s voice be heard in the democratic process?

Since the UUA ends developed by our UUA Board of Trustees are the goals we have agreed to support, congregations are encouraged to select, educate and fund delegate attendance at General Assembly. UUA administration and staff will work with the Board to explore making remote participation in General Assembly available to all legal delegates from Congregations.  Our UUA board also is expected to propose bylaw amendments to allow Southern Region congregations to bring resolutions to General Assembly that do not rely on district governance bodies.

Will there be opportunities for congregations and their members to get together in person in lieu of District annual meetings?  

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In addition to Cluster events – which can include worship, education and justice opportunities - there are traditional regional gatherings such as SWUUSI [Southwest UU Summer Institute, a weeklong multi-generational camp experience], and leadership opportunities such as Dwight Brown Leadership Experience and Southern UU Leadership Experience. Each District has scheduled Presidents’ Convocations for summer 2015, allowing congregational presidents to gather and learn together. Regional staff will plan thematic gatherings as well, such as the multi-track experiences that were held in 2014.

How will we be sure that when my congregation pays its 7% for GIFT, it will get services from the Congregational Life Staff and/or the UUA as needed?

The UUA intends to use the Southern Region’s 2013-14 actual income amount (approximately $1.2 million) as the baseline for determining its Congregational Life Southern Region program budget. This amount represents about 27.5% of the total dues collected from Southern Region congregations in fiscal year 2013-14.  For the near future, the UUA intends to devote approximately 27.5% of the Southern Region’s GIFT contributions to the Congregational Life Southern Region program budget.

Are there Southern Region staff members who are going to lose their jobs and/or pay and benefits as a result of this shift?

The Covenant says that all parties understand that the Regional Lead, Director of Congregational Life and Leadership Council intend to maintain the existing Southern Region staff and staff configuration. Maintaining current staffing levels depends on Southern Region GIFT contributions remaining at current levels and increasing to cover annually-increasing costs, such as health care. Additionally, the Covenant says all parties understand that staffing configurations will need to be creatively altered in the future to support evolving strategic priorities and to take advantage of economies of scale, such as merging administrative functions across regions and UUA departments. 

How will I know who is on which of the various councils and groups that are described in the covenant and how can I contact them?

Southern Region field staff will continue to maintain their own database, communication and webpage systems as a means for them to directly contact congregations and individuals within the region and to keep their constituents informed of regional programs and opportunities for service and employment.

Devil in the Details

by Denise Rimes, Southeast District President

One of the many important lessons we all learn when we are creating something new is that the devil is in the details.  Sometimes we know ahead of time just where that devil will pop up, and at other times, we know something will pop up, but we don’t know what that devil will look like or when it will appear!  This has certainly been the case as we build out the model for the regionalization of the Southeast, Mid-South, Florida districts and the Southwest UU Conference.

On January 5, in the Southern Region Newsletter, we posted an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document on the plans for the development of an Elder process (authored by Margie Manning).  One of the questions offered was as follows:

How are Council Members chosen?

 For the initial Council of Elders, two members from each of the existing district boards will be nominated by district nominating committees and will be voted on by assembly delegates at the 2015 Annual Assemblies.  

 •Council of Elders member nominees will be selected by the nominating committees from existing district board members.    

 •Of the eight members of the Council of Elders, four will serve two year terms and four will serve five year terms.  

We realized in the weeks following that the terms of Board members in the four districts vary.  In Florida and the Southwest Conference (SWUUC), the new Board members will assume their positions immediately following their election on April 18.  (In Mid-South and Southeast, new Board members do not begin their terms until July1, which would be concurrent with the dissolution/disincorporation of the districts if the motion to do so passes.)  In order to preserve continuity AND to reduce the need for additional votes, we have changed the language slightly to accommodate the customs and practices of each district.  The only impact is that the Nominating Committees will not have to propose an additional slate, and a vote for the Elder Council members will not be required (since it’s not a governing body).

The inaugural Council of Elders will consist of eight members:

•    Two members of each of the existing District Boards will be chosen by the respective Boards.

