The TJMC Social Action Council had a special meeting on April 10th to discuss what Social Justice means to congregants within TJMC and what the Council might do to help this vision come to fruition. Erik Wikstrom, our minister, was in attendance and acted as our moderator.
Erik began by noting that the current TJMC Church vision states that we support programs that promote equity and end oppression. He also provided what he thought were the basic three models currently being used within UU churches for social action:
- (#1) the church budget includes funding for social action outreach (usually 10% or more of the total budget) and the congregation then votes on how these funds will be used.
- (#2) the SAC validates outside social justice requests supported by a specified number of congregants and then has special collections at set intervals to support these requests.
- (#3) the church decides upon a limited number of outreach projects that require congregational effort (i.e. labor) that goes beyond the model of only collecting funds.
A very spirited and productive discussion ensued. It was pretty much agreed that it would be difficult to fault the existing vision but it was also agreed that the vision lacked any statement that required specific commitments be they monetary or sweat equity. There was also a fairly broad consensus that TJMC currently embraces model number two with a slight variation borrowed from model three. That is, we have twelve scheduled collections yearly that are selected from applications submitted by congregants on behalf of outside causes based upon criteria established by the SAC and approved within the church Policy Manual. A few of these efforts also include significant congregational labor commitments as well but none are specifically voted upon or approved by the entire congregation. (IMPACT is an exception to this entire process since a past minister requested and received an annual monetary commitment to this effort that comes directly from the church budget.)
A number of themes surfaced during our dialogue. One of them is what a social justice vision should be. Concern was expressed that TJMC is very good at creating visions writ large but not very good when it comes to their implementation should they require significant or extended time commitments. A real fear expressed by participants was that many of TJMC’s social justice efforts are supported by only a few members that have been engaged for long periods of time. We do not seem to do well at succession planning nor are we very successful in engaging new members in these endeavors.
Another problem that was raised involved how our social justice efforts are brought to the attention of the congregation and whether they are, in fact, really supported by the majority of our members.
It was also pointed out that outside individuals are allocated time at one service each month to describe their charity’s efforts on behalf of the larger outside community prior to a collection on their behalf, but that no time is routinely set aside to talk about social justice efforts internal to the church that are not included in the twelve monthly collections. One person even asked, “why not have someone talk for a minute or two each Sunday on social justice in lieu of having board members make announcements?”
Self assessment was also brought up as being a real problem. It was observed that once something is begun it rarely stops unless those who began it lose interest. SAC does evaluate whether a proposed charity is legitimate and has valid goals but there is no mechanism that decides whether the money collected or the labor provided has had any real success in ameliorating the societal ills that were targeted. There is also no mechanism that enable the SAC to get an idea of whether the majority of TJMC members actually support ongoing or proposed efforts and collections.
Inclusion was also discussed. That is, who is really involved in social justice within TJMC? There is a brochure that delineates who is on the SAC and what they are doing but it says nothing about the vision of the council nor does it solicit ideas about new initiatives. Some thought that this might actually discourage new members from joining since there is an inference that only those interested in ongoing efforts were welcome. The question was also raised as to whether uninvolved current church members are ever encouraged to bring their ideas and talents to the table? One person even suggested that we might have a TIME pledge drive in the fall similar to our money pledge drive in the spring. Testimonials similar to the monetary pledge drive could even be given from the pulpit.
The consensus of those who participated in this dialogue was that social justice is alive and well within TJMC but is largely dependent on a limited number of members who are pretty much “self selected”. We support both local and UUA sponsored international causes and have very significant collaboration with PACEM, IMPACT and the local food bank. Our vision is very synoptic and has no real milestones.
It was decided that we need to engage in further discussion of this topic, including a broader cross section of the congregation. Accordingly, it was decided to begin a short series of SAC meetings (one or two) that are outside of the administrative mainstream to address how TJMC might better accomplish its social justice mission. The first of these meetings will probably be held in June of this year and the entire congregation will be invited. An agenda will be published in the June newsletter.
It was also agreed that the SAC will begin its fall program in September with an all-church pot luck celebration to both thank those who are currently active in this important work and to also report their successes to the rest of the church congregants.
All in all, a wonderfully spirited and productive meeting.