How We Are Organized
Our Mission, Vision, & Ends is the core of our organization. All of our ministries, programs, and committees serve that core to help bring it to life within, among, and beyond our walls. We are organized around 7 major areas: Justice Making, Our Home, Governance, Generosity & Giving, Nurture & Communication, Spiritual Growth & Transformation, and Inspiration. This interconnected, circular “bubble” model represents the empowerment, opportunities for collaboration while centering on our mission:
We are a caring community promoting and providing robust religious and intellectual exploration opportunities for children, youth, and adults. We offer creative and inspirational opportunities for worship. We nurture spiritual and personal growth and transformation, foster diversity by reaching out to different communities, and practice justice as individuals and as a community.
Below the bubble map is a descriptions of each area, with contact information.
Justice Making
Plate Partner
Each month 25% of our unpledged Sunday plate offerings are donated to a local social justice nonprofit we call our Plate Partner. The congregation nominates and then votes on Plate Partners for the upcoming year as a way to live our values.
Contact: Jim Bigelow
Partner Church
We partner with a Unitarian Congregation in Mészkő, Transylvania, Romania, to be in touch with the roots of our traditions and to work towards our 6th principle, “the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.”
Contact: Gywn Reid
Social Justice Council
Social justice work is a natural outgrowth of a healthy, nurturing church community as we seek to act out our Seven UU Principles in the world. We believe that social justice work should be reciprocal, and based on honored and dignified relationships in order that the good work be enduring, sustainable, and transformative for all involved.
Contact: Jim Bigelow
Refugee & Immigrant Ministry
A team who responds to refugee issues in the Treasure Valley and Idaho as a whole, they have been involved in promoting better legislation and have worked with local refugee and immigrant rights groups.
Contact: Betty Van Gheluwe
Pride Ministry
This group reaches out to LGBTQ+ folks to give acceptance and love, and reaches out into the community to create awareness of LGBTQ+ rights and issues and hold public space for their voices to be heard. We also strive to be in right relation with LGBTQ+ folks in our congregation, giving space and compassion for their unique experiences.
Contact: Nancy Harms
Our Home
Outdoor Sanctuary
Our outdoor sanctuary sits on roughly four and half acres of interwoven landscaping and natural habitat. It includes features such as our Bridge to Transylvania, Path of All Times, Jeremiah’s Adventure Garden, and labyrinth with other small wondrous stops along the way. Our outdoor sanctuary is maintained by independent contractors and many volunteers.
Contact: Tom Neale
Building Maintenance
It takes good tools and good hands to keep up our building. We have a part time handyman and a few volunteers who keep us up to code and looking good.
Interiors
It takes a special eye to decorate a fellowship. Interiors keeps us looking spiffy with decor of spiritual interest.
Contact: Elaine Daly
Library
We house over 60 shelves of media including books, magazines, and dvds on subjects both spiritual and justice oriented. The library runs on book donations and a volunteer staff.
Contact: Don Stepich
Safety
In a world of revolving safety concerns the Safety Committee keeps us up to date. We have plans in place for health emergencies, fire, flooding, suspicious behavior, and active shooters.
Contact: BUUF Board
Governance
Committee on Ministry
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors is the primary decision-making body for BUUF and represents the congregation. The Board is responsible for ensuring BUUF is operating in line with its Mission, Vision, and Ends Statements through establishing policies, making choices about goals and strategies and deciding who will be responsible for implementing them. The Board is ultimately responsible for seeing that the congregation’s money, property and people are kept safe, and that the congregation lives in harmony with its own values.
Contact: BUUF Board President
Committees of the Board & Task Forces
Board Committees and Task Forces are established by the Board or the Bylaws and are responsible to the Board. The work product of Board Committees and Task Forces goes back to the Board. Board Committees and Task Forces exist solely to help the Board govern and not for administration or program management or to make decisions on the Board’s behalf. In contrast, Ministry Teams are established by the Minister and staff and are responsible to the Minister and staff. The work product of Ministry Teams flows outward to the congregation and the world.
Contact: BUUF President
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee assists the Board in its oversight of the Fellowship’s finances, ensures that routine financial reports are clear and helpful, coordinates development of the annual budget, and coordinates the bi-annual audit. From time to time, the Committee holds educational sessions to ensure that Board members have adequate understanding of the Fellowship’s financial status and goals. The Committee has no spending or transfer authority and does not participate in day-to-day financial decision-making.
Personnel Committee
The Personnel Committee assists the Board in developing personnel policies, ensuring compliance with applicable laws, and carrying out the staff grievance process. The committee may also assist the minister or other staff in the preparation of job postings, and descriptions for the purposes of hiring and consult with the minister and board regarding staff issues and potential dismissals. The Committee has no staff management authority and does not participate in supervision or personnel decision-making.
Committee on Ministry
The Committee on Ministry’s purpose is to strengthen the quality of ministry within the congregation and share in the responsibility of that ministry. It is a safe and confidential place where important topics and issues are discussed such as: the health of the congregation at large, goals for ministerial growth, developing the process and facilitation of communication concerning ministry among the congregation, celebrating milestones and confronting growing edges/issues within the congregation pertaining to ministry.
