Startup workshop with Rev. Sunshine Wolfe

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March 24, 2022

Over the course of several weeks in January our congregation took part in a New Ministry Start-Up Retreat led by Reverend Sunshine Wolfe from the UUA. Members, Friends, Church Leaders, Board, and Staff were invited to participate in sessions that provided a time to give thought to what is important to us and how we will all work together to ensure that our new ministry will start well. We are sharing some of the insights, takeaways, and best practices learned from the retreat.  

Rev. Walker and the Board of Trustees 

During the retreat, groups used a “RACI” analysis tool which helps users clarify roles and responsibilities. A RACI chart defines whether the people involved in a project or activity will be Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed for a specific task, project or decision. 

Responsible The person who actually carries out the process or task assignment Responsible for getting the job done 
Accountable The person who is ultimately accountable for process or task being completed appropriately Responsible person(s) are accountable to this person 
Consulted People who are not directly involved with carrying out the task, but who are consulted May be stakeholder or subject matter expert 
Informed Those who receive output from the process or task, or who have a need to stay informed  

 
Using a RACI chart to map roles and responsibilities for a project helps eliminate confusion and answer the important question, “Who’s doing what?”  
 
Through the RACI lens, we looked at committees and areas of activities at First Unitarian Church including worship, social justice, stewardship, finances, Share the Plate, pastoral care, communications, and personnel. Creating RACI charts with leaders allows us to build shared understandings, and can bring our role conceptions, expectations, and behavior closer together. 

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Notes 

Church Members: Expectations 

Ten breakouts described the impossible job.  But able to distill down to reasonable summary: 

Pastoral Care 

Educator 

Community in-reach 

Community out-reach 

Offers spiritual opportunities 

Encourages church membership 

Authentic relationship in times of conflict 

Lead social justice 

Engages different theologies 

Delivers stimulating sermons 

Leads community building 

Good administrator 

Management 

Warm/loving presence in the community 

Inspires 

Leads 

Listen, know and hear us 

Unifying force for and in our congregation 

Then broke into Groups to talk about rules, stories, traditions, and truths.  

Summary:  

•Group 1, 2,3: The Keepers of the Rules 

Your job is to talk about the unwritten rules of the congregation.  For example, in some congregations, you don’t use God-language openly.  In some others, you do.  In some congregations, it’s ok to wear t-shirts and shorts to worship, and in others, it’s not.  What unwritten and unspoken rules does the congregation have? 

•Group 4,5,6: The Tellers of the Stories 

Your job is to identify the stories that people tell in the congregation that are still influencing the present.  Not every story – only those that are alive now.  

•Group 7.8: The Guardians of the Traditions 

Your job is to identify the things that might be described as “sacred cows.”  These are ways that you do things that are inviolable – that in fact, if you were to get up and advocate for a change in one of them, you’d probably get criticized in some way.  In some congregations, this might be trying to eliminate or change joys & concerns; in others, it might be the yearly unrehearsed Christmas pageant or putting up an artificial tree. 

•Group 9.10: The Speakers of the Truth 

Your job is to say the things that no-‐one else will say but that everyone knows. 

Church Leaders: Best Practices and Highlights 

  • What can the minister do to support our work?  
  • Supporting/facilitating communication- helping us communicate with each other- especially between leaders 
  • Be responsive and consistent in communications – answer emails, calls, promptly.  Responsive and accessible.  Can reach out to the minister.   
  • Be respectful and make people feel heard and part of things. 
  • Promote unity despite differences.  Remind us that we are a community with shared values, even if we disagree about details. 
  • Challenge, support, and unite our church community to make a difference. 
  • Be honest and authentic with people about whether they should be doing certain things and offering support. 
  • Hope that minister is in tuned to emotional needs of lay leaders as well as the congregation 
  • Honesty about good and bad, and opportunities for improvement  
  • What is one thing that could make it complicated or messier? 
  • If she steps away from leaning into conflict (which we were excited about)- and go from a mediator to a divisive force 
  • Leaving us out of the loop on decisions that impact our work/contributions we’ve made 
  • Not respecting lay leader roles and going over them, not having lay leaders backs, micro-managing 
  • Emphasizing the views of one group in the congregation without acknowledging full spectrum of diversity 
  • Triangulate. Take sides. 
  • Getting in the way … not allowing groups to be self-directing. 
  • Avoiding conflict – need to confront conflicts in a non-aggressive manner and help congregants understand how to do that. 
  • Not Abide by UUMA code of conduct 
  • What is your vision for your work? 
     
  • Reimagining stewardship in order to reconnect and grow 
  • Promote deeper engagement both between members of the congregation and with the community 
  • “Move the needle” – make things better, to have spiritual home and healthy environment for all  
  • Be helpful, productive member of the community, both inward and outward facing. 
  • Do the work according to our common church mission. 
  • Along with the minister, be a leader of other groups both within the church in the community. 
  • Empower and encourage congregants to bring their best talents to service with understanding that there are times when life issues will get in the way and there is no judgement of that. 
  • LRED – to cultivate a culture in which congregants feel confident talking about and expressing their beliefs and convictions; empower congregants and staff 

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RACI: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed 

 A “RACI” analysis is a simple analytical practice used in organizations to help make roles and responsibilities clear.  The essence is that you take the basic tasks of congregational life, and for each one you identify which role is:  

Responsible The person who actually carries out the           process or task assignment Responsible to get the job done 
Accountable The person who is ultimately accountable for           process or task being completed           appropriately Responsible person(s) are accountable to this           person 
Consulted People who are not directly involved with           carrying out the task, but who are           consulted May be stakeholders or subject matter expert 
Informed Those who receive output from the process or           task, or who have a need to stay informed  

In practice, most congregational work is done in partnership between the minister, the staff, the congregation, and the leadership.  But there’s often confusion and a difference between: 

  • Role Conception: what leaders understand their own jobs to be. 
  • Role Expectation: what others expect about who does what and how things get done. 
  • Role Behavior: the way jobs actually get done, regardless of what’s on paper. 

Creating RACI charts with leaders can build shared understandings, and can bring our role conceptions, expectations, and behavior closer together. 

Through the RACI lens looked at worship, social justice, stewardship, finances, Share the Plate, Pastoral Care and Communications, personnel among other areas.