Beth Sandidge, President, Board of Trustees president@westsideuuc.org
Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! ~Sitting Bull
Oh how I enjoy listening to the sounds of this season: birds chirping, insects buzzing, and rain pattering down. The earth is coming alive and it brings refreshment to my heart. I feel that our congregation is pulling through some rough patches and we are heading for smoother sailing. Despite the climate of Westside changing, we may still have some storms to weather.
Important things are happening: voting in our 2015-2016 congregational leadership, revitalizing the membership committee and the dedication of the Linda Lee Kraeger Memorial Brook to name a few. It is important for us to stay engaged in the happenings of Westside. We congregants need each other's supporting to strengthen our church and community. Events that continue to provide for the Westside community include movie nights, lunch bunches, book club, thursday nights with B&G, and the potluck lunch. New events that I have enjoyed participating in included the Mystery Friends, the Passover seder, and the compassionate communications workshops. Additionally, my girls are benefitting from the Coming of Age program, and are excited by the involvement with new youth.
Membership is reviving a system with the leadership of Linda Tyler and support from Linda Scharf, Ellen Greenwood, Brad Kurtz, Kathy Spoon, Nancy Lagow, Chris Edkins, Alice Thornton, myself and Rev. Carol. If you are interested in serving Westside in this capacity, please let one of us know and we will be certain to include more people into supporting the effort of growing our membership and retaining new members.
Our continued knowledge of how we work is good reading. The following link http://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/documents/jonassonstefan/sizeshapegovernance.pdf is helpful in giving an overview of UU congregational models. We are a smaller church, so the numbers dictate how we manage and support each other. Also, our demographics influence what programs we are capable of supporting.
With this renewed push in our membership committee there will be efforts made to increase our numbers. Through an increase in numbers, we may shuffle the demographics. When this happens, the board is ready to provide the support to the committees as needed. As a congregational church, governance is not fixed but fluid to the changes of the congregation. We make every attempt to remain flexible and we work best with your input and collaboration.
If you are interested in more information on small congregation guidelines from the UUA, please see the following http://www.uua.org/governance/286831.shtml.
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson