Our commitment to uphold our values, as we serve Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair.
Approved by the Board of Trustees 9/15/2020
We the Board of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair (UUCM) covenant to actively and reflectively hold ourselves accountable to this Covenant.
In service to a culture of equity and inclusion:
We will work for equity and inclusion, countering systemic oppression in all we do for UUCM; we will work to overcome historic and institutional white privilege and other forms of structural inequities.
With awareness of the power and privilege that our own intersecting identities provide, we will ensure that no voice is empowered (by inaction or bad action) to silence the voices of others.
We will honor one another in the way their spirit calls – treating with respect and dignity, praying for, or caring for, or treating with respect and dignity, each who has been called to this sacred work.
In service to a culture of courage and spiritual growth:
We will create spaces for individuals to be vulnerable so everyone is able to show up as their authentic self.
We will process disagreement openly, assuming our own, and one another’s, integrity.
We will not avoid challenging conversations because of our discomfort.
We will maintain an openness to learning and a willingness to be changed.
“We will courageously share, and attend to the sharing of others, maintaining an openness to learning and a willingness to be changed.”
We will draw upon the expertise and brilliance of congregational members to help strengthen our understanding and appreciation of others across difference.
In service to a culture of dedication, commitment, and integrity:
We will acknowledge complexity while diligently working toward decisive action.
We will seek transparency, balancing it with any expressed or necessary need for confidentiality.
We will maintain our faithful commitment to UUCM and the task of Board leadership which we have embraced, while also articulating boundaries that ensure our health and the health of our other communities of accountability.
In service to a culture of mutual development:
We will honor and develop our process with as much rigor as we seek our outcomes.
We will pause to acknowledge one another’s truth and we will pause to celebrate one another’s and our shared achievements.