Membership
All are welcome at all UUCF services and events!
Visitors - on your first few visits to UUCF, we will ask you to full out a temporary name badge. We ask all of members and friends to wear name badges as well, so you won't be alone! Name badges helps us create a community in which everyone is known by name and missed when absent. We will also invite you to fill out a Visitor Information Form. We would also be glad to tell you more about our congregation, introduce any children to our Director of Religious Education, or help connect you with any of our programs that you may find of interest.
Friends - if you begin to participate regularly, we will be glad to make a permanent name badge for you. At this point, we will begin listing your name in our printed UUCF Directory. As a Friend of UUCF, you may serve on committees, but not become a committee chair.
Members - to become an official member, we ask that you attend our “Pathways to Membership” class (which is offered a few times each year), sign our Membership Book, and complete a Member Information Form. Members are expected to contribute their time, talent and resources in support of our congregation's ongoing work and ministries. Members are expected to make a financial contribution of record to UUCF each calendar year. Also, only members may serve as chairpersons of UUCF committees. Sixty days after signing the Membership Book, you become a Voting Member and are eligible to vote at congregational meetings.
Early each year, we report our total number of members to the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). On the basis of this report, we are assessed dues of about $90 per Member per year by the UUA, and its Joseph Priestly District of which we are a part. Each Member receives a subscription to the magazine UU World.
Rights and Responsibilities of Membership
Because we are a democratic community, members are collectively vested with responsibility for the congregation. Members may vote at any congregational meeting, be elected to the governing board, and participate in any activities of the congregation.
Because we are a covenanted congregation, members have certain responsibilities to the congregation and to one another. They are best fulfilled by:
- Regular attendance at worship. Weekly worship cements the bonds of community, and keeps our attention directed to our highest values, while nurturing our spirits.
- Voting at congregational meetings. Responsible participation includes imagining the needs of the entire congregation, rather than focusing only on one's own needs or desires. Consider how issues affect all members of the congregation, as well as potential members and others in the world outside the congregation.
- Making financial contributions. Not only does this provide for the support of the congregation, but it also serves as a spiritual discipline. Many Unitarian Universalists aim for a modern tithe—that is, giving 5 percent of income to the congregation, and another 5 percent to other organizations and causes that represent their values.
- Contributing time and talent. Congregations work because their members find ways to give of themselves, whether through singing, financial management, educating children, sharing their passion for social justice, organizing, cooking, greeting—the list of tasks goes on. Finding ways to give back that nurture your own soul helps to avoid resentment and supports your own growth.
- Spiritual growth and development. Working deliberately at your own spiritual development is a gift to the congregation and to the larger world.