FPW Foundations Task Force Preface Mission, vision, and covenant are part of the spiritual foundation for UU congregations. Mission refers to the core purpose of the congregation; vision is the aspiration for what the congregation hopes to become; and covenant is how the congregation communicates and agrees to be in community as it strives to achieve its mission and vision. Importantly, these are living precepts or guides that change as the congregation continues to grow and change. In...
Parish Committee
Charge for Long-Term Financial Planning Task Force
Long-Term Financial Planning Task Force Preface Financial stability is fundamental to FPW’s long-term success. Beyond balancing our operating budget each church year, our future stability requires planning for the long-term stewardship of FPW’s buildings, personnel, reserves, income, and other financial resources. FPW needs to develop a longer-term financial planning framework to help anticipate and prepare for not just our annual operating requirements, but also for significant future...
From the Parish Committee – December 2025
As I reflect on the first half of this church year, and my second year as Parish Committee (PC) Chair, I am truly amazed at all the growth and activity at FPW overall, and in the PC ministry! PC started the year with a retreat in September, where we read Dan Hotchkiss’s excellent book Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership. We reflected on Hotchkiss’s stance that “a congregation’s mission is its unique answer to the question ‘whose lives do we intend to change and in what way?’”...
Sabbatical announcement and heads up on long range planning
To the Congregation of First Parish of Watertown – I am writing today to fill you in on some exciting long-range plans - Reverend Sophia is planning to take a sabbatical at the end of her seventh year of ministry with us, from Jan 2028 to May 2028. I know some of you have already heard about these plans, and the Parish Committee wanted to bring everyone up to speed on our conversations with Reverend Sophia about what a clergy sabbatical is and what the planning process will entail. What is a...
Parish Committee Corner
An exciting focus for Parish Committee this year has been to work with committees more closely and think more deliberatively about how they operate to support the mission of this church. One way we did this was by providing discernments tools as part of an All Chairs meeting which committees can use to prioritize and implement their many competing actions. The first tool helps guide committees by assessing impact, will, competency, mission and capacity for a particular action (see The Sweet...
Parish Committee Corner – February 2025
Greetings to all from the Parish Committee! This year, one of the goals of the Parish Committee has been to be more transparent and visible to the congregation at large – through providing monthly Weekly News updates on decisions being made during our monthly meetings and providing regular longer Weekly News articles on an issue of interest, written from the perspective of a different Parish Committee member each month. In this spirit, we will be having an informal Open House on Sunday Feb. 9...
From the Parish Committee – October 2024
Once a month, a different member of the Parish Committee shares insights about our work, and this month it’s my turn! A few weeks ago, we held a “retreat” (really a workshop) with a UUA consultant to deepen our understanding of our roles and the role of the Parish Committee. One thought-provoking activity involved selecting an image to represent how we see the Committees’ role in leadership and another to represent the leadership gifts we each bring. Although we chose very different images, our relationships and shared values sparked a discussion that beautifully wove together our diverse strengths—from big-picture thinking to attention to detail and perseverance.
Update from the Parish Committee – May 2024
Greetings from the Parish Committee! This new church year brings a few changes to the Parish Committee. The Chair is now Norah Mulvaney-Day, and we have added the new position of Vice-Chair to provide leadership support, which will be held by John Portz. New members Missy Shay and Martha Pedersen join returning members, Sue Sours and Kelly Morton. We all thank outgoing chair Jean Merkl for her leadership over the last 3 years. In addition to regular church business, the Parish Committee will...
“Grappling with our History” panel February 25th
As a next step in our congregation’s ongoing efforts to understand our complex history and determine actions to guide our way forward, the Parish Committee will sponsor a panel after service on Feb. 25. The panel is entitled “Grappling with our History: Lessons to be Learned,” and will include speakers from other churches who will share their stories about how their congregations are working to acknowledge and address their history. Karla Baehr, member of First Parish in Brookline and Chair of...
From the Parish Committee – May 26th, 2023
It’s the last week of May and the summer changes of the church year approach! The annual May Pot Luck dinner and Talent show was a wonderful joyous celebration! It was full of inspiring poems, amazing magic tricks, stories, songs, music and the fabulous FPW Choir and FPW Band! We thank everyone who participated in so many different ways and a deep, grateful thanks to those who made it all happen! As Parish Committee looks to the summer, taking some time off from meetings, we feel so much...