•    Council members will be nominated at the Annual Assemblies in 2015 by the individual District Nominating Committees and voted upon by each body.  

•    The Nominating Committee in each District will approach the Board members of that District to see if they are willing to serve on the Elderhood Council.

•     Four nominees will be asked to serve a term of two years, and four nominees will be asked to serve a term of four years.

•      Each district will nominate two members of the current District Board to staff the inaugural Council of Elders and will be voted upon by each District body at their Annual Assembly in April 2015.

We hope we have solved for that devil, and will continue to keep you apprised if any of the devil’s friends pop up elsewhere!

It's Your Turn to Join the Conversation

by Margie Manning and Christine Purcell, Communications Task Force

We’ve been talking for a while now about the changes going on in the Southern Region. The District boards will ask the delegates at the District Annual Assemblies (April 17-19) to dissolve District governance. Since the historic meeting in Orlando in 2010, the District boards have worked in shared ministry with the Southern Region staff to make sure that structures are in place to nurture and develop our relationships as Unitarian Universalists in the South without the additional layer of governance at the District level.

Now it’s your turn to join the conversation.

The four District presidents and Congregational Life Staff have prepared an informative webinar, and we enthusiastically invite participation by everyone in the Region. In the webinar, we trace the historical reasons we are revamping our structures, and present a detailed look ahead at how we will be in relationship with each other as our structures evolve.

The webinars will cover:

• interdependence in our theology
• elders
• clusters
• the Fiduciary Council
• the Director of Congregational Life Advisory Council
• UUA Board linkage
• your questions!

We will present information for about 30 minutes, then take your comments and questions for another 30 minutes. We want to hear what concerns you and what sparks your imagination. Our goal is to leave no uncertainty and plenty of enthusiasm as we move into our District Annual Assemblies.

Please click on a link below to register for a webinar. The webinars are scheduled on the following dates and times:

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7:30 pm ET

Monday, Feb 23, 7:30 pm ET

Thursday, March 12, 7:30 pm ET

Saturday, March 28, 11 am ET

Sunday, March 29, 4 pm ET

You may want to consider getting a group together for the webinar, using a big screen, if available, at your congregation. Groups can often come up with great questions together! 

We recommend that you join the webinar on a computer or tablet with an internet connection, if you are able to do so. You will receive a link to the live presentation when you register for the webinar. The webinar will be offered on the Zoom platform, and may be accessed through a browser or the Zoom App (recommended). Questions and feedback may be sent to the presenters by typing in a chat box. A dial-in phone number will be provided for those who need an audio-only connection to the live presentation. A text-heavy version of the presentation is being prepared for our website so you may read about the proposed changes, or share the information with your congregation.

Participating in our live webinars is a great way to become informed, ask questions, and offer feedback to our boards and staff before the vote in April. For those who are unable to participate in any of the scheduled webinars, we will record the webinar on February 10th, and share it on the Southern Region website. The presidents of the four District boards and the Southern Region staff members are preparing a Q & A page for the website, as well, with questions from the webinars.

The District board presidents and the Southern Region staff members welcome YOU to the conversation!

Why attend a President’s Convocation?

By Larry Meisner

Many of you may wonder, what is a Presidents’ Convocation? It is a gathering of congregational presidents and presidents-elect who all want to learn more about how to do their jobs and to strengthen their congregations. The Mid South District has been hosting these events for several years, while they’re fairly new to the Southeast and Florida Districts, and to the Southwest Conference. We had our first regional convocation last summer, held in each of our districts to reduce travel time and expense. Attendees gave high marks to the staff, the sessions, and the informal connections made over the weekend. Many of the ideas presented at the convocation, such as using a non-board member as process observer, were immediately implemented as standard board procedures.

Three recent attendees shared their PC experiences, including the important lessons they learned and suggestions as to how the experience could have been improved. We included a cross-section of congregational presidents, with varied experiences and representing a variety of congregations.

