Robyn Newton and catharine strickland, UUs of the Salish Sea

Anonymous leaders of QUUeer Connecting

Liz James from Mirth and Dignity,  and 

Reverend Wendy Luella Perkins, founder of Soulful Singing.

Peter Scales at First Unitarian Church of Victoria 

Jim Sannes and Ellen Papenburg from Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ)

Reverend Danie Webber, CUC Youth and Young Adult programming staff 

Camellia Jahanshahi,  Rising Together host 

Z Brimacombe from Loving Justice group

Brenagh Rappaport, host of Gathered Here

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

Reflect on your UU Expression(s). What are you doing that is so engaging that it gives you goosebumps? In what ways, if any, do you have your ladder up the wrong metaphorical building?

How could UU membership work locally, regionally, and nationally if congregational involvement was no longer the only measure of engagement?

What possibilities come to mind when you consider Rev. Danie Webber's question, "What if we started shifting how we define a religious professional?"

Ellen Papenburg said, "It [the state of UUism in Canada] is not without hope." What gives you hope to continue during this period of change and transition?

Thanks to the internet, UUism in Canada is not limited to borders, oceans, and any other form of geography. Wendy Luella's Soulful Singing is an example of a Canadian UU expression reaching across the globe. What different types of goosebump ideas can you dream up for how we can use the internet to open new doors? 

What if we rebranded ourselves to make multi-expressions and co-creating a celebrated part of UUism? How would that feel? 

As Rev. Danie Webber said, "It is a practice to be Unitarian Universalist. You have to practice these principles. You have to engage and participate in discovering what your community will look like." Having learned more about the state of UUism in Canada through this docuseries, how will you engage and participate in co-creating what your UU community will be like?

Consider the writing "The Church of Our Imagination". When you imagine different types of UU expressions, what images engage you so profoundly that they give you goosebumps?

⁠About the Canadian Unitarian Council⁠ (Retrieved October 7, 2024)

⁠CUC- Governance and Management⁠ (Retrieved October 7, 2024)

Rev Anne Barker, Rev Linda Thompson, CUC staff, Congregational Life

catherine strickland, Robyn Newton, UU's of the Salish Sea in British Columbia

Claire Heistek, Le rassamblement unitarien universaliste d'Ottawa

Anonymous leaders of QUUeer Connecting

Liz James from Mirth and Dignity

Reverend Wendy Luella Perkins, founder of Soulful Singing.

⁠Unitarian Universalist of the Salish Sea⁠

⁠Heartwood House⁠ - The organization the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa have a partnership with.

⁠Soulful Singing⁠ - Rev. Wendy Luella Perkin's online singing ministry

⁠Unitarian Universalist Hysterical Society⁠ (Retrieved Sept. 11/24).

⁠Le rassamblement unitarien universaliste d'Ottawa⁠ (at The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa)

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

Rev Wendy Luella Perkins, Founder of Soulful Singing

Kayoki Whiteduck and Lynn Kofmel-Preston from Ajaski Project (Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship)

Yvette Salinas (Executive Director) and Joanna Barrington (Camp Director), Unicamp, Ontario

Karen Dunk Green, Lay Chaplain, Toronto

Wendy Luella Perkins challenges us to consider the "deep whys" behind our actions as Unitarian Universalists. What are your UU group's "deep whys" for the various actions you initiate together?

What feelings and thoughts arise in you in response to Anne Barker's observation,  "...the reliance on volunteers and not paying fair wages to humans makes it hard to keep something vital"?

What beliefs do you hold about volunteerism within spiritual communities? Where did those beliefs originate?

What beliefs do you hold about paying people to work for a spiritual community? Where did those beliefs originate?

What thoughts, feelings, and questions arise when you imagine UU's creating good-paying jobs to express social justice? 

Besides weddings and ceremonies, what other types of social enterprises might UU's be well positioned to co-create? Consider the needs in your area, your UU group's assets and talents, and the things that make your heart sing.

What type of CUC membership and services could benefit UU groups engaged in community-based ministry? 

Karen Dunk-Green ended the episode by suggesting we need to be willing to invest upfront, believing that what we're offering up to the world is truly of value and will make its way back to us in a way that will matter. What are some courageous offerings your UU community could make that have value within the community at large?

⁠Lay Chaplaincy⁠- Canadian Unitarian Council

⁠Shawn Loney⁠- Social Entrepreneur that Anne Barker mentions.

⁠Ajashki Project ⁠ at Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship

⁠Soulful Singing⁠ - Rev. Wendy Luella Perkin's online singing ministry

⁠Uni-Camp of Ontario

Liz James from Mirth and Dignity

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

Kayoki Whiteduck and Lynn Kofmel-Preston from Ajaski Project (Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship)

Yvette Salinas (Executive Director) and Joanna Barrington (Camp Director), Unicamp, Ontario

Karen Dunk Green, Lay Chaplain, Toronto

Rev Wendy Luella Perkins, Founder of Soulful Singing

What beliefs do you have about money? Where do these beliefs originate from? Are they true? How do you know?

In what ways do your beliefs about money influence how you approach financial sustainability within your UU community?

Reverend Linda Thomson observed that some UU communities are approaching outreach as a recruitment project to find more people to make financial donations. She suggested this comes from a place of fear and vulnerability. In what ways, if any, is this showing up in your UU community?

Choose one limiting belief you have about money. If you were to change or release it, what impact could it have?

Liz James spoke about how Mirth and Dignity and the Hysterical Society limit the amount of money people can donate to limit the amount of privilege and influence people get to have on the work they do. This limits financial bullying. What thoughts and feelings come up for you when you hear this strategy? 

In what ways, if any, does financial bullying happen within your UU community or initiative? What strategies could you use to address this?

What thoughts and feelings arise when you think of money as energy?

In what ways could UU positively impact "the system" by embracing our place within it more fully and consciously?

 ⁠Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed⁠ - book mentioned by Erin

⁠The System⁠- Wikipedia 

⁠The System⁠ - Oxford Dictionary

⁠Ajashki Project ⁠ at Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship

⁠Unitarian Shelter⁠- Founded by Nanaimo Unitarian Fellowship; now run by Nanaimo Family Life Association

⁠Lay Chaplaincy⁠- Canadian Unitarian Council

⁠Soulful Singing⁠ - Rev. Wendy Luella Perkin's online singing ministry

Kathryn Jane Hazel from Nanaimo Unitarian Shelter

Kayoki Whiteduck and Lynn Kofmel-Preston from Ajaski Project (Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship)

Yvette Salinas (Executive Director) and Joanna Barrington (Camp Director), Unicamp, Ontario

Karen Dunk Green, Lay Chaplain, Toronto

Rev Wendy Luella Perkins, Founder of Soulful Singing

What feelings arise when you hear about these community-based ministries?

What, if any, beliefs would you need to challenge within yourself to embrace the notion of community-based ministries as legitimate expressions within UUism?

The difference between relational support and structure support was mentioned. In what ways could we remove barriers to full inclusion for community-based ministers/ministries within our local and national structures? 

What are some needs that exist in your community and world?  What assets (physical, monetary, skills, etc.) does your UU group have that you could utilize to meet those needs in a creative way? What UU value(s) could you draw upon?

Lay Chaplains engage many non-UU's in meaningful ways. How could we amplify the work of lay chaplains, understanding that this is valuable outreach?

Ajashki Project  at Ottawa First Unitarian Fellowship

Unitarian Shelter- Founded by Nanaimo Unitarian Fellowship; now run by Nanaimo Family Life Association

Lay Chaplaincy- Canadian Unitarian Council

Report of the Task Force on Polyamory- Canadian Unitarian Council, May 2020

Soulful Singing - Rev. Wendy Luella Perkin's online singing ministry

Luci Dilkus, with Huronia Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Rev Wendy Luella Perkins, Founder of Soulful Singing

Janet Pivnick, Minister in Training

Robyn Newton and catharine strickland, UUs of the Salish Sea

Should the CUC create another avenue for membership for community-based ministries? Why? If so, how could it work? 

Would it be possible and helpful for the CUC to create regional hubs? If so, how could it work? 

What emotions arise in you as you think about the possibility of collaborating and sharing resources with other UU Expressions in your geographic area?

What emotions, ideas, and apprehensions arise in you when you consider the option of nomadic UUism?

What role could nature play in enhancing your UU Expression?In what ways, if any, is the upkeep of your building distracting from the work of building an intergenerational UU community?

In what ways, if any, is the upkeep of your building distracting from the work of building an intergenerational UU community?

Janet Pivnick suggests, "I think the way forward is to honour who we all are. And I think Unitarian Universalism is actually a fantastic place to do that." In what ways could we collectively honour and support community-based ministers within UUism in Canada?

Janet Pivnick, Minister in Training

Anonymous leaders of QUUeer Connecting

Claire Heistek, with Le Rassemblement unitarien universaliste d'Ottawa

catharine strickland, UUs of the Salish Sea

Liz James from Mirth and Dignity

Z Brimacombe from Loving Justice group

Camellia Jahanshahi,  Rising Together host

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thomson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

What feelings and questions arise in you when you consider affinity groups within UUism?

How could the notion of safe spaces and dynamic spaces play a role in your UU community?

How could you facilitate healthy fluidity between affinity groups and the larger collective?

In what ways does your UU community pave the way for authentic connection? Where is there a growing edge?

How do you know when it is ethical to ask others to change to suit your needs/desires and when it is not?

In the context of inclusion within various UU Expressions, when is compromise a positive, negative, or neutral thing?

Within your UU community, how could you actively build trust to ensure that people will embrace the storming phase of group development when it starts?

What role is covenant playing in your UU community and how could it be strengthened?

How could the concept of roles and intentional friction be used to assist your UU community in co-creating whatever comes next? (think saw metaphor)

Heartwood House - The organization the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa have a partnership with.

Flaming Chalice International - Rev Mwibutsa  (Fulgence) Ndagijima's international ministry.

The 8th Principle Process - Forums dedicated to help the national UU community navigate their feelings toward adding the 8th Principle to the previous seven: Individual and communal action that accountably dismantles racism and systemic barriers to full inclusion in ourselves and our institutions.

Our Covenant by  Alice Blair Wesley 

The Responsibility Covenant - Tool created by the CUC to help create space for those with less relative power to be able to share without facing as much resistance from those with more relative power.

Rising Together- Online affinity group for UU's of Colour  

Unitarian Universalists of the Salish Sea- The new UU community that is centring youth and young adults in their UU expression.

Peter Scales, First Unitarian Church of Victoria 

Jim Sannes and Ellen Papenburg, Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ)

Casey Stainsby and Reverend Danie Webber, CUC Youth and Young Adult programming staff 

Camellia Jahanshahi,  Rising Together host 

Z Brimacombe with Ilara Stafaniuk-Gaudet, Loving Justice group, 

Brenagh Rappaport and Maya Ferguson Klinowski, hosts of Gathered Here

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

Robyn Newton and Catharine Strickland, UUs of the Salish Sea

Younger UUs speak about life feeling precarious, including insecure housing and employment. The value of paying young adults for time spent on UU's work was lifted up. What questions and ideas arise when you consider paying younger leaders for their roles in their UU community?

Ilara Stefaniuk-Gaudet said, "Because we have focused so much on the individual, there is not so much a strong sense of a collective".  

Rev Danie Webber shared that younger UUs often value authenticity over politeness, and older UUs often value politeness over authenticity and that this difference may play a role in the silos that seems to be happening in some places. Can you think of examples or real-life scenarios of this?

What responsibility, if any, do younger UU's have to carry forward the traditions, values, and legacy of the UUs that came before them?

What responsibility, if any, do older UU's have to fertilize the work of younger UU leaders, even if what they are co-creating is not a UU expression that older UU's prefer?

If UUs were to create a program that taught and celebrated the role of UUs in all stages of life, what components would be key for each stage of life, including infancy, childhood, teenagerhood, young adult, mid-adult, recently retired, and very elderly?

How can we use the old structures of UUism to support something new coming forward rather than allowing them to be a barrier to something new coming forward?

Volunteer-Supporting Charities Are Closing at Alarming Rates, PANL Perspectives, Tues. Aug. 22/23

Canada’s first State of youth report: for youth, with youth, by youth, Government of Canada (Retrieved Sept. 11, 2024).

Critical lack of volunteers putting Canadian non-profit services at risk: Volunteer Canada, CBC News, Jan. 24, 2023.

Youth Volunteering: Let’s make space for our young people again! , 125 United For Literacy, Sept. 12, 2023.

Volunteer Canada- August 2023- Pre-budget submission to the House of Commons, Volunteer Canada, August 2023.

Peter Scales at First Unitarian Church of Victoria 

Jim Sannes and Ellen Papenburg from Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (CUSJ)

Casey Stainsby and Reverend Danie Webber, CUC Youth and Young Adult programming staff 

Camellia Jahanshahi,  Rising Together host 

Z Brimacombe with Ilara Stafaniuk-Gaudet from Loving Justice group, 

Brenagh Rappaport and Maya Ferguson Klinowski, hosts of Gathered Here

Reverends Anne Barker and Linda Thompson, CUC's Congregational Life Team

How can we fully embrace the culture that is emerging from Young Adult (YA) spaces so people can experience it throughout their lives (instead of ending at 35 years)?

Consider the analogy of Young Adult co-creative culture being like contemporary theatre while congregational culture is like classical theatre: How does playing a role feel different than filling a role? Why is this significant? 

In what ways could elements of co-creative UUism be intertwined with elements of classical UUism in a way that could be compelling for all ages? 

In what ways can we lean into our shared belief of interdependence so that we become communities that feel like unified teams where life challenges and spiritual growth are faced collectively rather than individually?

What is one thing you could immediately do differently within your UU community so there is an emphasis on deep relationships between people of all ages?

‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever, Global News, Jan. 8/22

Young Adults & Beyond: Final Report August 2024, Canadian Unitarian Council.

Young Adult Ministry Resources, Canadian Unitarian Council (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Abolition: A World without Prisons & Police. Tulane University (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Remembering Maiken (Dani) Cooper, Canadian Unitarian Council (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Sending Unarmed Responders Instead of Police: What We’ve Learned, The Marshall Project, July 25, 2024.

Gathered Here , Canadian Unitarian Council (Retrieved Sept. 11/24) (Online group for Young Adults)

What feelings arise when you hear about the decline in those attending the congregational expression of UUism? What beliefs are behind those feelings?

What feelings arise in you when you hear that there are "wildflower" expressions of UUism happening within Canada? What beliefs are behind those feelings?

What beliefs, customs, routines, and fears get in the way of you imagining other ways of doing and being a Unitarian Universalist?

What "wildflower" expressions of UUism are blooming (or trying to bloom) in your community? How are you currently engaging with them?

Humanist Unitarian Universalists, Unitarian Universalist Association (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever, Global News, Jan. 8/22

Volunteer-Supporting Charities Are Closing at Alarming Rates, PANL Perspectives, Tues. Aug. 22/23

Singing mindfully with spirit and joy, Wendy Luella Perkins, (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Resolutions: 1978-1984– Sexual Orientation, A Summary, Canadian Unitarian Council (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Unitarian Universalist Community Cooperatives (What Liz James referenced)  (Retrieved Sept. 11/24)

Unitarian Universalist Hysterical Society (Retrieved Sept. 11/24).

Love the UU Hysterical Society?  [Facebook group] (Retrieved Sept. 11/24).