| Letter from YACM Office |
Tuesday, August 28 2007 @ 02:24 PM PDT
Contributed by: SteeringCmtee
Views: 1019
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Much of what we talked about in deciding not to hold Opus and ConCentric next year is actually detailed quite well in a letter to C*UUYAN from the YACM office which we recieved last September and to which we paid virtually no mind. After this year, many of us wish we had paid more attention to the now obvious insights detailed within.
September 18, 2006
Dear C*UUYAN Leaders,
In 1999, C*UUYAN and the UUA set out together on an adventure, negotiating a partnership between our organizations based on an understanding of our mutual needs and goals. By 2001, this relationship had been articulated as one in which the UUA focused on relationships with congregations and C*UUYAN with individual young adults across the continent. District young adult groups and committees fell under both of our spheres. In return for providing C*UUYAN with full-time staff support, the UUA received accountability to young adult voices in our work, a necessary condition of doing this ministry well.
Over the years, both C*UUYAN and the UUA Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry have changed and evolved, and yet this relationship has remained fairly static. Our support for C*UUYAN was intended to free leaders to work on new projects; instead, it has helped C*UUYAN become mired in an institutional identity dependent upon three annual conferences that at their best serve 300 people a year (200 of whom are at General Assembly). This “continental clique” has become more and more disconnected from our congregations, to the point where it is a regular occurrence to hear or see continental young adult leaders publicly denigrating congregational membership.
We believe it has come time to enter into a new phase of relationship between C*UUYAN and the UUA, that this relationship needs to be grounded in what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, and finally that this relationship be dedicated to the transformation of our entire faith movement into one that is radically hospitable, spiritually alive and justice-centered. We ask for this now both because we believe that you, as the current leaders of C*UUYAN, will be receptive to this conversation, and also because we, as those charged with serving congregations in our Association, need for it to happen.
Specifically, we would like the following questions asked in a forum in which continental leaders, UUA staff and local young adults have the opportunity to engage in real dialogue:
--Who is served by C*UUYAN?
--How can we break open our culture so that continental conferences do not serve just a small group of people, but rather create transformation that reaches the grassroots of our faith?
--How can we change our leadership culture so that continental involvement is seen as a step in someone’s faith and leadership journeys (which then would include bringing that experience back to the local or district level), and not the culmination of them?
--How can we change our entire continental culture to reflect better our institutional commitment to anti-racism, anti-oppression and multiculturalism—including seriously looking at our culture of entitlement and the lack of safe space for people from marginalized groups?
--How is our continental UU young adult movement relevant to young adults in congregations across our Association?
--How does C*UUYAN encourage membership in congregations, the basic building blocks of Unitarian Universalism?
--How does C*UUYAN encourage and empower young adults to transform their congregations in ways that reflect the mission of C*UUYAN to be radically inclusive, spiritually alive and justice-centered?
--How can Opus, ConCentric and the General Assembly Young Adult Caucus be reimagined as places where personal transformation is connected to a commitment to bring that transformation home in order to share it with others?
--How can we follow-up on the one-on-one connections made at C*UUYAN events in order to ensure their lasting impact on our faith movement?
--How can young adults in our congregations feel the power, healing, growth and love that continental and district young adult communities have to offer?
In the interest of transparency and honesty, we’d also like to share with you some ideas we have for the direction our work should take. Clearly, we’ve been thinking about these issues; as the professionals entrusted with maintaining a continental viewpoint, these ideas are based in years of experience with young adult communities. We’d like to offer them as a potential starting point for further dialogue.
We clearly see the need to emphasize in all of our work the shifting of power from the continental level to the local level, so that it is more shared with congregation- and district based young adult communities. The further development of district young adult committees is and should remain a priority in our work. We should focus significant energy on creating more direct ties between C*UUYAN and local young adult groups. Finally, our work should be seen as a ministry at all levels—adding to the spiritual lives of Unitarian Universalist young adults, and seeking to form and strengthen relationships and communities in which our spiritual journeys can take place.
We trust that this letter will fall upon receptive ears and eyes, and look forward to reenvisioning how together we can make Unitarian Universalism the movement that young adults everywhere need it to be.
Sincerely, The UUA Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry Staff
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| Authored by: smallmtnliz On Tuesday, August 28 2007 @ 02:30 PM PDT |
Here's another question that I, personally, love:
How shall we associate together and embody our promise to move from comfort to covenant, from corporation to association, from consumption to service, from criticism to appreciation, from privilege to solidarity?
Along with the C*UUYAN Mission Statement, this could fuel me for ages.
(It was a test question for GA 2007 open space sessions.)
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"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." -Jeanette Rankin (1st woman in US Congress)[ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: deathbird On Tuesday, August 28 2007 @ 05:07 PM PDT |
1. Some people are served, but not I and no one in my church. I'm not saying it's not useful, but it's just not having an impact here, for reasons.
2. Make it free to anyone who will go. The culture doesn't steer me away, time, money, and foreknowledge of it keep me from going. Make it free, advertise it, and I'll only have to figure out time off and transportation.
3. Didn't realize that was a problem for you. Sorry to hear that.
4. Don't treat people like they're marginalized. If someone does something offensive, give the person that they offended support in confronting them about the matter in a compassionate way. And we could all stand to grow a thicker skin. Whatever cultural problems exist in the continental events (whatever they are, idk) are a combined outgrowth of UU culture, North American culture, and various local cultures. It can't be wished or workshoped all at once.
