Stewardship: Paying Our Way

We’ve benefited from the UUA’s services directly: during the transition after Tom Shade’s retirement, in the search for our Director of Faith Development, and from a number of materials including our Hymnals and publications from Beacon Press.  Many of our church leaders and members participate in UUA programs that are vital to our church community. --Jesse Anderson

One of our goals in this year’s pledge campaign is to reach a point where we can pay our UUA and New England Region dues, currently $60 and $19 per registered member respectively.  At First Unitarian Church we are used to thinking of “pledging units” or households, but UUA dues are on a per-member basis, so dues for one of our typical pledging units is $158 in 2017.

I’m often asked, “Aside from a copy of the UU World, what do we get for our money?  We have so many things we should be spending it on in our own community!”  To answer, I need to talk a little about American Unitarianism in general, as well as our church and the UUA.

Unitarian churches practice Congregational Polity - if you’ve been to one of our Annual Meetings, you’ve seen this in practice.  Unlike many denominations, the highest organizational body for the church is the church itself.

The UUA exists as a voluntary membership organization, providing resources and facilities that would be hard to organize on a local level.  A good example is the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).  Originally a “Radio Church,” the CLF exists as a means for isolated UUs in areas without UU churches to get RE material and participate remotely in worship services.

We’ve benefited from the UUA’s services directly: during the transition after Tom Shade’s retirement, in the search for our Director of Faith Development, and from a number of materials including our Hymnals and publications from Beacon Press.  Many of our church leaders and members participate in UUA programs that are vital to our church community but are largely invisible to most of our members.

Our congregation has a long and complex relationship with the UUA.  Aaron Bancroft, our first minister, thought that aide from the external association between ministers, relationships within individual churches was all that was needed and fought against the formation of the American Unitarian Association in 1825. Ironically, he was elected its first president and as far as we can tell accepted the responsibility and served ably.

Maybe this is a lesson for us - within the wider denomination, we are considered a large, well respected church, even if we haven’t recently had much direct involvement.  By paying our way, we can help the denomination expand the reach of our liberal religion, assist congregations in need, and give existing congregations the resources they need to prosper.

Please consider increasing your pledge to help us achieve this and all of our Stewardship goals!