Dear Members and Friends,
As your Transitional Minister, I want to catch you up on some things:
- Opportunity to learn and discuss Brene Brown’s concept of BRAVING
- The need for volunteers for the history project
- Where we/you are with Shared Transitional Ministry
BRAVING
Today at 5:00 PM and Saturday at 9:00 AM, I invite you to join me to watch two short clips from Brene Brown about what she calls “The Anatomy of Trust.” This is an engaging and thought-provoking way of talking about what each of us as individuals can do to build trust with others. You are welcome to come in person or join me on ZOOM HERE.
History Project Volunteers
An important part of shared transitional ministry is for us all to better learn the history of the congregation. Given that 2024 marks the 75th year of this congregation’s existence, it behooves the congregation to bring together stories, documents, and articles as much as possible. This congregation has a rich history with much to be proud of and inevitable conflicts that can be learned from based on how the congregation dealt with them.
Rev. Alan Taylor is looking for coordinators for four different eras of the congregation:
- prior to Rev. Frank Hall
- Rev. Frank Hall’s early days 1984-1999
- Rev. Franks later years and Rev. Roberta Finkelstein 2000-2015
- Ministry of Rev. John Morehouse 2015-present
Please email Rev. Alan if you want to help with this or call me at 708-826-0006.
Shared Transitional Ministry
Have you heard about “The Arc of Shared Ministry?” This is the work that the board and I have identified, with the help of the Appreciative Inquiry report. Here is a modest representation:
New Minister Search
Visioning
Decision-Making/Governance
Conflict Transformation
Building Trust —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —> —>
The work of building trust is needed through Conflict Transformation, that will inform our Decision-Making/Governance, in order to get the congregation to the point of being able to do the Visioning work needed to be done before beginning the Search for a New Minister.
To support me in moving all this work forward, I selected a Transition Team as an advisory group to help me identify needs and think about approaches. This team is comprised of Ken Vogel, Shanonda Nelson, Randy Burnham, Sharon Poole, and Cheryl Dixon Paul.
The board and I also put together a Conflict Transformation Team and the board will share more about this team in the next day or two. In time, a Governance and Decision-Making Team will also be put together.
I look forward to seeing some of you today, more of you on Saturday, and a lot of you on Sunday!
Warmly,
Alan
