Follen’s Parish Board is delighted to announce the appointment of a team of 6 creative, thoughtful, and committed members to lead the development of a long-term plan for Follen Church, to be approved at the May 2024 Annual Meeting.
Please join us in welcoming and pledging your support to the long-term planning (LTP) team: Brian C., Jane S., Jose T., Julianna S., Kyle J. and Margot T. You can see their photos and brief bios below.
We are grateful that these members have agreed to honor the Follen community by bringing their experience, gifts and perspective to this project. During the 2023–2024 church year, with the support of Rev. Claire and the entire Follen community, the team will engage the congregation in a process of discernment and dialogue to consider important fundamental questions, for example: Who are we as a faith community? What does our faith call us to do?
Parish Board is not prescribing a particular structure, process, or methodology that the team must follow, based on our appreciation of the discernment options that Gil Rendle and Alice Mann describe in their book Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations:
Planning is conversation because it is truly dialogue. People explore their differences and their perceptions. People risk saying what they believe to be important. The talk is full of stories, memories, and hopes — the kind of conversation that strengthens and transforms people.
The team will use Holy Conversations and other resources they identify to create a discernment process that works best for the Follen community at this moment in our history.
The team will create the process, frame questions to consider, provide opportunities for discussion and discernment within the congregation, and determine the content and form of the plan to be approved at Annual Meeting in May 2024. You can see their charter here.
A Time to Dream
Follen’s bylaws require a periodic “long-range plan” to guide our annual and longer term governance and decision-making. The last plans were adopted in 2009 and 2015. After study and discussion this church year, Parish Board decided the time is right for an updated plan — a lot has happened since 2015. Exciting developments and some clear challenges have emerged:
- Our stunning new building presents new opportunities
- We have a talented staff bringing new vitality
- 2023 is the 10-year mark in Rev. Claire’s ministry
- Our adoption of the antiracism 8th UU Principle supports breakthrough ideas and practices
- We are experiencing transformation within the UU denomination
- The known and emerging impacts of Covid, other external threats, and existential challenges present opportunity and challenge to us as individuals and as a spiritual community
What a fertile time for us to think big and to craft a vision of who we are and who we aspire to be that will serve as a touchstone for our spiritual community now and in the years ahead.
This coming church year, the team will plan and lead the congregation in a discernment process that we hope we will find to be spiritually engaging, challenging, exciting, and joyful. The conversational journey will be as important as the ultimate destination. All members of the congregation will be asked to help with this exciting community project in a variety of ways, sharing your gifts of spiritual thoughtfulness, facilitation, conversation, exploration, hospitality, and artistic expression. When asked to participate, please say yes!
Tentative Project Timeline & Tasks
Summer, 2023
- Team project planning meeting
- Background reading
- Review of past long-term plans
Fall, 2023
- Team project planning meetings
- Development of key questions / data gathering strategy
Winter, 2024
- Facilitated small group conversations
- Review of data/input from conversations
Spring, 2024
- Development of DRAFT report/vision/plan document
- Presentation of DRAFT for feedback by congregation, Coordinating Team, Parish Board and Program Council
May 2024 – Adoption of report/vision/plan at Annual Meeting