CENTER News 2005-06 UUMA Continuing Education Network for Training, Enrichment, and Renewal

Featured Chapter Presenters Creating Sexually Healthy UU Communities CENTER Rev. Debra W. Haffner Committee Unitarian Universalist congregations and clergy can be proud of our leader- ship in sexual health and sexual justice issues. But we can do more. Rev. Debra Haffner will tailor a workshop for your chapter on creating sexually healthy faith communities. Three six hour workshops are available: increasing Judy Tomlinson , Chair one’s effectiveness as a sexually healthy religious professional, assessing and Montclair, NY improving the sexual health of the faith community, and keeping children and 973-744-6276 youth safe in congregations, including how to include a sex offender in the [email protected]

congregation. The workshop will include tools to help participants assess Roberta Finkelstein their needs and effective strategies for implementing programs and proce- Arlington, VA dures. The workshops are appropriate for joint UUMA/LREDA. Participants in (703)522-6793 Rev. Haffner’s workshops have called them “Fun, informative, engaging, challenging, and in- [email protected] spirational.” Michelle Bentley, UUA Debra W. Haffner has been a sexologist for more than 30 years, and was ordained as a Unitar- Professional Develop- ian Universalist minister in 2003. She is the co-founder and Director of the Religious Institute ment Director on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, the former President and CEO of the Sexuality Infor- Boston, MA 617-742-2100 mation and Education Council of the U.S., and is the author of the new UUA publication, [email protected] “Balancing Acts: Keeping Children Safe in Congregations”, several chapters in the new UUA “Safe Congregation Handbook”, and “A Time To Build: Creating Sexually Healthy Faith Commu- Wayne Walder, UUMA Exec nities” as well as two award winning books for parents on raising sexually healthy children. Toronto, ON 416-691-3230 [email protected] Leading Transformational Change in UU Congregations Jan Johnson, Walnut Creek, CA Angela Merkert Rev. Ken Brown 925-691-7221 [email protected] The challenges of developing transformational congregations are the focus of this workshop. The foundation of mission/ vision/covenant in congregational life will be addressed, in ad- dition to strategic planning. Assessment of the congregational system, including governance, staffing, organizational struc- tures and worship styles and their alignment with vision will be highlighted. A key component will be focused on making the transitions from the current congregational "state of being" to a more transformational model with planning time to determine next steps in taking this work into the congregation.

Angela Merkert has been the Congregational Services Director in the Central Midwest District for the past five years. She has consulted in UU districts and congregations across the conti- nent, with special emphasis on faith-based growth and leadership development. She has an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and a Master of Theological Studies.

Ken Brown has been a UU minister for 30 years, serving congregations in New England, New York, California, Minnesota, and Washington. He is in his sixth year as the District Executive for the Pacific Southwest District. He has also worked as a growth consultant for the UUA since 1972. [email protected]

The Chapter Presenters Program

A Presenter Program is a 6-12 hour chapter ♦ A number of colleagues offer such workshop for a UUMA chapter meeting ♦ Program and financial details are workshops professionally. You may or retreat. CENTER offers three kinds worked out between the chapter contact Jan Johnson to receive a list of opportunities for the chapters: and the presenter of who is available (comminister Chapter Presenters, Guest Presenters, @mduuc.org / 925-691-7221). If ♦ CENTER reimburses the chapter and and Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression pays the presenter after the you would like to offer such a Multicultural Programming. program is completed and summary workshop, you may contact him to evaluations are returned to CENTER be added to the list. These Chapter Presenters workshops are not sponsored by ♦ Reimbursement for expenses to the CENTER, but the same funding ♦ Chosen from within our collegial presenter is a chapter responsibility assistance applies as it does to ranks and based on identified needs and should be handled with utmost other Chapter Presenters (as long as in ministry dispatch funds are available). ♦ CENTER sponsors individual Chapter Presenters for no more than three Guest Presenters CENTER Subsidies years ♦ When a chapter has an opportunity Contact presenters directly, then contact ♦ Funding available to chapters: up to for a speaker in your area who can Jan Johnson to apply for CENTER $300 toward expense of bringing address your needs (UU colleague or subsidies. Funds are limited. Subsidies are awarded on a first-come-first-served the presenter to the retreat, and up someone from outside our to $500 honorarium for the basis. [email protected] (925-691- movement), CENTER offers the 7221.) presenter same funding assistance as it does ♦ Additional costs are born by the to other presenters. 2005 Chapter Presenters Transforming Congregational Gifts into Mission and Ministry ~ Rev. Roy Reynolds This program can help affirm your congregation’s gifts, empower congregational leaders, and broaden the effectiveness and meaning of liberal religious community. Those shared strengths are the congrega- tion’s gifts, and they form the hub of congregational life. The presentation and group exercises will give clergy and other religious professionals a new tool for leadership. Roy Reynolds served congregations in Virginia and Georgia. Drawing from his former career as an urban planner, has been consulting with congregations in the Mid-South and Districts devel- oping this gifts approach to congregational leadership. 770-455-8125 / [email protected]

