Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal March 16

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal March 9

Read this week’s issue of our email newsletter here: the Weekly Liberal March 2

Rev. Arif Mamdani writes:

“Well then say that. Exactly that. Because that is exactly what needs to be heard.”

That’s what my 14-year-old kid said to me last night when we were talking about the horrifying attack on a trans woman that happened at the Lake Street light rail station in Minneapolis this week. 

Earlier that day, she’d posted the MPR story to her Instagram stories, and when I asked about the social post, she told me I should go see for myself. I did. She’d shared the MPR story, adding the question “why do we live in a world where this happens?”

That question is not a new one to me. Not a new one from her, nor from other First Universalist youth. In the time that I’ve served this church, I’ve been blessed to work with our middle and high school students, and to a one, they are deeply thoughtful, wrestling with questions in heart-full, faithful, and deeply relational ways. They love each other in ways that inspire me, and when they ask questions, I take them seriously. 

So I sat with my daughter’s question in my heart over the course of the day. Later that night, as we talked more about the attack, I wondered if there was anything that she’d want to hear from church about all this. We talked about how there’s been more violence recently in the school system she’s at. We talked about how she was feeling. 

I said that I wanted more than anything to be able to tell our youth that this is awful. That this is not the world as it should be, and that we love them and will do everything that we can to protect them and create a world where this does not happen.

To which she replied “Well then say that. Exactly that. Because that is exactly what needs to be heard.”

So I’m writing this message to you all today. Encouraged by my kid, sharpened by the team of faith leaders at church, I’m writing to you to say clearly that as people of faith we not only reject transphobia and the violence that it provokes, but that our faith teaches us that trans lives are sacred. That in the midst of anti-trans legislation and what feels like a rising tide of targeting trans people, especially trans youth, we will do everything that we’re able to fight back against politics of hate and the culture(s) that allow prejudice and fear and hatred to continue to exist. That each of you matters deeply to us and that you are not alone.

And, I’m inviting you to come to church this Sunday. As part of Sunday’s service, we’ll be creating a space of blessing for our trans community. Come be part of creating that blessing. Come if that space of blessing is what you need to receive. Join us as we affirm our faith and show up on the side of love.

In faith,

Rev. Arif

Rev. Arif Mamdani
Associate Minister
First Universalist Church of Minneapolis

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Feb. 23

Due to this week’s winter storm, the church office will be closed on Wednesday, Feb. 22, and the building will be closed on Thursday, Feb. 23.

2/22 BIPOC DINNER CHURCH

The BIPOC Dinner Church scheduled for Wednesday evening has been modified and moved online; we’ll gather at 6 p.m. on Zoom for a short time of communion and community building led by Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout. We invite you to bring food and/or drink (any will do) to the shared meal from our many locations!

2/22 & 2/23 VISIONARY GOALS WORKSHOPS

The Wednesday, Feb. 22 BIPOC Visionary Goals Workshop will not happen as planned and will be rescheduled for sometime in March. The Visionary Goals Workshop scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23 has been moved to Zoom. If you registered already, please watch your email for Zoom information; if you’d like to attend but haven’t yet registered, you can sign up here.

THURSDAY, FEB. 23 GROUPS

Those who are signed up for one of the several small groups scheduled for Thursday—Newcomers Circle, Sacred Earth, Wellspring Alumni gathering, REP, and the community Abolition Circle—should check their email for a note from the group facilitator, regarding whether your program has been cancelled or moved online.

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Feb. 16

Rev. Arif writes:

Last Sunday we held our state of the church meeting. This is an annual opportunity for staff to report back to the congregation on progress we’ve had thus far toward our yearly work plan, to share a mid-year budget update, and to look forward to what’s coming as we end the church year. It is also an opportunity to answer questions that are coming up for the congregation. We have a recording that is available to watch here, and in addition are offering this high-level “key points” recap.

• We are still here. The last three years have been challenging in ways we never could have imagined, and despite those challenges, we are still here. The pandemic and racial justice uprisings impacted all of us in different ways and as a church, we showed up and cared for each other and for the wider community. 
• Our progress toward our work plan is proceeding well. Participation in small groups, circles, and community gatherings is strong and continues to grow. The Wednesday night community dinners are a new tradition and have provided a much-needed source of connection and community building. Religious Education continues to be strong, as do the opportunities to connect in identity-based communities.
• Our Visionary Goals process is underway. Training for facilitators will happen this weekend, and you can sign up for sessions that start the week of February 20. You can learn more about this effort on our website.
• The Change Team and Covenant Development Team will both be sharing updates at this month’s board meeting.
• The church has experienced conflict this year, and each time we do, we learn and get better at it. Conflict at church is particularly painful and we wish that it did not occur, but as Rev. Pyle pointed out in his report, it is a normal part of any culture change process. We are heartened by the participation in the different conflict related circles and are grateful for the ongoing opportunities to repair relationships, learn, and grow together. We anticipate a Right Relations Team training with Rev. Pyle later this year in conjunction with teams from Unity Unitarian and White Bear UU Church.
• Regarding our budget, we made substantial progress toward closing the $200K revenue gap that was in the budget the congregation adopted in June 2023. The board and members of the church led an invitation to close the gap and the congregation responded generously, contributing more than $100K. And, based on our projections, we project a deficit of $137K. Closing this gap is far from impossible, and it will require that we come back to the congregation later in the year for additional fundraising.
• Also on the topic of fundraising we shared that in the “peak” pandemic years, we made the decision not to push hard on fundraising because the PPP loan provided some budgetary relief and because we felt we had a responsibility to prioritize caring for people through the pandemic’s financial hardships. We believe that was the right move, but it had unknown costs that are now reflected in our current financial status: the choice to be softer on fundraising meant that we did not hold the kind of 1:1, member to member conversations that are traditionally part of a fundraising campaign. This had a direct financial impact, and also meant that we missed out on important community building work that is a natural part of fundraising.
• One more fundraising related item: we talked about the cycles of fundraising for the remainder of the year:

