Lessons Learned at General Assembly

I'm pleased to report that our Faith in Action program was part of a workshopon social action at GA entitled "Outreach Times Three." The workshop was moderatedby the Rev. Karen Stoyanoff of Orange Coast Church in Costa Mesa, with presentationsby Deena Tuttle of San Diego, Marilyn Giss of Costa Mesa, and me (see photograph).

I was particularly impressed by the innovative social action program describedby Marilyn Giss. She described a model developed in Costa Mesa to commemoratethe 50th anniversary of the founding of their church. The congregation was challengedto increase involvement in social action. They called their program the "50-50-50program" because it called for congregants to commit to volunteering 50 hoursof community service and 50 additional dollars to charity for that commemorativeyear, with the dollar contribution to be matched by the church. Their goal wasto coax 50 of their 240 congregants to participate. The program was so successfulthat 70 congregants volunteered, and the church hired a part-time paid staffmember to manage the volunteer effort. To cover the cost of the paid staff member,the church also competed successfully for $6,000 of financial assistance fromthe UU Social Responsibility Fund.

The lessonfrom the Costa Mesa presentation is that UU congregations may be very generousif you provide appropriate opportunities and the right incentives. Our experiencein Santa Monica with our Generous Congregation Program strongly supports thisconclusion. Since we started donating 15% of each Sunday collection to charity,the net collection for our church, after deducting the 15%, has actually increased.

On September 26 we'll have our fourth annual FIA issues election. We'll reviewthe overall status of our Faith in Action program and will vote to prioritizepotential issues for the future. Personally, I'm hopeful we can develop supportfor our own version of a "50- 50-50" program. Wouldn't it be wonderful becomingeven more deeply involved in our community through more volunteer service andmore charitable giving?

-Charles Haskell Chair, Faith in Action Commission