Minister and Staff
Our Minister and Staff are here to provide support to the congregation through coordinating events, creating and providing communications, and promoting well-being. We are the oil of the fellowships machinery, we make sure things get done smoothly.
Contact:
Rachel Strong: Business Manager
Emily Emerson Paige: Director of Family Ministries
Carrie Bastian: Music Director
Nancy Harms: Program Support Specialist
Mike Lemieux: A/V Technology Coordinator
Greg Duffy: Building & Grounds Coordinator
Generosity and Giving
Annual Giving Drive
This fellowship belongs to each of us and it is supported almost entirely through the annual pledges of its members and friends. The Annual Giving Drive is our opportunity to give life to our vision and strategic plan, and align ourselves with our values through giving.
Fundraising
We fundraise for ourselves through events such as the yearly silent auction. Fundraising fills the gaps and ensures abundance for this fellowship.
Contact: Information
Legacy Giving
The planning of a gift is part of the joy, to know that whatever abundance the world has given you will be passed on in ways that you most value after you’re gone. Such gifts perpetuate a future for our families, community, and faith. If Boise UU has been a transforming force in your life, you can be a part of its legacy for future generations.
Contact: BUUF Treasurer
Nurture and Communication
Welcoming
As a radically inclusive fellowship, we do our best to make everyone welcome. We are intersectional in our faiths, races, abilities, and orientations, and there is so much love as we strive to be in right relation with all people. Strangers are only friends you haven’t met yet and we have a place here for everyone.
Contact: Nancy Harms
Inquirers
The Inquirers Series is a new program designed to welcome newcomers into our congregation. Eight topics are covered, one per session, and the sessions are cycled throughout the year. Participants will become educated on our fellowship membership, culture, and on our wider Unitarian Universalist faith. The sessions are led and coordinated by lay leaders and our membership coordinator.
Contact: Nancy Harms
Congregational Care Team
We creating a mutually supportive beloved community. Our Congregational Care Team (CCT) oversees and organizes requests for assistance from members and friends in need. Care can come in many forms including emotional, financial, and spiritual.
Contact: pastoralcare@boiseuu.org
Spiritual Growth and Transformation
Religious Exploration for Children and Youth
A sacred space, both physical and emotional, for children and youth to explore, discover, grow and transform. Within this space, we strive to nurture our children and youth to become compassionate and justice seeking individuals who are centered in the values of our religious community and surrounded in love, and who know and act on the understanding that they are an integral part of our congregational life.
Contact: Emily Emerson Paige
Adult Religious Education
We are perpetually awed and excited by the breadth and depth of topics folks here are knowledgeable about. Adults curious about exploring our world both provide and take classes about a wide range of topics including but not limited to art, poetry, various religious studies, and democracy.
Contact: Cathy Carmen
Small Groups
We are only as strong as our bonds with each other. As our congregation grows, we aim to provide more and more opportunities to find connection and a sense of belonging. Small Groups are based in identities (eg. the Men’s Group or the Young Adult’s group) and affinities (eg. knitting, quilting, reading, tabletop gaming).
Contact: Nancy Harms
Worship & Inspiration
When we worship, we lift up that which is worthy of our praise, exploration, and deep reflection in our lives. Worship connects us with the most sacred mysteries and truths of life, opening us to to experience love, hope, and transformation. We gather together in spiritual community because we need constant reminders of what matters most in life. We worship to connect with our inner life, to embody and celebrate our deepest human values that we may learn to live with more wisdom, more connection, and more compassion.
Choir
Our adult choir holds weekly rehearsals during the program year, and performs approximately every three to four weeks. The choir seeks to have fun, learn and grow as musicians, and to make rehearsal time a spiritual practice. The choir is non-audition, with the chief prerequisites to participation being a desire to sing, to learn, and to commit to the ensemble. With a wide range of musical knowledge and ability, the choir strives for musical excellence, knowing the ultimate goal is the sharing and joy found within communal singing.
Contact: Carrie Bastian
Music
Music is a fundamental element of worship at our Fellowship. The music program is led by our talented and inspiring professional music director, Carrie Bastian, and is supported by the steady efforts of volunteers and occasional guest musicians.
Contact: Carrie Bastian
Worship Team
A collaborative team comprised of Celebrants (lay worship associates), other worship support volunteers and worship staff (see descriptions below). The Worship Team collaborates to create & facilitate meaningful worship experiences, both online and in person, that are the heart of our community. Worship designed to nurture hearts, challenge minds, invite transformative experiences, and inspire actions of compassion and justice. We seek to provide multigenerational, transformative worship integrating the spoken word, music, images, and powerful rituals around a central theme and supporting all the necessary logistics to make worship run successfully.
Worship Team Meetings
The team meets every one to two months depending on the needs for upcoming worship. We vary meetings between Zoom and in person. During our team meetings, we brainstorm ideas around the monthly themes for the month(s) ahead; assess past services; explore the worship needs of the congregation and new innovative practices; troubleshoot issues, and vision for the future.
Contact: Sharene Watsen