Something for the Journey
Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer, Director of Ministries for Collegial Care
When it comes to collegiality, chapters have competition now. That was one of the messages that I shared during our recent Chapter Leaders calls. It used to be, many years ago, that chapters were the primary place where colleagues gathered outside of hyper-local or larger regional or continental events. Even before the pandemic, there were other ways colleagues gathered – study groups have been around for quite a while, for example, and many people who were early Zoom adapters found it a convenient way to connect with colleagues on a regular basis. Recognizing these growing ways in which colleagues connect, we tried to catalog collegial small groups several years ago. We came up with dozens of groups and I’m pretty sure it was out of date shortly after we published it. I wouldn’t even try to catalog the collegial groups that exist now. My guess is that the groups are likely in the hundreds, including: social groups, support groups, covenant groups, study groups, preaching groups, and groups that gather as communities of practice. Many of these groups meet online. I’m in one that meets by conference call! There are groups that were formed in seminary or for MFC study that continue on for years and years, and groups that are formed for a season around particular collegial needs and concerns. Many colleagues are in more than one group such that they have recurring collegial gatherings multiple times per month.
We are still in the midst of exploring what these changes in how we gather mean for the UUMA. What remains the same is the necessity of collegial connection. There is good research showing how important collegial relationships are to long term sustainability in ministry. Tending to our collegial relationships is one of the most important investments we can make in the well being of our ministries. How do we do that now in our current landscape of collegiality? One colleague on a Chapter Leader call offered that they personally aim for a balanced approach, both in terms of the time they spend in collegial community and in the locations – they strive to have ongoing collegial connections locally, regionally, nationally and continentally. I like this way of thinking about collegiality. If you aren’t as connected with our colleagues as you’d like to be, I know your Chapter Leaders would be glad to speak with you about how you might get more connected. And as always, I’d be glad to speak with you too.
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