Making Our Vision & Mission Come Alive – Small Group Results

Both our vision and mission statements call us to project our Unitarian Universalist values out into the world.  The problem:  How do we make this happen?

The purpose of the small group sessions that were scheduled during the Fall was to determine what issues our congregation believes would further our mission and vision, and which are most in need of our time, talent and treasure.  Close to half of our members participated in the small groups and were asked to select the 2 or 3 issues that they believed were most important.

We are a small congregation of less than 80 members.  There is a limit to the amount of time and money available to support important issues. The board, the minister and the Social Justice Team all agree that the number of issues we support must be limited to 2 or 3 at most.  Of the 29 issues receiving votes from the small group participants, the three receiving the most votes are:

  1. Poverty and Homelessness: Through our Emergency Assistance Fund (EAF) and providing meals at the GNA shelter, we are already helping with this issue.  But we could be doing more.
  2. Death With Dignity: This issue would require aiding the efforts here in Arizona aimed at passing a law allowing those who are terminally ill to hasten death in consultation with their physician and under strict safeguards.  The congregation has no history working with this issue.
  3. Migrant Issues/Immigration Justice: The congregation and a few individuals have dome some work on this issue already.  The Social Justice Team believes that the efforts our congregation will need to help with to prepare for the 2017 District Assembly (DA) on “Migrant & Borderlands Justice” (March 31 & April 1 & 2, 2017) will probably be all we can do on this issue until after the DA.

The Social Justice Team is recruiting two task forces to work on the first two issues. If you would like to help, please contact Heather Borman, chair of the Social Justice Team.

 

Information links on these three issues:

Poverty & Homelessness

Death With Dignity

Migrant Issues/Immigration Justice