Gay Lambirth of UU Congregation of Asheville has been a UU since she joined the Community Church of New York in 1970. She later served as president of the Houston congregation before moving on to Asheville and eventually serving as president there. Gay also has attended Dwight Brown Leadership Experience (DBLE) and has served as a congregational consultant.  She attended the PC in 2013.

Denise Miles of Georgia Mountains UU Fellowship in Dahlonega has been a UU for only 3½ years. She was elected president of her congregation after being a member for only one year, and had only just started her term when she attended the PC at the Mountain in 2013.

Jerri Meisner of UU Fellowship of Beaufort has been a UU since 1981. Like Gay, she had previously served as president of another UU congregation (Raleigh) before joining UUFB in 2007 and being elected president in 2013. Jerri attended the SE District PC in 2014.

All three of the presidents believed that they brought back useful information from the PCs. Two of them had at least a portion of their expenses paid for by their congregations, and they were encouraged to attend by their congregations – either directly or because it had become an expectation of incoming presidents. 

An important reason to attend a PC is the connecting and information sharing that takes place with your colleagues.  All three women interviewed felt that they got as much out of the networking with other presidents and learning about how similar-sized congregations handled various issues and situations as the content of the sessions. Some of the concepts were added to their boards’ operating procedures and policies. They felt that break-out groups divided by congregation size were especially helpful.  They have kept in contact with people they met and looked forward to seeing them again at future events such as district or cluster meetings, GA, or special conferences. 

Overall, all three of the presidents praised regional staff and lay facilitators and all felt that it was a valuable experience, well worth taking the weekend to grow into the role of congregational president. If you are a board president or president-elect, plan to attend the 2015 convocation in Dallas, Raleigh, Birmingham or Orlando on July 10-12.

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Elders

by Margie Manning, Southern Region Communications Task Force

The four districts that make up the UUA’s Southern Region now are just four months away from our annual assemblies, and the historic votes we will take to dissolve district governance and move forward with a new model of stronger relationships between congregations.

This change has its roots in the Orlando Platform, which recognizes – among other points – that congregations create good leaders, whose faith calls them toward fulfilling a larger Unitarian Universalist mission. The Platform calls on us to provide a mechanism to allow these leaders to be of meaningful service to our faith.

These leaders are called Elders, a term taken from the Cambridge Platform, which is the basis for our congregational polity. Elder does not refer to age, but to wisdom and experience.

In the four years since the Orlando Platform, we have been working to define the scope and structure of the work taken on by Elders. We established an Elders Task Force, chaired by Denise Rimes, president of the Southeast District. Those who currently or have previously worked on the task force are: Peter Kandis, Jill Austin, Sarah Ritzmann, Lewis Morris, Connie Goodbread, Maggie Lovins, Erin Sullivan, Carlton Smith and Natalie Briscoe. We are grateful to each for their contributions to the following model for Eldership that envisions how lay leaders and Congregational Life Staff will work together to build relationships, strengthen congregations and grow Unitarian Universalism.

You may view, download, or print the Elders FAQ here.

Frequently Asked Questions – The Elder Model

This is a time of transition for Unitarian Universalists in the Southern Region.  If Unitarian Universalism is to be a vital and growing faith, it requires our active participation.  We are reminded from the Cambridge Platform that ministry does not belong only to ordained clergy, but also to others who are servant leaders of the faith.   According to our history from the Cambridge Platform, elders understand and uphold the deepest meaning of the faith and they may be teachers and preachers, and the deacon’s role is the stewardship of resources.   While the Cambridge Platform recognizes the independence of congregations, it also recognizes their interdependence.   It is essential to congregation polity that congregations be in community, that they develop linkages to share resources, and that they participate in associational life.

This proposed Elder Model offers a means for building relationships between congregations, clusters, states, and throughout the region.  Elders who emerge from congregations to serve at the region level will be those whose deep faith and commitment to Unitarian Universalism allows them to nurture others.  Through the ministry of Elders, it is expected that congregants will deepen their understanding and talent for leadership so that more wise leaders will be available to offer more services to congregations and the world.  The Council of Elders is a program body that will facilitate the development of Elders and will support opportunities to grow Elder teams and the faith throughout the South.  Following are some frequently asked questions about the Elder Model and expectations for how it will be implemented.

