Unified Governance

(Written on July 4th at 3pm)

One of the biggest issues at this Synod is the change to our Constitution and Bylaws regarding the structure of governance.

This is a very complicated issue that I am going to give you a horribly simple description of.

We have five boards who run the various ministries of the National UCC - that's over 300 members combined. We are (considering) having only one board to combine these Ministries. I believe, if I understand correctly, that some of the goals of this change will be: saving money, more unified infrastructure, and "so that all may be one."

A lot of the dissent surrounding this proposal has to do with the diversity - or perceived lack there of - of this unified board. We had a wonderful speaker at our conference caucus this morning who explained things very well... but I don't want to out words in her mouth when I may not have understood her correctly.

However, the feeling I came away with is that we as a church still have a ways to go in gaining and giving trust to one another. As a young, white woman, I have to trust that a middle-age Black man can, and, more importantly, WILL, speak for me in a just and faithful way. The problem of course, is that I, because of my privilege, am able to give that trust more freely and easily than a person who, historically, does has not had such privilege.

whew. At the time of this typing (3:40pm), we are currently in a quasi committee and asking questions to gain more understanding of this issue.