The Pathfinder Implementation Committee (“PIC”) was formed with the charge to carry out the Pathfinder recommendations approved by Council. The PIC is divided into four teams focused on different tasks.
The Church Consultant Team was charged with receiving proposals for church consultants to assist the congregation and potentially an interim minister with multiple issues, including addressing congregational conflict; assessing church bylaws and governance; and other needs identified in the Pathfinder report. The team has arranged for Cameron Trimble from Convergence Congregational Consulting to visit UCG the weekend of January 25 and 26.
On Saturday, January 25, please consider attending the Futures Lab. This imaginative space offers a creative outlet for us to consider different futures for our church home so that together, we can craft the next chapter in UCG’s story.
Facilitated by Rev. Cameron Trimble, and based on her work with the United Nations and UNESCO, attendees will journey 45 years into the future to envision who we could become, and define the steps to take us there. As Lindsey mentioned in her recent Moderator’s Minute, our congregation has not yet committed to hiring a consultant at its fullest extent; we will be voting on a motion to approve the full contract with Convergence during our Winter Congregational meeting on Sunday, February 9th. With that in mind, the Futures Lab is a singular opportunity for members of our congregation to learn more about Convergence, and discern how future collaborations might serve us as we continue to navigate this time of transition. All members are welcome; lunch will be provided, and childcare is available. Please indicate your interest in attending here.
Dr. Trimble will also speak at worship on Sunday, January 25, and will lead a seminar after the service discussing the results from the Futures Lab. It should be an exciting weekend, please engage as much as you can!
As a side note, as of a couple weeks ago the $20,000 in contingent funding for the church consultant has been raised from individual donations, a UCG endowment disbursement, and a grant from the Florida UCC. These funds are in a designated account to be used should the congregation choose to hire the consultant at the winter congregational meeting. That being said, if anyone has been waiting to contribute to this investment in our church transition, please contact Catherine Cake.
The Congregational Life Team is tasked with building fellowship and coordinating the creation of a behavioral covenant for our community. This group has been very busy analyzing input from their recent congregational chalk talk, and is planning additional activities for the coming weeks. Please read their article in this newsletter for additional details.
The Bylaws/Policy Workgroup has been working on a document that lists the various concerns or challenges we’ve encountered with specific bylaws or policies and ranking them by priority. This information will be useful for coordinating our work with an interim minister and possibly with a church consultant.
The Grievance Process Revisions team submitted a revised Grievance Process to Council on November 20, which was approved. You can read the revised process document here.
The PIC is coordinated by Tim Martin. If you have any questions about the work of the committee, don’t hesitate to contact him.