What's the point of the Council of Elders?

The Council of Elders will be servant leaders practicing shared ministry in relationship with the Southern Region Congregational Life Staff (CLS).  The Council of Elders will foster relationships and networks between congregations, clusters, states, and throughout the region and will create and support opportunities to grow leaders and the faith throughout the South.

What will the Council of Elders do?

This is a program body - working hand in hand with the Southern Region Congregational Life Staff (CLS) doing shared ministry.

The Council of Elders will serve in a variety of capacities.   They will:

•Help to create and identify opportunities to grow networks, teams and the faith throughout the South.

•Help to foster relationships within and among congregations, clusters, states, and throughout the region.  Elders will always look for ways to helps congregations and leaders to network and help each other.

•Help congregations to develop ways to recognize and celebrate the elders they have and help to identify new elders.

•With the foundation of the Cambridge and Orlando Platforms, work towards our UUA ends.

Represent the region at ceremonies of importance to the faith such as ministerial ordinations and installations, building dedication ceremonies, and celebrations of congregation anniversaries.

Is the Council of Elders replacing the Boards?

No. The Council has distinctly different functions from previous boards. Historically, boards focused on the business of our organizations including financial management, staff oversight and policy decisions. The Council of Elders will focus on strengthening congregational ties, developing leaders (therefore congregations) and bolstering faith development. The council will do this by building strong relationships throughout the faith. In short: whereas boards govern the faith, the council will minister to the faith.

How are Council Members chosen?

This process was refined in February, 2015, to preserve continuity across the four District Boards with different terms, to reduce the need for additional votes, and to accommodate the customs and practices of each district.

The inaugural Council of Elders will consist of eight members:

•    Two members of each of the existing District Boards will be chosen by the respective Boards.

•    Council members will be nominated at the Annual Assemblies in 2015 by the individual District Nominating Committees and voted upon by each body.  

•    The Nominating Committee in each District will approach the Board members of that District to see if they are willing to serve on the Elderhood Council.

•     Four nominees will be asked to serve a term of two years, and four nominees will be asked to serve a term of four years.

•      Each district will nominate two members of the current District Board to staff the inaugural Council of Elders and will be voted upon by each District body at their Annual Assembly in April 2015.

What will the role of Staff be in relationship to this Council?

In covenant, the Council of Elders and Congregational Life Staff (CLS) will pursue our Association’s Ends. Staff is ultimately responsible for program development.  The Council of Elders will support CLS to develop structures and programs that are needed to grow vibrant congregations.  Staff is ultimately responsible for program development.  

The relationship between congregations, CLS, and Elders will help insure that excellent programs are developed and our faith is advanced. 

What will Elders do?  How will they serve the Southern Region?

Elders will serve in a variety of roles throughout the region, based on many factors. Elders on the Council will serve as organizers and relationship builders among Elders, congregations, and staff. Congregational Elders may do a variety of tasks depending upon their skill set, availability, and demand. Possible actions may include: mentoring other leaders, developing and facilitating training sessions, or community organizing. Elders can be wonderful resources to their home congregations, as well, as they have the opportunity to deeply engage in our UU faith within and beyond congregational walls.

While there are limited roles for Elders to play at the Regional level we are mindful that the need is infinite and the resources are finite. Elders can serve clusters and groups that form to address some particular initiative.

The Council of Elders is one role that Elders will play.  Elder roles that exist today include the Smart Church Consultants, Leadership Experience Faculty and Regional Multi-track trainings and cluster development activities.  As the system evolves more roles will be identified.

Our hope is that through regional opportunities leaders will be even better equipped to serve their home congregations and faith.  

How will moving to the Elder Model affect me personally?

This is an opportunity for leaders and all congregants to have more resources so that they can go deeper into their own gifts and the service they can provide.  Individuals will be offered many opportunities for development.  This deeper training will feed leaders and allow them to serve in a deeper capacity - both in their congregation and in our larger faith. The Elder Model gives more people an opportunity to deepen their understanding and talent for leadership with the goal of having more wise leaders to offer more services to congregations and the world.  

