Calling all congregations!
W e want your president. W e want your president to come to General
Assembly this June.
Last June 7,515 Unitarian Universalists from 687 congregations came
to the General Assembly in Boston, the largest GA in our history. The
previous General Assembly in Boston, in 1978 , drew only 1,211 UUs from
421 congregations. The difference is surely a sign of the growth and
vitality of our movement. The reason we want your congregational president
to join us this year is that we think it will help further build this
vitality.
What is General Assembly? Is it a convention? A pep rally? A leadership
training opportunity? A public witness event? A tribal gathering?
It is all of these things, but none of them is at the heart of General
Assembly.
“General Assemblies,” our bylaws say, “shall make overall policy for
carrying out the purposes of the Association and shall direct and control
its affairs.” General Assemblies are the coming together of the representatives
of our congregations to do the business of the Association and to make
real the covenant that binds us.
But who represents our congregations? Delegates tend to be people who
have the time and the money to devote to spending the better part of
a week at GA. Few congregations offer much financial assistance for delegates,
and then usually cover only a fraction of the cost. And I don't know
of a single congregation that makes its president's attendance at General
Assembly an expectation.
Other denominations have different approaches. The United Methodists,
for example, meet only in alternate years. And they pay all the expenses
for delegates to attend. All of them. It's expensive, but it clearly
communicates the high priority that faith community places on having
its leaders present at their General Assembly, regardless of their financial
circumstances.
In our congregational polity, it's clear to me that our congregations
should set the expectation that their presidents attend and that the
congregations should make it possible financially. Congregational budgets
take time to adjust, and so do congregational expectations. But it's
time that we make having our elected congregational leaders present at
our annual business meeting a priority, that we put our money where our
priorities are.
This is why I have asked for the funds for the UUA to cover registration
for the presidents of all congregations this year at the General Assembly
in Long Beach, California. The Board of Trustees has approved the request.
I know registration is a small part of the full cost of attending GA,
but I hope it will help.
I would therefore like to personally invite all of you who are congregational
presidents to come to Long Beach next June, or arrange for your successor
to attend if your congregation will have a new president by then.
And I hope you'll take me up on the offer. We have important work to
do. I want to use this GA to set priorities for our Association of congregations.
We have now been operating for three years on priorities articulated
during my campaign for president. It's time for us to look at those,
to see what needs to be adjusted, what needs to be added, and what we
have perhaps completed. And our congregational presidents need to be
in that conversation.
So let's have more of our 1,041 congregations represented at this GA
than ever before. Please come! We need you in Long Beach this June.
In faith,
WILLIAM G. SINKFORD
President, Unitarian Universalist Association
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