...Meaningful change is hard, especially as it relates to identity and power. It raises essential questions about whose voices are heard, who is asked to take risks, how we negotiate our relationships, and what our priorities are as a community. False divisions like “political correctness” versus “inclusive speech,” or the question of whether to focus critiques inward in our communities versus outward toward the world, distract from the core calling of our faith to move toward equity and compassion in every way.
—September 2019 letter to congregations from leaders of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Allies for Racial Equity, Association of Unitarian Universalist Administrators, Association for Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries, Diverse & Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries, Liberal Religious Educators Association, Transgender Religious Professional Unitarian Universalists Together, and Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association

Make plans with other members of the congregation’s leadership team to follow up on ideas that emerged from examining the congregation’s challenges from a systems point of view.

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Resources that informed this workshop may enhance your congregation’s leadership library:

• adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (AK Press, 2017)
• Nancy McDonald Ladd, After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism (Skinner House Books, 2019)
• Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (Sustainability Institute, 2008)
• UUA Congregational Life Staff Group, The Congregational Handbook (Unitarian Universalist Association)
• Margaret J. Wheatley (website)