Congregations will have many more acknowledged partners in the good works they are doing. Silos will be broken down and we will come to know we are not alone in our work. The result will be a greater sense of community across the miles and a greater sense of interconnection with other UUs doing similar work.

How will congregations be served by moving to the Elder Model?

The Elder Model’s emphasis on individual growth, maturity, and collaboration means that there will be more wise leaders to help manage and muster congregations. 

The Elder Model gives congregations the opportunity to be more ministry-focused. This change will foster collaboration with other Unitarian Universalists and congregations to be more active in the community, to pull together like-minded interrelated ideas, resources and energy to better represent Unitarian Universalism in the world. 

How will moving to the Elder Model serve our chosen faith?

Moving to the Elder Model provides a path to leadership and gives an opportunity for congregational Elders to connect with other Elders from across the region to serve our faith movement outside their own congregation or cluster.

Moving to the Elder Model will increase our incarnational growth. Those outside our faith will come to know what Unitarian Universalism stands for and does. 

If I am interested in being an Elder, how does my name go forward for consideration?

You may request that your congregation recognize that you have been filling the role of an Elder, or your congregation, on its own volition, may come to you to ask if you would accept a nomination to be an elder.

Elders may also be identified at events and trainings.  Congregational Life Staff and the Council of Elders will always be in relationship with congregations about leaders who could be asked to serve on a regional body.

Congregations and/or covenanted communities, via their Boards, Faith Development Teams, Professional Staff, Nominating Committees, Leadership Development Teams or Committees on Ministry, will recognize and/or identify individuals who function as Elders in the congregation.

Cluster Development: Forward, Together

Adapted by Carrie Stewart, Southwestern Conference, Southern Region Communications Task Force Member from a presentation created by Southern Region Staff.

“Although churches be distinct, and therefore may not be confounded one with another, and equal, and therefore have not dominion one over another, yet all the churches ought to preserve church communion one with another...” 

- Cambridge Platform, Chapter XV, Of the Communion of Churches One with Another, Section 1.

Cluster development is a key part of the work underway as the Districts in the Southern Region continue our work to establish a system to build and nurture dynamic congregations in strong relationships with each other. This work draws from the writings of the Cambridge Platform, which states that churches should cooperate in the following ways:

1. Mutual care and support for the good of the congregation and the advancement of the Faith.

2. Consulting with one another in regard to a church's experience, process, or practice.

3. Admonishing one another.

4. Sharing Elders and professional staff

5. Giving recommendations to members who wish to move to another congregation.

6. Giving financial support to churches in need.

7. Sending Elders to the neighboring churches to introduce themselves. 

8. Sending Elders to plant new churches.

Examples of what this cooperation might look like includes collaboration on and examples of practices, processes, policies, and procedures, having a greater social justice presence in a community, having joint leadership trainings, board retreats, teacher trainings, and other events, starting and supporting satellite congregations, sending elders who are experts in different areas between congregations, and supporting youth and young adult programming where critical mass may not exist.

What is a cluster? A cluster is a group of Unitarian Universalists working together in a deep, mutually covenantal relationship that gives individuals and congregations an opportunity to practice our shared Faith.  Clusters are intended to be logical, reasonable, and mutually beneficial.

A cluster is NOT a structure simply for the sake of structure, a bureaucracy, or mutually exclusive (a person, group, or church may belong to more than one cluster organization). It is not comprised of coerced relationships (You must “opt-in”), and they do not exist as the “New Districts”.

Geographic clusters are groups or congregations who are located in some proximity to each other.

Networks are groups or congregations who have particular characteristics or needs in common.

It requires time and intentionality to develop a cluster. The continuum of Cluster Development includes: 

No affiliation - Congregations and Unitarian Universalists have no affiliation with one another whatsoever. Congregations or Individuals may not be aware there are other churches or groups with whom they may affiliate. Congregations at this phase may or may not participate in the larger Association. 

