Congregational Partnership Covenant
Thanks to our Partner Congregations!
Northshore Unitarian Universalist (Danvers)
"Our congregation's partnership with UU Mass Action has contributed greatly to the strength and reach of our social justice program." Alan L, Arlington
At UU Mass Action, we know we are stronger together: stronger when congregations collaborate; stronger when congregations have support, guidance, and training; and stronger when we are partnering with statewide organizations and movements led by those most impacted.
We also know that in these challenging times, UU congregations have a critical role to play in our social justice movements. Lay leaders, ministers, and congregants are regularly discerning how to live out our UU values and best show up powerfully and strategically to have an impact.
To support your congregation in this journey, we invite you to partner with UU Mass Action to support your emerging social justice work, deepen your existing commitment, or anything in between. See below for some FAQs. If you have more questions or are ready to move forward, please email jmurphy@uumassaction.org.
Frequestly Asked Questions:
Q: Who is UU Mass Action and why should we partner?
Since 2006, UU Mass Action has been organizing and mobilizing more than 100 congregations in Massachusetts to confront oppression in solidarity with our frontline partners. We are the only statewide UU organization dedicated to community organizing UU congregations to support social justice in MA. We support congregational leaders in being effective and strategic in their justice work, to support them in building power with our frontline partners and each other instead of acting in silos.
Becoming a UU Mass Action Partner congregation allows congregations to formalize our partnership, and be more intentional about the ways we are support each other in living out our values.
Q: What kind of congregations is this for?
A: This is for any UU congregation looking to deepen and be more intentional about your commitment to social justice.
This could mean you are just getting started in thinking about how to best organize your congregation for social justice. It could mean you have never worked with or heard of UU Mass Action, and are looking for directions and opportunities to plug in. We are able to guide you with ways to get connected, provide trainings and opportunities, and more tailored ways to support your work.
This could *also* mean you have been involved with UU Mass Action for years, have thriving social action teams, and want to be more intentional and thoughtful about our relationship. We’ve had high success formalizing partnerships with congregations in this category, as it allows us to build a more institutional relationship, and be more intentional about how we can deepen the ways we are supporting each other.
Or, you might be in between these extremes and curious what a partnership might offer you! Wherever you are, UU Mass Action will tailor our partnership with you to fit your needs and interests, meet you and your congregation where we are at, and channel your interests and energy into powerful campaigns led by our partners.
Q: What will we get out of this? What are the requirements from us?
A: We see this as a partnership, and as such we will work with you to create a covenant that feels right for you and for us. We know you are likely already so busy, and we don’t want to add a lot more work to either of us. Our goals are to find the opportunities where our organizing and your interests align so we can be committing to working together in ways to support our existing work and capacity, and deepening our impact together.
Becoming a Partner means we will have conversations to determine if there are any others ways we can support each other. You can see our standard covenant here as a starting point for possibly commitments and benefits for our Congregational Partners, but we tailor each covenant to each congregation based on your interests.
What is the process for becoming a Partner Congregation?
For UU Mass Action, congregations are officially Partner Congregations when UU Mass Action staff have had a meeting with leader/s representing the congregation to review what you want in your Partnership Covenant, and that is reviewed and signed (or on its way to being so).
However, each congregation has their own decision making processes, and we recognize there is no one size fits all. Some congregations use the process of becoming a partner to get more visibility for UU Mass Action to their congregation. This could look like having UU Mass Action staff present to your board, meet with your minister, or come and preach. It could mean that you are tabling asking people about what they know about UU Mass Action and asking for input about becoming a partner. It could be that once share the opportunity with your minister or board, they are super excited and ready to have the covenant conversation without any intermediary steps.
We trust you to figure out what is right for your congregation. As a first step, we encourage you to reach out to Rev Jo at jmurphy@uumassaction.org to strategize together about how to bring this idea to your congregation.
How do I get started?
Email Rev Jo Murphy at jmurphy@uumassaction.org to schedule a conversation!
What is the financial commitment?
**We don’t want money to be a barrier to being a partner. If you want to be a partner and the main barrier is funding, we still want you to become a partner! We truly mean this!**
The work we do with leaders across congregations makes the UU voice for justice stronger, both within and outside of their congregations. We do not charge for our trainings or programs, while other programs that do similar social justice leadership development work can cost thousands of dollars. In recognition of the value add that we provide to UU leaders across congregations, we invite your congregation to financially support the time and energy it takes to do our work well. The congregational gift is on a sliding scale based on your capacity, with the *recommendation* below.
These are just recommendations - if you cannot contribute at the level below, we still want you to be a partner with whatever gift, if any, you are able to commit to. Please feel free to reach out to us for further discussion.
