Category: Community

Community social gatherirngs; mens and womens groups; covenant groups, neighbourhood groups and news from the communications, membership and care and concern committees.

Be a Connector

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Are you a friendly person who likes to introduce new people to our amazing (but somewhat complex) congregation?

The Connect & Engage team is inviting UCV members to help between two and five new folk get connected with the people, programs and information they may want in order to feel connected with the congregation. We’re anticipating that one or two contacts per month (e.g. saying “hello” on Sunday morning or an email mentioning an event you’re going to that you think they’d enjoy) is all that would be necessary for up to a year.

Some may move very quickly to “flying solo”; others may decide this isn’t for them.

If you’re up for trying it, what will happen is that people who fill out our survey online will be introduced to you by email and you’ll take it from there. We’ll try to match up your interests and theirs. For example if you’re in a men’s group, we’d forward people who have checked that, similarly for book groups, etc. Alternatively you may just wind up chatting with someone on a Sunday or at a meeting and will let us know that that’s someone you’re willing to continue to welcome and show around.

We anticipate occasional gatherings of the connectors to share feedback from what we hear from new people and see what we can do about it.

Here’s the “position description”.

All of this is flexible–just some suggestions.

1. send a reply offering to meet them on a Sunday (or other time). Perhaps at the sermon discussion table.
2. when you meet try to introduce them to two or three other people who are involved in the things they checked interest in.
3. check in with them about twice a month for six months to a year. This might be as simple as looking for them on Sunday morning and saying “hello”. But if you haven’t seen them for a month, send an email, asking how they are and noting you haven’t seen them recently.
4. If you’re attending some open special event that you think they’d be interested in, forward the information with a “hope to see you there” message. For example, potluck dinners, choir concerts are good draws.
5. when the New to Vancouver Unitarians workshop and “Part II” are advertised, send email or (better) mention in person about how valuable it is (stressing no obligation to join if that seems appropriate).
6. help them sign up for the newsletters and follow our social media accounts if they’re interested.
You’re not expected to know everything about the congregation and Unitarianism, but are committing to finding out the answers to any questions or introducing them to someone who can answer.
It will likely be a learning experience for you as well as the folks you’re helping.
We will be gathering up the questions to create an “FAQ” on our website.
Reference:

 

How to form a Supper Club (or Brunch Club) — we can help

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Your Connect & Engage team has a new approach for how to get to know people better in a friendly, social atmosphere.

One “supper club” has formed: 12 people who will each organize a restaurant meal out once a year.

They’ll choose a restaurant, send details along with the proposed date and time to the “club members”. Then they’ll take registrations, make a reservation and confirm with those who have RSVP’d. Probably they’ll arrive early to be there to welcome people.

At any one time two people will be thinking about the next gathering so if one gets swamped with life, the other can get onto it.

For the group that has formed, there is no regular date (e.g. 3rd Friday or such). They’re just letting the host choose. They have decided on a geographical area. In that case Fairview/Westside and that all selected restaurants will be on an easy transit line with parking nearby (e.g. 4th Avenue or Broadway in this case).

This new format is being proposed as a possible replacement for two other approaches to setting up shared dinners are now longer operating. (Movable Feast and Hygge Potluck Dinners)

Over time each of these groups will make their own decisions about how many people to have in the group; where and when they’ll meet, and whether they’re limiting to a particular kind of restaurant or location.

If you want to be part of a group like this, let us know and we can help you advertise through the order of service and, if desired, set up a google group to make connections with your members easier.

The FUN (Fairview Unitarian Neighbourhood) Women’s Supper Club formed by an initial dinner with four women and they then each invited a few others until the maximum of 12 had confirmed.

Movable Feast was a once-a-month dinner out organized by Karen and Dianne for three years. The attendance varied between 8 and 24.

Hygge Potluck Dinners were monthly potluck dinners hosted in members’ homes organized by Patti and Mary.

In both of these cases, the volunteer organizers got involved in other UCV activities and no one stepped up to carry them on. When the time is right these two programs might be revived.

Signup here if interested.
Go to Shared Dinners – would you like to join a supper club?

Pitching in Volunteer Opportunities

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The congregation runs on a lot of committed volunteer time and talent that complements our staff and minister’s roles.

We recognize that some people can’t easily commit to a regular schedule of volunteer contributions, so here are some opportunities where the organizer would be very happy to have you pitch in whenever you have the time and interest.

Children’s Program

– Sunday mornings

  • Attending to the Buddy Bags: Hang out in foyer of sanctuary and make sure each bag has an animal, colouring book, and five to seven crayons in a baggie.
  • Before or after service – check the pencils in the Buddy Bags and sharpen if necessary.