Regional Staff can assist to

• Bring resources to the congregation from the UUA
• Help the congregation understand their relationship with the UUA
• Invite the leaders of the congregations to leadership experiences
• Introduce the leaders in the congregation to other leaders of nearby congregations to begin relationships

Beginning Affiliation - Groups of professionals, generally Ministers and/or Religious Educators, gather on a regular basis to offer collegial support to one another. No other groups or individuals are gathering at this time. If a congregation does not have any religious professionals, they are not present at these gatherings. Congregational leaders are aware that their professional staff are meeting in this manner and are thus aware that there are other congregations in proximity.  

Regional Staff can assist to:

• Introduce area professionals to the group and connect professionals to one another. 
• Introduce other groups together and provide ideas for reasons to meet. 
• Speak at professional retreats about faith development or associational affairs.
• Invite leaders to Leadership Experiences. 
• Encourage collaboration between professionals which have benefits outside of their own professional group.

Moderate Affiliation - Religious Professionals gather for more than collegial support. Coordinated efforts exist to provide programming and ministry to congregations. Groups of Lay Leaders meet around common goals or projects (e.g.  Social Justice chairs organizing joint public witness opportunities, Presidents gathering for study and leadership training.)Coordinated efforts take the form of events hosted by one congregation but put on jointly by all participating congregations. Successful practices and programs are shared between congregations through Elders.

Regional Staff can assist to:

• Help with budgeting for events and ministries
• Handle registration for events
• Assist with publicity for events
• Aid in communicating with the UUA
• Act as “talent” or assist in locating talent for events
• Encourage Elders to find opportunities to deepen their ministry together
• Invite leaders to Leadership Experiences.
• Provide resources for formalizing the cluster's structure and procedures.

Formal Affiliation - The cluster is a formal entity unto itself. The cluster has obtained 501C-3 status and may collect dues from its member congregations. The cluster is run by a board and may have several teams or task forces that provide programming. The cluster is active in the broader community.

Regional Staff can assist to:

• Connect the cluster with those in the UUA who can assist with legal issues.
• Assist with events in the manner prescribed previously. 
• Partner with clusters to provide large-scale programming and events.
• Partner with the cluster's Elders to provide health to the system and high-quality collaboration and communication between congregations.

Elders are necessary to the process of building Clusters as they typically gather for the sake of mutual support and furthering Unitarian Universalism. Elders move between and among congregations or groups, spreading wisdom and maturity through the system and tend to be in relationship to more than one congregation or group and thereby enhance and deepen the relationships between those congregations or groups. Elders, along with regional staff, ministers, religious educators and congregational leaders, together have an opportunity to live into our shared ministry values through cluster development work.

Southern Region Roundtable: Leaders freed up to change the world

By Margie Manning, Southern Region Communications Task Force

As you have read in this space over the last year, the Boards of Trustees of the four Districts in the UUA Southern Region, working in shared ministry with our Congregational Life and administrative staff, have been focused on preparing the Region for the important votes we will take at our April 17-19, 2015 Annual Assemblies.

Driving this work is the conviction we share that we can become a more effective association and a more vibrant faith movement by dissolving district governance and formally establishing a system to build and nurture dynamic congregations in strong relationships with each other.

When the presidents of the four boards gathered in Boston in early November for the District Presidents Association, we set aside some time to talk about why the changes we are making feel relevant to our faith and how it is moving forward. Here’s a transcript of our roundtable discussion.

Question: What's wrong with district governance?

Mark Anderson, The Southwestern Unitarian Universalist Conference, a District of the UUA: Four years ago we met in Orlando and developed the Orlando Platform. We gave up co-employment of staff. We suspended our ends in favor of the UUA ends. In the Southwest, in August we permanently did both of those. They had been trials and we felt the need to go ahead and formalize that we weren't going back. We no longer set a vision for our district, and having 20 visions for where the UUA was going, was not the right answer. Having a single vision feels like the right answer to me…so having a district governance body no longer makes sense. We've spent the last three years trying to figure out what we're doing and what we figured out is the right answer is we are getting rid of ourselves.
DeAnn Peterson, Mid-South District: I think the question is a little bit wrong, in that it's not broken. What is becoming more evident and more clear is that [consolidation of regional operations, finances and staff] does a much better job of supporting congregations in a more financially responsible way, in economies of scale. You can build the faith because it's more ministry-based than government-based.
Margie Manning, Florida District: We have people who are passionate about Unitarian Universalism, who we've got sitting on boards, not making decisions, because there's very little to decide, but spending a lot of time on not making decisions, when their talents could be out there serving our congregations. That's where I believe a lot of their passions call them to be.

