Read this week’s edition of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal July 15. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s edition of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal July 8. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

Our July Faithful Action newsletter is now available here! This newsletter contains information about our Faithful Action Community Partners and provides concrete ways to get involved and take action through our Faithful Action Community Partner organizations. In this newsletter you will find invitations to volunteer, advocate, give, and learn with others at First Universalist and in our broader community through the work of our partner organizations. You can learn more about our Faithful Action Community Partners and find out how to get involved in their work in this newsletter.

You can read this week’s edition of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal July 1. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

Read this week’s edition of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal June 24. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

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First Universalist Church of Minneapolis

Position Description for Building and Office Manager

June 2021

Who we are:

First Universalist Church of Minneapolis is a 1000+ member church with a 150+ year history of being a strong and powerful voice for liberal religion and social justice in Minneapolis and beyond. We sway to the Universalist side of Unitarian Universalism, which means that we’re rooted in an ethic of love with a wide embrace. On any given Sunday, you’ll find us preaching about racial justice in the sanctuary and creating radically inclusive community in our religious education classes that welcome more than 500 children and youth. There’s a lot going on here, and we’re looking for a superstar to join our team.

As a staff team, we’re a multicultural group of professional staff and ministers who collectively represent the breadth and scope of our religious tradition, from devout theism to atheist doubt and everything in between. We work hard, we have fun, and we do our best to honor our past while innovating toward the future. We believe in our work and how we approach it, but we’re not afraid to ask critical questions, explore our assumptions, and change plans if there’s a better way – we’re committed to outcome, not ego, and at the end of the day, want to do what’s best for the church and our service to the wider world.

As we prepare to re-enter our church building after a long renovation and even longer pandemic, we’re looking for a Building and Office Manager who’ll bring a deep commitment to hospitality and to the art and science of making our building and office serve our mission, and the wider world. 

Who You Are

Welcome is your middle name, perhaps not literally, but you live for creating and curating spaces that exude a sense of “we made this for you, your whole self is welcome and wanted here, and we are so happy you’re here today.” Even when you’re up to your eyeballs in trying to make 3 events fit into 2 spaces while also making sure that we’re achieving our accessibility and inclusion commitments, the driver isn’t just the tasklist, it’s that larger vision. You consider it a win when someone walks into the building and lets out a deep sigh of arrival, sensing that they’ve walked into a home they didn’t even know they were missing. 

Concretely, what this means is that you welcome all enthusiastically, compassionately, creatively, and pragmatically. You understand how different bodies access (or don’t access) places of work and worship and this understanding drives your commitment to make access to First Universalist offices, equipment, classrooms, and common areas easy and transparent, especially for marginalized bodies and communities. You can coordinate technical, logistical, and accessibility considerations for a large, old, quirky, newly-renovated building that houses a large congregation on Sundays and multiple tenants and community partners during the week. 

If this all sounds like a fit, read on for a position description and details on how to apply. We can’t wait to meet you!

Position Description

The Building and Office Manager plays a leadership role in the functioning of the church office, the overall scheduling of the building for internal and external events, and helps to coordinate our Sunday hospitality ministries. Specifically, in this role you will: 

• Manage weekday and Sunday building and office operations
  • Supervise our Facilities Manager and all custodial and building host staff. 
  • Oversees all facilities and office budgets
  • Coordinate with Facilities team on room scheduling and setup needs
  • Facilitate room reservations for congregants and community 
  • Manage facilities and building use calendar including event details and setup/teardown requirements and times
  • Responsible for all rental scheduling and support
  • Manage access to the building for staff, visitors, and vendors
  • Manage church office technology including computers, phones, voicemail, and copiers
  • Serve as first-layer tech support for office technology including laptops and desktops running Windows and Mac operating systems
  • Keep track of office supply inventory and order office supplies as needed

• Volunteer Coordination
  • Front desk volunteers
  • Coordinate and trains Sunday welcome teams
  • Sunday Kitchen Teams – coordinating Sunday meals beginning in late fall/winter of 2021

• Accessibility and Inclusion
  • Coordinate church efforts to continually improve accessibility in our building

• Serve as staff liaison to Accessibility and Inclusion team
• Work with team to conduct churchwide accessibility and inclusion audit
• Develop and support implementation of plans to improve accessibility

• Staff Liasion
  • Buildings and Grounds Committee
  • SPIFF Committee
  • Accessibility and Inclusion Team

Other Responsibilities

• Participate in staff meetings

Supervision

• Supervises Facilities Manager, Building Hosts, and any/all custodial and facilities staff

Minimum Qualifications:

• Strong, background in hospitality, event planning and coordination, and/or other similar experience
• Familiar with and friendly toward Unitarian Universalist principles and aims – https://www.uua.org/ 
• High school diploma is expected
• Excellent oral and written communication skill, including the demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, listen well, and to influence, motivate and lead
• Ability to handle conflict in a direct, honest, and transparent way
• Capacity to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously
• Ability to work collaboratively with a diverse group of staff and church leaders and members
• Demonstrated strong technology skills, with a good understanding of the Google Suite of applications, particularly Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Spreadsheets. Experience with calendaring and/or scheduling systems desired.

These qualifications may be met as a result of lived experience, volunteer work,

professional experience, and/or formal and informal training. People with a background in the hospitality industry are strongly encouraged to apply

Core Competencies 

Racial Justice Commitment.

(For staff who identify as black, indigenous, or a person of color:) To become familiar with the anti-racism lens that First Universalist is using in racial justice work, specifically, to be familiar with the “Characteristics of White Supremacy” (https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html) , and to speak up when they feel that white supremacy culture is impacting them and their functioning at work.

(For staff who identify as ‘white:’) Commit to ongoing learning and reflection about race, racial identity, racism, and whiteness. A commitment to dismantling white supremacy culture as described here: “Characteristics of White Supremacy” (https://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/white-supremacy-culture-characteristics.html), in our staff team and in the congregation and all of its systems, patterns, policies and procedures. 

Team Player. Works well in collaboration with others. Finds own sense of purpose and meaning in supporting the larger vision of the church, while simultaneously bringing vision and leadership to the areas within their purview. Publicly supports ministers and staff, while freely bringing concerns/suggestions/thoughts to the ministers and staff in team meetings and private conversations. 

Managing vision and purpose. Articulates and supports the vision and mission of First Universalist church. 

Developing volunteers. Is able to identify and recruit capable people into positions of responsibility; builds people up; maintains open and active dialogue with volunteers; communicates expectations clearly and holds people accountable. 

Managing conflict. Deals with problems quickly and directly; steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities; reads situations quickly; focuses when listening; settles disputes collaboratively and equitably; finds common ground and gets cooperation. 

Interpersonal relationships. Relates well to a wide range of people, inside and outside of the congregation; builds appropriate rapport; builds effective and constructive relationships; is diplomatic and tactful; is regarded as a team player. 

Trust and integrity. Is widely trusted; seen as direct and truthful; keeps confidences; takes responsibility for mistakes; adheres to an appropriate and effective set of core values during good and bad times; acts in line with those values; practices what they preach.

Hours, compensation, and location

This is a full-time (40 hours/week) position that requires working the majority of Sundays during the “church year” (September – June) as well as some evenings. A typical schedule might include Sunday mornings and afternoons, and Monday-Thursday 12-8pm. The salary range for the position is $45-50,000 per year. The benefits package for this position includes health insurance, contribution toward a retirement plan, as well as generous vacation, study, and family leave time. The position is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

First Universalist Church is committed to creating a diverse and multicultural work environment and is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status.

If interested, candidates should send a resume and cover letter to Rev. Jen Crow, Senior Minister, to jen@firstuniv.org. This position will remain open until filled. 

First Universalist Church of Minneapolis  |  3400 Dupont Avenue S Minneapolis MN 55408

We are delighted that Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout will be joining First Universalist as our new Director of Worship Arts on August 1, 2021. Glen Thomas comes to us from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he has served in a variety of leadership roles since 2007, including most recently as Director of Worship and Music. Known for his deeply collaborative creation of worship services for congregations and national gatherings, Glen Thomas teaches worship design at Meadville Lombard Theological School and is the author of the curriculum, De-Centering Whiteness in Worship, with Julica Hermann de la Fuente and Rev. Erika Hewitt. A denominational leader, you may remember Glen Thomas from his appearances in our worship services during the pandemic, when he created and shared stunning works of musical beauty to sustain us during our times of all online worship.

Glen Thomas holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Michigan, and prior to the pandemic, traveled internationally to support the choir of his youth in its ensemble tours. Glen Thomas will serve on our Leadership Team and will lead our Worship Team. We look forward to welcoming him to Minneapolis and to our community at First Universalist. Glen Thomas’ first time in worship with us in his new role will be at the Lake Harriet Bandshell Service on August 15 at 10 a.m. Together, we are taking the turn into greater embodiment and even more musical and creative expression in worship. 

Read this week’s edition of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal June 10. If you are not receiving our emails and would like to, sign up here.

Our June Faithful Action newsletter is now available here! This newsletter contains information about our Faithful Action Community Partners and provides concrete ways to get involved and take action through our Faithful Action Community Partner organizations. In this newsletter you will find invitations to volunteer, advocate, give, and learn with others at First Universalist and in our broader community through the work of our partner organizations. You can learn more about our Faithful Action Community Partners and find out how to get involved in their work in this newsletter.