Last week I sent out a letter to officially announce that I would be retiring in June 2019, a little over a year from now. My feelings are mixed of course, but as I said in my letter, the time has come. And then setting June 2019 as the date “gives us time and a little freedom and urgency to do governance and transition work to [prepare for and] get ready for an exciting new future. My hope is that this will be a full and important year [in which] we make best use of [the strengths and gifts] we have, to help prepare you [and this congregation] for what you are to become.”
UUFH is going through a time of transition in an age of transition. It feels like we are poised right where we need to be.
In his column in this Beacon, Joe Criscione frames the importance of the upcoming Leadership for the Future workshop with the concept of agility, the ability to respond and adapt to new and unforeseen conditions of a changing world while moving forward and fulfilling our mission.
“The hope is that we will inspire our leaders to serve on the board rather than discourage them with having to “keep the lights-on by committee.”
No kidding. We want an organization that is able to listen and respond, always trying to work with the realities of the present to create opportunities to participate in ways that connect us in and to a deeper, broader sense of meaningful, hopeful belonging to the common good. In a recent reflection I said to imagine a congregation where all ages are seen not as emergent leaders, but as leaders into emergence. We want an organization that is structured to be in ongoing conversation with our changing lives.
The Board realized that “How we are structured may [now] be limiting our ability to think & plan” for such a connected, engaged, emerging future. So they said let’s take this opportunity to do the work to change that. Now is the time to become more agile. It is time to stretch and participate in what you might think of as ongoing organizational yoga.
If you can, please sign up for the Saturday, June 2nd workshop. As Joe says, there will be lunch!
(Also join me and Joe for a discussion about Governance, Transition, and the Workshop after the service on May 20th.)
And then whatever you decide is right for you on June 2nd, look for upcoming opportunities to share your vision and voice so we can be in ongoing conversation with you and your busy lives in this ever-changing world. So that we might all feel more agile, alive, and connected in meaningful, hopeful, belonging to the common good.
— Rev. Jim McKinley, Minister