Question: Who will run things if we don't have districts? Who's in charge?

Denise Rimes, Southeast District: We have a very dedicated and very bright board of trustees for the UUA. In terms of helping oversee and monitor the use of our assets, the UUA board is well equipped to do that. In terms of setting global ends and keeping us focused on those global ends, the board of trustees of the UUA is very well equipped to do that. By and large, our staff has done the vast majority of programming for the past several years; even though some of us are still program boards, the staff has certainly done yeoman's work on programming and they're very well equipped to do that. So in some ways, our district boards were pretending to be adding value to work that's being done extremely well by others. Here are all these amazing resources, people sitting on district boards, whose gifts and talents could be much better utilized, We can redeploy those resources because we have a very well-equipped UUA board and a very well-equipped staff to take care of all those things that district boards once did.

Question: Why not establish a regional board?

Mark: That was an idea the four boards discussed, but we saw boards as an idea that outlived their usefulness. We'd been stuck, and creating a new board that would start out stuck was a bad idea. MidAmerica [the region comprised of the former Central Midwest, Heartland and Prairie Star Districts] has a single board that is doing linkage work with the staff. We set up a different structure for that linkage work, but I expect that linkage work to happen.

Question: What are Elders going to do that is a function not being served right now?

DeAnn: There's an opportunity here for lay leaders to support the staff and support the congregations and support the faith in the way that boards often did on the side when they weren't doing governance, because they served as that middle leadership. The staff would ask for help - "What do you think about doing this?" - and it was often the boards that would be the place to go. There's still that role of advisement, spots for leaders to go when they want to seek leadership positions outside their congregational walls, and to promote connections between congregations, to build the faith. That is too big and too precious for the staff under current financial conditions to be able to do all of it. There's a huge role for volunteers and lay leaders to help that process.
Margie: Many of our congregations have done a very good job of growing leaders, but once a leader has gotten to the point that they have done just about everything there is to do in a congregation, it's time for fresh leadership to move in. But you don't want to lose those skills that have been cultivated. And there's an opportunity to build those connections between congregations by sharing this valuable, talented, educated, well-trained leader, and in turn helping other congregations grow leaders, grow the power of Unitarian Universalism in their own congregations. That's where I see the real value of Elders.Denise: And they enhance the connections to the broader faith, beyond congregational walls, as we create these opportunities for Elderhood and Elder leadership.
Mark: There's plenty of work to go around. The boards as boards - at least in the Southwest - we have not had time to do the work. We have seven Congregational Life consultants in the Southern Region; they don't have the time to do all the work there is to be done. Hopefully, the Elders will be able to step up, fill those holes and do the work that needs to be done in support of the vision of the UUA board and of the staff. The place I see it is in Central Texas. Natalie Briscoe is the staff person in charge of helping midwife the formation of a Central Texas Cluster and before I became president of the district that was an interest of mine. We have Elders in Central Texas that are stepping up to do that work and Natalie or I will be support for them and provide advice, but the Elders will be the ones actually doing the work. In young adult work, it's very hard for non-young adults to start a young adult group, because they are not young adults. At 42, I have no idea what would get a group of 20-somethings together and bond them but I could advise a group on how to structure themselves to do that. As someone in Central Texas, I have no idea what the Arkansas Cluster needs. The Elders in Arkansas are the ones who understand best what Arkansas needs in terms of a Cluster. So a lot of my answer goes back to Cluster development and enhancement work.

Question: What will be different about Clusters as we move into our new relationships?