1. In March, we will launch our annual giving campaign asking the congregation to support next fiscal year’s operating budget. We make these asks in March so that we have a good sense of the revenue for the coming year and can then develop a budget for the congregation’s vote at the June annual meeting.
2. In April/May we will engage the congregation in additional “close the gap” fundraising to close our revenue gap
3. In June, we will vote on our annual budget for our next fiscal year.

• Finally, we shared some highlights of the year’s end:

1. Annual meeting in the beginning of June
2. General Assembly at the end of June, where delegates will be invited to vote on a proposal regarding changing how we understand and articulate our Principles and Sources, and vote on a new president for the UUA.

It is an honor to serve this congregation. If I can be of help or support with any questions or concerns you may have, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, and please do take some time to review the recording from the state of the church meeting.

In faith,

Rev. Arif

Rev. Arif Mamdani
Associate Minister
First Universalist Church of Minneapolis

Visionary Goals Workshops are an invitation to listen together, not only for who we are as a faith community, but who we are becoming. As a congregation we are in a tender place. Envisioning our future is extremely important communal work that asks us to ground ourselves in our values, open our hearts, call upon our wisest selves, and turn our attention to what is moving within, between and beyond us. The Visionary Goals that come out of this process will guide all the work of the church for at least the next five years. Thank you for participating!

Request childcare at firstuniversalistchurch.org/childcare at least one week prior to your workshop.

Sign up for a workshop here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4ea8ad28a1f85-visionary#/

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Feb. 9

The State (and Future) of Our Church

We hope you’ll join us for our annual State of the Church meeting this Sunday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. This mid-year “check-in” will be a multi-platform meeting held in the Sanctuary and live-streamed meeting-style on Zoom, and will include updates from the board and staff on our annual work plan, finances, music ministries, online engagement, the development of a Covenant and Right Relations Team, and our Visionary Goals process. We’ll also be looking ahead to our congregation’s Annual Meeting on June 4 and the upcoming UUA General Assembly which will take place June 21–25, 2023. And perhaps most importantly, we will share invitations to get involved in what’s coming up at church!

Join us at 1 p.m Sunday for the State of the Church meeting in person in the Sanctuary or on Zoom here.

We’re also now at the point of welcoming the whole church community into the important process of Visionary Goals Planning, charting the future of the church for the next five years and beyond, via a series of upcoming workshops.

Last week, church Board leadership along with Laura Park, our consultant in this process, went live on Zoom to share an introduction to the Visionary Goals Planning process. If you missed it, the recording is available here. We highly recommend taking time to listen to board executive team members Daryn Woodson, Rebecca Slaby, Ben Miles, and Matt Keller, along with Rev. Arif Mamdani and Laura Park, share what’s happened in the process so far, why it’s important, and how we hope you’ll be involved.

The church’s Visionary Goals are what the board uses to discern and guide the church’s overall direction. From that, staff use the board’s direction to develop their annual work plan. You’re probably at least somewhat familiar with the Visionary Goals that have been guiding our work for the past five years; you can read them here. It’s normal for churches and organizations to refresh and update their Visionary Goals regularly—often about every five years—and that’s where we’re at now. The First Universalist Board of Trustees has been laying the groundwork for this process in the first half of this church year, and now it’s time to invite the whole congregation to participate in what is next.

As Laura Park shares in the introduction to the process, “These visionary goals that you are going to help your board establish are going to set the very foundation for everything that happens in your church. They are not operational, this is not about the programmatic implementation of these visionary goals, these conversations are really about that highest level articulation of what brings meaning and purpose to your covenanted religious community—what are the shared purposes that we will try to embody together?”

To do this work together, we’re inviting you to participate in one of about a dozen Visionary Goals Workshops that we’ll be holding over the next month and a half. 

In these workshops, we’ll come together to share and to listen to what we long for for our church, for our relationships with each other, and for the impact we have in the larger world, so that our board can help to steward us toward the future that is seeking to emerge from among us. You might imagine this as a figurative vision board that we make together that guides our lives together over the next five years.

Sign up to participate in a workshop here.

We are also still looking for a few volunteers to facilitate some of these workshops. Training is provided and will be happening on Saturday, Feb. 18. If you have an interest in group facilitation and this is a way you can imagine offering your gifts and service to the church, please reach out to Christa Anders for more information.

We hope that you will give generously of your time and your attention by participating in an upcoming workshop with fellow church members and friends, as together we joyfully envision and shape the future of our church.

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Feb. 2

Read this week’s issue of our newsletter here: The Weekly Liberal Jan. 26