On Saturday, January 17 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, BUF will be holding a Congregational Start-Up in the Sanctuary. It will be facilitated by Reverend Sarag Gibb Millspaugh, BUF’s Regional Contact from the Unitarian Universalist Association. 

A Start-Up is a workshop or mini-retreat that UU congregations typically hold shortly after an interim or transitional minister arrives. As described in the book In the Interim:

• The “Start-Up” is a workshop designed to help a minister and congregation with relationship, expectations, and goals;
• It is an opportunity to articulate a clear process for evaluating ministry; and
• It may help the congregation to reflect on itself and evolve, making more space for interim/transitional work to be done well.

We are tentatively planning for childcare for this event—please let Sunny or our Director of Religious Education, Lis Epperson (re@buf.org), know if you are interested in childcare.

From Sunny: “Through all the “Getting to Know You” sessions I held over the past couple months, and through all the many committee meetings and social events I have attended at BUF, we have had a chance to get familiar with one another. Not only have I gotten to know many of you on a deeper level, but I have gotten to know the inner workings of BUF as a vibrant and active congregation. The Start-Up will offer us a chance to bring together all that we have learned and done over the past few months, and set our sights on the horizon and where we wish to go.

 

I also am thrilled that we will have…Rev. Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, to facilitate the Start-Up. Rev. Sarah is an absolute delight. Not only did she help BUF navigate all the transition around Rev. Paul’s retirement, but she is one of the primary reasons I ended up at BUF. I look forward to welcoming Rev. Sarah to BUF in January.”