Everything I Know about Unitarian Universalism, I Learned as Chalice Lighter - Part 3

[Continued from Here.]

The program itself was very simple in idea and execution. It was predicated upon several assumptions I had:

1. Congregations, not individuals, are the focus of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations 
2. Congregations communicating and working together is good.
3. Creativity is good.
4. Enthusiasm is good.
5. I am lazy.

[This last piece was/is important.]

During all of this, a vision of a barn-raising came to me, and it was used in the initial promotions of the New York Metro District's Chalice Lighters Program.

The idea was a simple one: Congregations helping Congregations. 

And it worked like this: About a month before a Chalice Lighters call, congregations would receive a small packet from the district office which contained several pieces of promotional materials about the project and the congregation seeking aide [information put together by the congregation seeking the grant], some clipart for the newsletter, and a letter encouraging people to be creative. That was it. It was up to each congregation's leadership how they would respond to the Chalice Lighters call. 

Some might just give a grant from the congregation, others might hold a special offering, still others would replicate the old Chalice Lighters model of direct mail to their members. The point is it didn't matter. That's Chaos. It's also the only place from whence creativity may arise. Creativity was strongly encouraged and congregations encouraged to rise to the occasion.

Bottom line... it was up to the congregations to decide how to treat fellow congregations. To that end, as much as possible, everything was removed that got in the way of direct communication.

The District Executive loved this approach. Ultimately so did the congregations. And I'm glad because this was designed for the congregations, no one else. 

[Continued... Here.]