5. idk. I'm in a single congregation, and while we have many YAs, none do continental stuff. I'm not ragging on it, I just don't know.
6. See above, but also, I don't think it's physically possible. I don't think there's any way a regional, district, or continental event can specifically encourage people to become involved in local congregations. Oh, they can deepen and strengthen the bonds individuals feel for each other, and their faith, and thereby indirectly support their congregational connections, but it's impossible for them to directly encourage attendants to join member congregations (unless upon arriving, attendants are told to go home to their respective churches, and drop their registration fees in the offering plates). Only member congregations or a general advertising campaign will draw people to a given church.
7. See 5
8. See 5, and also YAs are not the people you want to convince to "buck the system" so to speak. You want to retain the young (<35), but to transform congregations, you must reach their matriarchs and patriarchs. They are the power bases, and they set the tone for the congregations' respective cultures.
9. It's the information age. Get everyone on the mailing list. Or have more events, but those can be costly.
10. Make congregations with an age cutoff. j/k, but only partially (No one will never truly be empowered in any given congregation without the tacit consent of the big donors). Seriously though, encourage congregational leaders to support any organized YA activities and/or groups. Just like with people over 35, not all YAs want a social club, and not all YAs want a book club. The group has to be led by YAs, but congregations can lend support in the form of a budget, space, appropriate community recognition and moral support.
You want to shift power to a local level? Shift your money there. Offer grants (with few or no strings attached) to underwrite locally or regionally organized YA-led (and YA focused) events. However, I believe continental events have their place too, even if I don't attend. This concern with the local seems a bit odd to me, and I can't help but wonder if it isn't (directly or indirectly) a response to district/congregational leaders saying "Hey, where's my money? What's it doing for ME?" (The natural, I believe acceptable response to that hypothetical question is "Over there, and nothing." Religion shouldn't mirror capital.)
Anyway, that's my take. For what it's worth. [ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: csext On Friday, August 31 2007 @ 05:34 AM PDT |
<i>How can we change our leadership culture so that continental involvement is seen as a step in someone’s faith and leadership journeys (which then would include bringing that experience back to the local or district level), and not the culmination of them?</i>
I think the asking of this question kind of perpetuates the problem. Many of the people I know who have been in C*UUYAN leadership and aren't so much anymore are now either ministers or very active in YA stuff on the local and district level. It doesn't always happen fast, but the experience people have at the continental conferences can and do lead to a lot of excellent Young Adult Ministry stuff. and when it does happen fast, sometimes it doesn't work perfectly and may fizzle out in a year or two.
I definitely believe that focusing on more dispersed conferences and other ways of ministering to young adults will be beneficial and spread the love out there.
The continental conferences appear to serve two (very) general types of YAs, the way I see it. Those of us who grew up UU and haven't been particularly well served by the average congregation, and YAs who came to UUism through finding a church (online perhaps) and then heard about Opus and decided to check it out. many times it seems like opus (or concentric or GA, i'm just going to call it opus for now, for brevity) fills people's spiritual needs more and better than the whole rest of the year combined, and that's a huuuge expectation.
I used to think i needed more conferences because church didn't really do it for me in the way that opus did, but as i grow into my YA leadership more and more I realized that it is for us in the movement to change our churches to better serve young people.
This is the slowly-but-surely stuff i'm talking about, it's taken me 4 years to realize. and I am now in a particularly important place to do this, as the new Young Adult and Campus Ministry Consultant for the Metro New York district.
The YACM office is doing a pretty good job of helping change churches, IMO. and deathbird, they do give grants to YA and CM groups. they also award special "young adult ally" status to congregations that have demonstrated institutional commitment to YA ministry, Anchor Congregations, like your church.
The office has also been instrumental in making positions like mine happen, both by suggesting that the positions exist, then providing the district with grant money to help fund my (3-hour a week) position for the first few years, rather than hiring the position themselves.
as a little more response to deathbird, I want to talk a bit about making the conferences free. i learned in a marketing class that *nothing* costs *nothing*. even if one makes things free for the consumer, there is a cost somewhere. if opus, etc. were free for attendees then it would be taking money from some other program somewhere, most likely earmarked for YA ministry, which could very well mean less grants for local groups.
thanks for this letter, and thanks to the others who have responded and given me more to think about!
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smooches,
claire[ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: bettyjeanne On Friday, August 31 2007 @ 05:31 PM PDT |
| amen, claire! or should i say "ambit" :-) [ Reply to This ]
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| Authored by: NattyAve On Friday, October 05 2007 @ 10:32 AM PDT |
It seems most issues surround inclusivity. I've heard various definitions of what it means be inclusive or inclusive enough from UUs or UU-friendly people.
By not being inclusive (or accessible) enough, an event or a group, can become exclusive by default. Barriers to inclusivity can come in all forms including economics, culture, ideology, language.
I think personal ideology often plays out in public settings. Culture is the result of this interaction.
Diverse culture is a result of diversity of interaction.
I think it's commendable to take a step back to look at the environment and circumstances that led to letter and the decision of the UUA YACM Office. I hope this leads to genuine introspection and enthusiastic outreach from/to the various UUA leadership and member organizations as well as the broad range of individuals who are or could be active in UU communities.[ Reply to This ]
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