Mark: I think we're going to have more active Clusters with both meanings of the word “more.” There will be numerically more Clusters that are active. And, the Clusters that are active will become even more active. I'm hoping throughout the region, throughout the country, we'll see churches working together to support each other more in the ways that they need it.
Denise: Clusters will be the way that our leaders - the people who would have been on boards - can get as involved and truly make a difference by virtue of having closer contact, more intimate contact with congregations nearby or with similar affinities.
DeAnn: And to do work outside specific congregational walls, to do the work that needs to be done in the world.

Question: What about the 5th Principle, which speaks to the democratic process?  How is the congregational voice going to be heard?

DeAnn: This is going to require some commitment from the congregations and specifically on the delegates from the congregations to be more informed active participants in the General Assembly. Before, we were in a fictional democratic process, but we were not good at informing and making sure that delegates were good representatives of our congregations and that needs to be built. There's a huge opportunity for us to toss aside the fiction and build the reality of sending good, strong, well-informed delegates that bring it back to the congregations to do the work that's accomplished at General Assembly. Those are words I haven't had a chance to say before - to build a better delegate.
Margie: Democracy has rights and responsibilities. It's not all just, I have the right to vote, but I don't have any responsibility to educate myself about what I'm voting for. You have that responsibility in greater society and you have that in your dealings in Unitarian Universalism.
Denise: I think the concept of Elders and particularly of Clusters is so much more grassroots and there's power in numbers. That's a way to aggregate that power, and to think about and talk about and learn about the issues and make the change that you want to see in your community and the world.
Mark: For congregations and Clusters that are really interested in continuing that democratic process, Clusters are a good way to do it. It will vary from Cluster to Cluster. I think there will be Clusters run by people with passion. There are others - North Texas is one of them - North Texas Cluster's board is a representative board, people on that board are elected out of the congregations and represent the congregations on that board. There's room for representative democracy within the Clusters if that's what the Clusters value.

Question: How are all these changes going to serve our faith and help us make a difference in the world?

Mark: The leaders we've been sending up to do governance work are now going to be freed up to lead us in changing the world.
Denise: Governance work is inwardly focused: How are we going to spend our money, manage the staff, or whatever it is we did as boards. This will free us up from a lot of that inward naval gazing. What will be left is all the work that's out there to do.
DeAnn: I can think of specific examples. One of the things we've been doing in the Mid-South is making sure congregational presidents know each other and can talk to each other. When you strengthen a congregational president and they know how to handle stewardship or how to help difficult people, you strengthen the lives of those who come into the congregation. We've got UUA consultants who are all about abundance and we could have lots of those kinds of facilitated conversations across lots of congregations, to work on abundance. Getting youth together across a region - not just a district but a region - to work on things. Social justice groups - so it's not just North Carolina during Moral Mondays, but all of Atlanta goes to Raleigh to help out with Moral Mondays. The Mississippi congregations – with not one minister there - helping that group to have fantastic Sunday services when they are all lay led because they Skype into Jake Morrill's congregation on a Sunday morning. So much work, so many specifics.
Margie: I’m thinking about my personal venture into Elderhood with the Florida youth group. It's so much more powerful to go and sit with a group and talk, rather than invite them to a board meeting and have them be an agenda item.... The one-on-one or several-on-several interactions that will come out of this through Elder connections or Cluster connections, the idea that we're putting our passions to work  - the natural consequence will fuel excitement for Unitarian Universalism.
Denise: I think we're at least for now unstuck. I think we were stuck, we were doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results, and you know what that defines: insanity. So I'm hoping this will work, we have every intention it will work, but at least, at the very minimum, we're unstuck, and even if we have to make some major adjustments, if we get more people to pay attention and get more input, we will have accomplished something I think.


The Southern Region Communications Task Force includes Margie Manning (Florida District), Carrie Stewart (SWUUC), Kirk Bogue (MidSouth), and Chris Reid (Florida), working in shared ministry with Kathy McGowan (Congregational Life Staff member), and Christine Purcell (Communications/IT Specialist).