Minister's Musing

Rev. Mark Ward
Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville

April 2009

You’ll see a notice this month from the strategic planning committee about its activities these days. I’ve been sitting in on that committee’s meetings, and I wanted to add my voice to the committee’s report. You’ll recall that we began this process almost three years ago when the board appointed the committee to collect information about our congregation and the Asheville area, identify strategic issues facing the church and options for dealing with those issues and come up with practical recommendations for action.

The committee spent its first year deciding on a process for its work and organizing ways to gather information. It convened about a dozen cottage meetings where members listened to your ideas about what worked best in this church and what directions we would like to go in the future. About six months later at a worship service, the committee presented what it had distilled from all those sessions: that we as a congregation support spiritual exploration and moral development; that we foster diverse and meaningful relationships here and in the larger community; and that we seek a sustainable, just and peaceful world. We said we would do all that by being a generous and caring congregation that supports excellent worship and programming, that we would maintain a campus and staffing that meet our needs, and that we communicate well and develop and maintain a vision carried out by our board.

In assessing the work to be done to accomplish all this, the committee reported at the last annual meeting that space constrictions were limiting us. Shortly afterward, the church learned that 1 Sunset Parkway might be available for purchase. We investigated the building and found that it appeared to meet our needs and so made a provisional offer. But the declining economy made that option no longer viable, and so the church withdrew the offer. Since the board’s action, the committee has regrouped. One part of the group has taken up the committee’s original charge of creating a plan to meet the needs identified earlier, especially for programming and staff. Another part has returned to the task of looking at our physical limitations. It realized that there is a strong consensus in the congregation for the church to remain at this site, so it recommended that the board declare our intention to remain here, and members have begun exploring options to expand our facility at this site. Our hope is that the first group will have a plan to recommend at the annual meeting and the second group will provide an update on our facility.

This is complicated, time-consuming work, made all the more challenging by the present state of the economy. Yet, it is also good work. We are learning a lot about our hopes and needs and helping the church refine its goals and refocus its mission. We have come to the point where it is time to set our next goal and design the strategy needed to achieve it. It is exciting to watch this process at work, and I am proud of the talented and committed people who are engaged in it.