Children’s Program – Any time

  • Art Supply Management: Help Kiersten by keeping the kids program art supplies organized.
  • Paint a Shelf: This is a one time request. Contact Kiersten

Lots of other opportunities too

Gardening

Every 3rd Saturday a work crew gathers between 9 am to 12 noon. Patti brings home-cooked yummies to feed the gardeners. You can also do some gardening at your own time and speed. For an orientation click below and we’ll get back to you. Don’t worry about being late, even half an hour or so is helpful.

Mending meetup

A new group is meeting every 4th Saturday from 12 noon to 2 pm. If you can help others mend their clothes, please join Marie Witt and others. Darning, hand and machine-sewing, and any other talents are most welcome.

Sermon discussion table

This is an informal place to welcome people and introduce them to each other. Even if you’re new it’s helpful to have additional hosts who can help newcomers find their way.

Newsletter signup and online form support

If you can use our tablet or your own device (or theirs) to help people sign up for our e-newsletters or one of the online forms through Breeze database for registering for programs, connecting with folk at the Sermon discussion table would be very much appreciated.  Even if you can only stop by for five minutes, likely at least one person could use your help.

Labyrinth tending and gardening.

Mary often stops by a couple of times per month to tend the labyrinth on an ad hoc basis–and often after the service on Sunday (in sunny weather!)

Annual Ancestor Shrine–Come and visit

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Origins of Our Tradition

Mary, Catherine, Nancy, Terence, Morgan and Jen first created an Ancestor Shrine with the children’s program back in the fall of 2013. Transforming the meditation room into a place of remembrance at the end of October has become a firm tradition since then. It is something our children remember and connect with over the years.

Please come explore the Ancestor Shrine after Sunday service on October 27th.

You may bring a photo or remembrance to leave on the altar if you wish (to be returned the following Sunday), and there will be paper and twine with which to write your own remembrances and hang from the willow branches.

May we remember where we come from, and how the tree of life shows us that truly all that exists on Earth is related. Further back we find that we have evolved from the dust of exploded stars–what great mystery!

Genders – a new discussion group

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Our Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) is pleased to announce a new group forming.

Gender is an important aspect of our lives, whether we know it or not.  We often live in some relationship to gender roles that are expected of men or women; sometimes we spend our lives breaking free of the conditioning that supports these roles and expectations.

Our sense of what it means to be a man, woman or other gender is usually shaped by key people in our lives as we grow up: parents, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, and role models in popular culture.

The gender discussion group will give each of us a place to share the influences on our gender identity and expression. We will explore whether our models were sufficient for us: both how they were and how they were not.

Participants will be invited to tell stories about their journeys involving gender identity and expression – how these were shaped and how they are continuing to evolve. What have been some of the challenges and some of the victories?

The GSA is also looking at possible VIFF films to attend and a play Trans Scripts at the Firehall Arts Centre in the new year.

As we have for the past year, we’ll also host a potluck dinner before the January and June Out in Harmony Concerts.

 

First day of September and a lot of outdoor (and indoor) conversations and harvesting

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Rev. Chris Wulff gave us a great sermon and a new twist on the Little Red Hen.

The Environment team met to plan the All Candidates’ Forum.

Circle dancing in later afternoon.

And we enjoyed another “back at it” Sunday while the sun is still shining.

Here’s Jodie and Kelly having a conversation under one of the trees.

And Sandy and Karen picking some King apples–they’re ripe and were enjoyed by many today!

 

Steven’s Welcome Message

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Dear Vancouver Unitarians:

Welcome to our congregation’s 2019-20 program year of worship, learning, activism and fun!

More than ever, I am grateful to be a part of this congregation—one that first began 110 years ago and that has been at 49th and Oak Street for 55 years. We’ve been around for a long time and plan on being here for generations to come.

Here, we meet with people of all ages who share our deepest values, who seek to deepen soulful and ethical lives, and who are committed to intergenerational learning, connection and “generativity.” We honour our diverse stories and personalities. We welcome all who seek to be a part of our congregation and its commitment to “justice, equity and compassion in human relations,” as well as our promise to “respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

Thank you to each and all and the roles we play: from serving coffee and tea to walking with our children and youth, from singing in the choir and lighting a candle for a loved one, to acting up on behalf of refugees, the environment and the cause for social justice, and much, much more.

I look forward to being with you as we walk our Unitarian Universalist path together.

Sincerely, Rev. Steven Epperson

Join Our Social Media and Communications Team

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Our UCV Communications Team is looking for someone to post web links to our facebook page. We’d like to post, on average, 5 links per week, preferably spread out over the week including posting the link for the Sunday morning service on Friday. Each post would only take you a couple of minutes if you regularly sign into facebook anyways.

You would be made an admin for the page and post as UCV (not as yourself). You would be welcome to get more involved than that such as adding photos, updating the cover photo more often, but that’s not required for the basic role.

Thanks to a growing team of volunteers, we have been able to increase our social media and web outreach over the past months and years.

Our Communications Team meets two or three times a year. You would be encouraged to attend to find out what else is happening and contribute your ideas. A lot goes on between meetings with individuals and sub-groups taking on tasks. Our meetings are mainly a check-in for individuals and small groups to report on what they’re doing and get feedback from others on their projects.

Video – We’d like to be able to do more

Our youtube channel has been mobilized. Here’s the link for Rev. Phillip Hewett’s Memorial Service and memories shared after the service.

 

People from across Canada and beyond have been so appreciative of being able to attend Phillip Hewett’s memorial service through youtube.

Among the notes I’ve received is one from Patricia Pavey (previously Yates) who attended UCV some time ago and is the composer of our “Carry the Flame” benediction. (And in case you’re wondering about the extra part that some congregations sing, that part was added by Louise Taylor who was music director at the Victoria congregation.)

We have podcasts of Sunday sermons

Click here to find the most recent three sermons–and check back regularly.

Our Closed Facebook Group

On advice from other congregations, we set up a Facebook Group (for community communications) that complements our Facebook page (for external/outreach communication). Our page has over 900 Likes (up from 800 in March, 2018).

You must have a facebook profile to join Members and Friends of Vancouver Unitarians. 

Note: you can see what’s on our Facebook page  even if you’re not on Facebook. If you are on Facebook – please go there regularly and like, comment and share. That’s how we increase our outreach.

Volunteers Needed

We need more help to continue to expand this work.

Some tasks, like posting links to our facebook page, take only a few minutes to do and don’t require much learning.

Most committees now have someone to post events and articles (“posts”) on the web but others need help getting their message out. Training is available and if you’ve used wordpress it will be easy to learn about our system.

We’d like more photos posted on instagram, facebook and the web, especially (with permission) of our many events and our beautiful campus (with people shown). If you like to take photos, we’d like to have you on board.

Other tasks such as editing videos (adding title pages, tweaking sound and light) take a lot of time. We need at least two more people if we’re to do video-recording, some of our events. Some ongoing tasks would only take about 15-30 minutes each week. Congregational consultant Peter Bowden says if he could suggest one thing it would be to do a very short video about the upcoming Sunday programs. Rev. Samaya Oakley of South Fraser Unitarians has been doing this.

How to attract and welcome visitors using social media

Are you interested in how Unitarian congregations can use social media well? I liked this article by Peter Bowden, emphasizing how much research visitors do before showing up in person and how important it is to respond very quickly to them.

Please pick the flowers and herbs in the labyrinth

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Yes, that’s an unusual invitation, I know, but… I’d love people to take a bit of UCV abundance home with them. The rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan) makes a lovely bouquet to bring some sunshine indoors.

Here are some that I would really like to have picked. It saves me pruning and dead-heading:
Lavender (still quite nice but fading fast). It’s mainly on the outer ring on the east side.
Dandelions- of course – any time!
Mint – There are several kinds of mint – chocolate mint, pineapple mint, etc. Please do cut 6″ pieces or so to make tea or enjoy in salads etc.
Fennel – Nice for a bouquet and also nice with mint for tea, or infused water.
Any time —
Lambs ears – those lovely fuzzy leaves can be picked any time. Not edible (but not poisonous). Kids love to touch them.
Sage – on west side near a tree – pick a bit to take home – I love sage tea, or to flavour other foods.
Take up to 1/3 of…
The glorious rudbeckia/black-eyed Susan – Take the flowers that are in full bloom. I call this pre-emptive dead-heading. Cut the step right to the place where it connects with another stem, so it looks nice.
Please don’t pick without checking with me:
The echinacea was moved last year and just getting established, so I’d prefer it wasn’t picked yet. Leave it for the bees!!

 

Here are some excerpts and links about kids and flowers:

Some flowers, like the bright yellow dandelion, are very common and children should be encouraged to collect them by armfuls. Other flowers, like the yellow golden paintbrush, are endangered and should be left alone. Not all flowers are created equal but everyone (even kids!) can learn which flowers are good to pick, where to pick them and when to pick them. Learning about flowers and picking them is a wonderful opportunity for you and your child to connect with nature together.

Do you have an idea for a new group? Let’s make it happen!

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We know it’s hard to get to know people on Sunday mornings. There are so many of us. And as is often said: There’s a lot that goes on around here.

UCV has lots of small groups where people get to know each other more easily. Some once formed are then closed. Others are drop-in. Several people are initiating new groups starting in September.

And perhaps YOU too have an idea of a group to get like-minded people together?

Sheila R. and Mary Bennett as the Connect and Engage team would like to support and encourage you if you do.

We can help you find the right committee to sponsor your group; learn how to book space and advertise.

We may do a forum in late August or early September if enough people want to learn all the how-to’s (and perhaps some what-not-to-dos) of running groups at UCV.

And of course, there may already be a small group that you’d be interested in – so check here.

Here are some good ideas for starting new groups:

https://www.uua.org/interconnections/192406.shtml