Welcoming Congregation Renewal

What is a Welcoming Congregation?

The Welcoming Congregation Program is a volunteer program for Unitarian Universalist congregations that want to take intentional steps to become more welcoming and inclusive of people with marginalized sexual orientations and gender identities.

First launched in 1990, the program grew out of an understanding that widespread prejudices and ignorance about LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people existed within Unitarian Universalism, which resulted in the exclusion of LGBTQ people from our congregations.

Today, 66% of U.S. UU (Unitarian Universalist) congregations and 94% of Canadian UU congregations are recognized as Welcoming Congregations. The program is supported by LGBTQ Ministries.

For Piedmont UUC (Piedmont Unitarian Universalist Church) this began in the Fall of 2004, when the Piedmont UU middle school youth protested that the ages 4-18 Social Justice Sunday programs were boring. The senior high echoed their complaints. Subsequent meetings with each group led to a combined brainstorming session where both groups (between 15 and 20 youth) decided they wanted to work together on social justice efforts with more meaning. Notes from those meetings document that they wanted to work on something that they knew could make a difference, that required more than an hour on Sunday, and that introduced them firsthand to the people affected by the injustice. They decided to focus their efforts on justice for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.

Their subsequent efforts, under the leadership of Hugh Hammond, Susan Seithel, and Su Cummings, included discussions with local activists, a week-end long youth conference on LGBT issues, appearances before the Charlotte City Council, and active cooperation with LGBT organizations such as Time Out Youth, Charlotte Pride, and the Charlotte LGBT Community Alliance.

In January of 2006 the youth and the adults of the Social Justice Committee combined to kick off the series of 10 workshops which ended in May. Approximately 60 members joined the program in whole or in part. In November, 2006, the Piedmont UU congregation voted unanimously to become a Welcoming Congregation and the recognition was granted by the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Association) in early 2007.

Welcoming Congregation Renewal Program

Being recognized as a Welcoming Congregation was just the beginning, and was a commitment to the ever-ongoing work of being welcoming. LGBTQ Ministries recommends that congregations go through a Welcoming Congregation Program or a renewal program every five to ten years. A lot of turnover and changes to congregational life can happen over the years, and the wider culture also changes quickly with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Our renewal program will consist of 7 workshops, adapted from the UUA’s program. They will be held on the 4^th Sunday of each month beginning in September (skipping December). There are a variety of workshops designed to help open us to other members and the greater community in a safe and loving way. There will be much self-discovery involved; over time much growth is expected.

We hope many of you will join us in this renewal of our journey of understanding. If you would like more information, or wish to help, please contact any of the following:

Barbara Hollingsworth barbdh@aol.com 704-455-5495

Susie Benner sbenner974@aol.com 704-882-2059

Alan Perkinson alan.perkinson@yahoo.com 704-489-6309

Claudia Perkinson perkyc48@gmail.com 704-489-6309

Joan Thieda jthieda@carolina.rr.com 704-502-1340

What has the Social Justice Council been up to lately?

The Social Justice Council helps to facilitate various projects in which our council members and members of the congregation are interested. Our most recent project is the Guatemala exploratory trip.  This July, several members of the congregation will be traveling to Guatemala to meet with people in the Santiago region, to a village called Chuk Muk.  This region was devastated by civil war for decades and landslides in 2005. The purpose of the trip is to meet with members of their community to assess what needs they might want addressed in their community. The SJC would like to then facilitate future projects in this region based on the people's wants.

Other projects sponsored by the SJC are the first Sunday Food Drive.  This food drive has happened the first Sunday of the month for over a year.  The collected items are donated to Loaves and Fishes food bank.  Another group affiliated with the SJC is Interweave.  This group has sponsored three dances to raise money for their work advocating for LGBT issues.  They also collaborate with the youth of our church at the Charlotte PRIDE festival and sell t-shirts designed by the youth and proceeds benefit Time Out Youth, a community center for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth.

The Social Justice Council also strives to involve congregants in various social justice causes in our community.  We wanted to make everyone aware of a new petition that might interest our congregation.  A community member, Charlotte White, contacted PUUC and the SJC recently about a petition she started to ban plastic bags in Charlotte.  If you are interested in signing this petition or reading it, visit this website, http://www.change.org/petitions/plastic-bag-ban-in-charlotte-nc-stop-the-use-of-plastic-bags.

Amanda Armstrong and Brian Foster have been the co-chairs of the Council from 2011-2013.  This July, two new co-chairs will be taking over the leadership of the Council, Darla Davis and Virginia Gil-Rivas.  Both are current members of the Council.  Darla has been a UU for close to 40 years and associated with five UU churches during that time.  She joined our congregation in 1999 and was one of the original members to start social justice work at our church.  Her activism interests are equality in human rights specifically the immigrant justice, the elimination of torture which includes repeal of the death penalty, economic justice in the global economy, and the impact of climate change. Virginia has been a member of PUUC for several years.  She has participated on the Social Justice Council since joining our congregation.  She also is a founding member of PUUC’s branch of Interweave.  We welcome Darla and Virginia as our new co-chairs and thank them for their service to the congregation!

Amanda Armstrong, Co-chair, Social Justice Council