In the spring of 2023, our first year of shared ministry together, we held a series of Community Conversations. It was my hope to hear from a wide swath of the congregation about the hopes you had for the future of our congregation. I recognized we were not quite ready for a full strategic planning process at that time, and I still wanted to be guided by listening to your sense of what would enhance our collective ministries – our worship, learning programs, social justice engagement, caring ministries, social activities, facilities and more.
One of the major themes that emerged was a desire for more chances to get to know others and to be known by them. People shared a hope for more community building, including hosting meals together, creating more small group interactions, and better processes for welcoming newcomers. This helped anchor a number of decisions and programs over the last three years. Here are some examples:
• We hired a membership engagement coordinator, Jen Thomas. She is now our Director of Congregational Life.
• We launched our Pancake Breakfasts (1st Sundays), Souper Second Sundays, and Summer Picnics.
• We have held community circles/ covenant groups and started to expand our adult programs.
• We have hosted welcome circles in our sanctuary on most weeks and a monthly first steps class most months to help newcomers find out how to get connected and how to join.
There is always more we can do, and we will. However, let us also celebrate what our ministries staff and volunteers have done together. We listened to one another and heard there was a clear spark of interest in community building as a priority. Then, we followed up with action. We allocated staff and volunteer energy, planning, time, and talent to develop meaningful ways to get to know each other and to socialize with each other.
In the last program year, we began to discuss and prepare ourselves for a more formal strategic planning process. We even had the opportunity to begin to engage with some leaders, volunteers, and members around identifying our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. That has helped to inform staff searches in the last few months as well as administrative and program activities this fall.
We are now ready to move forward with a more formal Strategic Planning process. We are working with a consultant, Larry Peers, who has helped many congregations to articulate a vision and to design the future (www.lawrencepeers.com). He met with our newly formed steering committee for strategic planning at the end of August to orient us to a process that has yielded successful plans for others within Unitarian Universalism and beyond. The Steering Committee members for Strategic Planning, which will work as Assistant Facilitators of the process with Larry Peers are: Rev. Alison Miller, Jen Thomas, Ameena A-M, Jacquelyn A., Josh R., Julia G. (Board), Katy M-B, Kelly S., Michael M., Mindy C., Pat M., and Theo H.
Our theme for this process is “Transforming Tomorrow Together.” On October 16 & 17 and then again on October 23 & 24, we will hold two summits with a cross section of our congregation made up of people coming from differing demographics and who are active in different parts of our community. Why two summits? The method called for 80 people at the summit, and we wanted to make room for 160 people given that we are larger than most congregations.
Then, following these summits we will host Action Planning Groups and Innovation Planning Groups who will meet a couple of times between the last couple of months of 2026 and the first couple of months of 2027 to articulate plans. Then, we will be creating a cohesive, coordinated plan along with a five-year vision for our congregation to embrace. Finally, we will work together to follow through and make things happen, which will help us to move forward as a community in meaningful ways.
There will be a chance for anyone who wants to participate to join in somewhere during the whole process. Let us know if you would like to participate by emailing: StrategicPlanning@firstunitarianportland.org
May we grow together in hope and spirit, community, and impact through all we do together.
In faith,
Rev. Alison