​A Guiding Covenant for Our Life Together

1. Hospitality

We will give and receive hospitality by caring for our time together. People work best in places where we support and respect each other’s work, time and tasks. Reciprocity and collaboration are key.
​

2. Be Present

We will be present as fully as possible. In the spirit of our belief that we are better together, at the beginning of each meeting we will have an intentional time of worship and take a brief time to check in with each other using a relevant focus question. This will allow us to put aside concerns we bring with us and support each other through listening and staying engaged.

3. Speak our Truth 

We will speak our truth in ways that respect other people’s truth. We will not interrupt, correct or debate what others say. We will speak from our own center using “I” statements, and will only speak once until everyone who wishes has an opportunity to speak. We will listen deeply to each other, allowing each person time to speak and we will not embark on side conversations. There may be exceptions such as keeping us aligned with the topic, or if hateful or harmful comments arise.

4. Honest Open Questions

We will respond to each other with honest, open questions instead of counsel, correction, etc. With such questions, we help “hear each other into deeper speech and better decisions.”
​

5. Turn to Wonder

When the going gets rough we will turn to wonder. If we feel judgmental or defensive, we will ask ourselves, “I wonder what brought them to that belief?” I wonder what they are feeling right now?” “I wonder what my reaction teaches me about myself (my feelings, privileges, etc)?” “I wonder who is missing from this conversation?” We will set aside judgment to listen to each other – and ourselves – more deeply. We recognize there may be unresolved conflict and discomfort.
​

6. Conflict of Interest

We will declare any conflict of interest we may have. Honesty is essential to our work together. We will consider if an issue we are discussing or a decision we are making for the Community of Faith might be to our personal or family’s benefit. If so, we will declare a conflict of interest at the outset of the discussion.

7. Intentional Care

We will demonstrate intentional care to each other, to ourselves and to the membership of our Community of Faith. As leaders in the congregation, we give the intentional commitment to respond with acts of care when care is needed. ​

8. Prioritize Time

We will prioritize time for deep discernment, decision-making, and directive action. Detailed planning and reporting will be accomplished outside of Executive Team (Council) meetings. Teams will focus on setting strategic direction, priorities, budgets, and timelines, then will delegate, complete and evaluate their action items. We will all stand behind and implement the decisions we make.

9. Be Accountable

We will be accountable to our community. We strive for respectful candor, providing feedback by both caring personally and challenging directly to preserve safety, effectiveness, personal well-being, and overall community experience.

10. Strengths Approach

We will maintain a strengths approach. We hold many tangible and intangible assets. We will let our imagination affirm the positive, to dream new perspectives, bold possibilities, and practical solutions that build on these strengths so that individuals and communities can flourish.

11. Celebrate

We will have fun together and celebrate our achievements. It is essential to the functioning of our Council to take meaningful time to attend to the relationships we have with each other. Our work together will be balanced with times of play.

12. Maintain Solidarity

For Council specifically, we will maintain solidarity. We will have open and honest discussions within the Council considering others points of view. We will support and defend all final decisions, regardless of our personal position. We will keep confidential any dissenting opinions and any sensitive information arising from our meetings. We will share the general learnings, not the stories. Only official minutes will be kept.