Encouraging Stewardship

You will have a visitor this month! No, this is not a cheesy horoscope or a fortune cookie, but an actual prediction. This visitor will meet you at your door, or at the local coffee shop, or maybe for breakfast or lunch. Whereever you meet I hope you will welcome this visitor:  your personal Visiting Steward.

One of this year's goals is to move from the idea of simply canvassing to the concept of Stewardship; the growing, nurturing, promoting and building of our gifts, which include our aptitudes, our abilities, and yes, our money. Why the language change?  As we strive to redefine our congregation as moving from scarcity towards abundance, this new language will help us understand that we can free ourselves from limitations and embrace new possibilities.

These visiting stewards are fellow congregants who have agreed to visit with you to talk about the mission of NUUC, to exchange stories about your relationships with this community, and to talk about what we receive from NUUC in spirit, in friendships, and more. Together you will discuss what gifts of aptitude, ability and money we can share.  Your gifts, no matter what they are, are essential in strengthening our congregation, our UU movement, and our world.

This leads to the question: just how much money do we need to give, can we give, should we give to NUUC? Some faith communities advocate tithing, the ancient Judeo-Christian concept of giving away 10% of one's income. Even today, a growing number of religious liberals have taken to tithing as a voluntary spiritual practice. The UUA has developed a Fair-Share Giving Guide which simply suggests that we identify in our hearts and minds what our community means to us and that we make a financial commitment based on a percentage of our income. Certainly we may not all choose to tithe, or even be able to give as much as we would like. But we can put in action our own covenant to ourselves to set a financial goal and work towards it each year.

I certainly hope my prediction comes true – that you receive a visitor at your door this month. I also hope you will welcome this visitor into your home and heart and share with them your reasons for being a member of this community. And finally I hope you will give generously and joyfully to support all that we are and all that we do.

In faith and stewardship,
Sarabeth Mahusky-Petras

NUUC to Form 2007-08 Covenant Groups

As has been our past practice, NUUC will again form Covenant Groups which will begin meeting later this fall.

Why Covenant Groups?
In the recent study of our congregation completed by the Learning Team, we discovered that the feeling of small group connection is something that most members and friends of North Unitarian Universalist Congregation hold dear.

Covenant Groups help us continue to achieve such an experience for our members even as our congregation grows. Covenant Groups are of central relevance to both our congregation’s mission and the covenant we share.

What are the Goals of the Covenant Groups?
*To provide regular opportunities for church members and friends to lift up their spiritual horizons from the mundane considerations of day to day life. Covenant groups allow people to explore topics of ultimate concern and interest in a more participatory and proactive way than Sunday worship alone can allow.

*In the context of carefully led small groups, people get to know and be known by up to ten other church members or friends.

What is the "Covenant" part of this?
Group members enter into a covenant of their own making, often involving commitments to arrive on time, listen deeply, share honestly, respect one another's views and make meeting attendance a priority. In the long tradition of our UU heritage, groups will also explore covenants made with the congregation and with the community.

How does it all work?
Groups of up to ten people meet a minimum of once a month at members’ homes or at the church. All groups are led by trained facilitators under the ultimate direction of the minister, and use a regular format. A typical session includes opening words, a personal check-in, topic exploration and discussion, personal reactions, and closing words. Covenant Groups will always be open to new members, and are organized on the basis of time availability only. Groups will dissolve and reform after nine months’ time.

How do I sign up?
Complete the Registration form and return it to the church office by October 14, 2007 for the initial formation of groups.  You can pick up a brochure at the Greeter’s Desk at church.  Groups will welcome new members at any point in the year; simply indicate your interest by returning the form at any time. 

“Empty Bowls” to Fight Hunger on October 27

The Social Action Committee will again be participating in Empty Bowls on Saturday, October 27 from 11:00am-2:00pm in Fellowship Hall. What is Empty Bowls? In 1990, a high school art teacher in Michigan helped his students raise funds to support a food drive. What evolved was a class project to make ceramic bowls for a fundraising meal. Guests were served a simple meal of soup and bread and were invited to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world. Since then Empty Bowls has developed into a successful program that provides support for foodbanks, soup kitchens and other organizations that fight hunger. In Columbus the proceeds from the day's event will benefit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank supplies food items to over 550 hunger-relief charities in 20 Central and Eastern Ohio counties. In the past the Mid-Ohio Foodbank has distributed over 26.2 million pounds of food a year. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank depends on our support in order to fight hunger. Without programs like Empty Bowls that help draw awareness about the plight of hunger in our cities, the Mid-Ohio Foodbank would not be able to provide food to cover the 33,000 meals a day that are needed to feed Central Ohioans. Every $100 our congregation raises for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, equals $1,000 in food donation. The Social Action Committee is asking you to join us in Fellowship Hall on Saturday, October 27th for this important fund raiser.

What better way to spend a cool autumn afternoon than enjoying a steaming bowl of homemade soup with your fellow UU's, served in one of the many bowls made by our own NUUC children earlier this year? The conversation is lively, and you get to take home a beautiful hand-crafted bowl made by a child to help fight against hunger. A sign-up sheet is posted in Fellowship Hall—we need volunteers to make soup, help set up, run the soup line, and to help clean up. For more information, please contact any Social Action Committee member or project coordinator Tracy Steinbrenner at 614-885-0324 or tsteinbr@columbus.rr.com.

P.S. This year it will be a one-day event. We will not be selling extra soup the following Sunday, so don’t miss out!

“We walk because they walk.”

When: Sunday, October 7, 2007
Time: 2:00pm (registration at 1:30 pm)
Where: Hamilton Williams Building at Ohio Wesleyan, downtown Delaware

Who are the “they” in the CROP WALK motto? They are 852 million people who go to bed hungry every night.

Again, our congregation will participate in CROP WALK with Delaware County. The event is scheduled for Oct. 7^th at 2 pm. The route will be the same as in years past. We will start at the Hamilton Williams Building at Ohio Wesleyan and end at the First Presbyterian Church.

If you would like to participate in the walk please register on the sign-up sheet in Fellowship Hall. You will receive your “fund raising” package from Yvonne Clippinger or Launia White during the month of September. If you are unable to walk but would like to donate to this cause please see Yvonne or Launia or any member of our congregation who will be participating.

Not only do proceeds go to Third World Countries, but up to 25% of what our CROP WALK raises can assist food banks, pantries, community gardens, and other hunger-fighting programs in our own cities and towns.

Please direct questions to Social Action Committee co-chairs Yvonne Clippinger at yclippin@columbus.rr.com or Launia White at launia@columbus.rr.com.