Finding a Path to Walk the Talk of Justice-Making ~ Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley and Rev. Dr. Gretchen Woods How do we offer leadership to those who are ready to proceed with the task of becoming an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and multicultural ministry? Gretchen Woods and Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, who have just completed their terms as members of the C.E.N.T.E.R. Committee, will work with chapters as learning communities to sort through the issues, become aware of myriad approaches, and gain familiarity with key resources. Gretchen Woods has been working with these issues since 1963 and is a trained trainer from Diversity Works. Her D. Min. focused on congregations as healthy system. 541-754- 4144 / [email protected] Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley, serving in Tampa, Florida, is a former UUA Adult Programs Director. She is co-editor of Soul Work: Anti-Racist Theologies in Dialogue (Boston: Skinner House, 2003). [email protected]

Continuing Education

Current information on what’s Continuing Education Grants Thanks to the Continuing Education Endowment raised through available for your continuing the UUA’s Handing on the Future campaign, Ministry and Professional Leadership Staff Group education is available from: offers grants for continuing education. Individual grants are available on a matching basis with ♦ www.uuma.org/center one third paid by the minister, another by the congregation or organization, and the third through the grant. Leadership teams planning professional education programs may also apply. A ♦ CENTERfold of the UUMA News maximum of $500 is available to any one participant per year. ♦ Continuing Education sections of the Department of Ministry Packet Send applications to the Office of Professional Development at UUA with a description and objectives of the program, and a breakdown of costs. 2 2005 Chapter Presenters

Living by Heart ~ Dr. Laurel Hallman This workshop is based on a video-conversation between Laurel Hallman and Harry Scholefield on spiri- tual practices for UUs. The workbook designed by Laurel Hallman to accompany the video will be used. The workshop will give you a group experience in a variety of Living by Heart practices, along with guid- ance in leading spiritual groups and retreats in your church and community settings. Laurel Hallman is the Sr. Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. She has been trained in individual and group spiri- tual direction at Shalem Institute. In 2003, she delivered the Berry St. Essay, “Images for our Lives.” 214- 528-3990 / [email protected]

When You Least Expect It...Trauma Response For Ministers And Congregations What do you do when disaster—natural or human made—strikes ? How do you handle the situation, what can you do before hand to mitigate the difficulties, and where can you turn locally and nationally in a cri- sis? Members of the UU Trauma Response Ministry will present what you can do now, and what you can do when crises strike. Disaster preparedness, death notification, spiritual crisis care models, and other trauma ministry related skills will be presented in this interactive workshop. Members are: Kate Bortner, Susan Suchocki Brown, Jan Carlsson-Bull, Dick Leonard, Rosemary Bray McNatt, Joel Miller, Danita Noland, Aaron Payson, and (contact) Lisa Presley 248-446-8155 / [email protected]

Financial Wellbeing for Ministers The purpose of this presentation is to encourage and equip colleagues to address their own financial wellbeing as well as that of our congregations and, through socially responsible finances, the world. A member of the Minister Financial Integrity and Wellbeing Committee will be joined by a fully funded member of UURMAPA to provide inspiration and praxis for ALL levels of financial acumen. Leaders include Paul Johnson, Marni Harmony, Bob Kaufmann, Fred Campbell, Syd- ney Morris, Jim Sherblom, and others continent-wide. Contact: Sydney Morris 715-356-0188 /[email protected]. Ministry as a Spiritual Discipline ~ Rev. Barbara Merritt The professional ministry is often understood as what we, as ministers, have to offer to others. But the practice of religious leadership can also offer important spiritual teachings for the clergy. Ministry has the capacity to teach us humility, trust and patience. It also has the potential to lead us towards arrogance, judgment and isolation. This will be an interactive workshop, using resources from a wide variety of classical spiritual resources including the I Ching, Rumi, the Hassidic tradition and Christian mystics. Barbara Merritt has served our ministry for more than 28 years, twenty as Senior Minister of First Unitarian Church (Second Parish) in Worcester, MA. She holds a M.Div. and STD from Starr King School for the Ministry and an Honorary D.Div. from Assumption College. 508-757-2708 / [email protected] The Human Zoo Re-Visited: Family Systems After Friedman ~ Rev. Kenn Hurto This workshop will renew participant's acquaintance with Bowen Family Systems and provide opportunity to experience updates to the theory, particularly with regard to brain function, beyond what Ed Friedman achieved. The focus will be on anxiety modulation and the role of the leader. Kenn Hurto has served our minstry for over 30 years. Privileged to study directly with Rabbi Dr. Edwin H. Friedman, Kenn is knowledgeable both about our ministry and how families work, with a particular interest in the link between personal soul work and leadership within the chronically anxious system that comprises a church. Among us, he has been member and chair of CENTER committee and Vice-President of the UUMA Exec. He is the newly called minister to the Fort Myers, Florida Unitarian Universalist Church. 941-561- 2700 / [email protected] Issues of Class: Implications for Ministry ~ Rev. Lynn Thomas Strauss How does our socioeconomic background inform our ministries? What class issues go unnamed in UU congregations and in our movement? How many UU families live in secret with drug addiction, relatives in prison, no health insurance, or lack of a financial cushion? Are we truly welcoming of people without college degrees? Are we missing the power of oral culture? Drawing on the work of Tex Sample and radical poets, we will explore our experiences of class and cultural bias through discussion, small group work, and telling our stories. Thus will we begin to celebrate the power of our class diversity. ~ Lynn Thomas Strauss was ordained by Third Unitarian Church, served for 9 years at Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville, TN and is now Associate Minister at River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda, MD. She has an MA in Women's Studies and an M.Div from Meadville/Lombard. 301-229-0400 / [email protected] 3 More on CENTER DAY 2006 CENTER Day 2006 Watch the UUMA News for more information on the Tuesday, June 20, 2006 ~ St. Louis, Missouri 2006 CENTER Day. CENTER will offer worship services and the usual Faith, Trusting Our Own Deepest Experience workshops related to various aspects of ministry, as well as those Sharon Salzberg related to the topic of the day.

During these times of global tension and NOTE the change of day confusion, we need to rely on inner strength and from Wednesday to Tues- on a shared vision of possibility as we seek day. renewed inspiration to create a better world. Sharon Salzberg will explore faith as this source of strength. She talks about faith, not as religious adherence or deference to an external authority, but as trust in our inner capacity for awareness and love, and as recognition of the CENTER interdependence of all of life. Stripping away Publications negative conceptions that dismiss faith as divisive CENTER regularly pub- or requiring blind observance of a belief system, lishes Annotated Re- she shows us in practical ways how to combine source Lists and Practical devotion and the intellect to develop a genuine Wisdom short essays. connection to ourselves and the world. Colleagues, UUA staff, or CENTER Day presenters This talk will be an exploration of the qualities of produce them. If you have trust and faith, and their role in contemporary a bibliography or helpful spiritual life. Meditation practice as well as guides for colleagues, discussion will shape the exploration. contact any member of the CENTER committee.

Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and has been leading Annotated Resource Lists and Practical Wisdom are meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness distributed during CENTER practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness Day and through the and compassion (the Brahma Viharas). She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation C E N T E R w e b s i t e Society in Barre, Massachusetts and The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. www.uuma.org/center

Sharon’s latest book is Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, published by Riverhead Books. She is the author of Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World, by Shambhala Publications; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate (audio), from Sounds True. She has edited Voices of Insight, an anthology of writings by vipassana teachers in the West, also published by Shambhala.

Amy Lent - Design/Layout First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, NY Rev. Sam Trumbore - Editor First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, NY Printed on recycled paper 4