According to a Church Operations Manual that was prepared in 2010 and has been updated throughout the intervening years, UUCUC undertook its third formal planning efforts of the modern era beginning in June 2011. The two prior long-range planning projects began in 1997 and 2005.

The 1997 strategic plan focused on developing a mission/vision statement and upgrades to the church building. Planned expansion and remodeling of the entrance area and an elevator for access to the ground floor, main floor, and rood loft were held in abeyance due to the cost of remodeling the fellowship hall and addressing drainage problems in and around the church buildings. However, most of the objectives identified in 1997 were achieved by the mid 2000s, laying the groundwork for another round of planning.

Planning during 2005-06 involved three phases – 1: Develop a covenant statement that provided ground rules for how church members and staff will interact with one another. 2: Develop a new Mission Statement and a Vision Statement, which underpin our congregation. 3: Identify a number of objectives which will help the church realize its mission and vision, and specific action steps that serve as markers on the way to achieving the church’s objectives. The strategic plan included a detailed list of objectives and their action steps, who was responsible for achieving each (committee, staff, etc.), criteria for determining if an action step has been achieved, and a target date for doing so. This detail has enabled the congregation, committees, and Board of Trustees to focus on achieving the goals the congregation set its sights on.

In 2011 – 2013, the church focused its work on developing a strategic planning task force and training them in the process known as Appreciative Inquiry, which emphasizes searching for the best of the past and ongoing activities and building upon them. Over many months, and with many large and small congregational meetings and surveys, the task force developed seven strategic goals. Over one hundred members participated in cottage meetings in February 2012, answering the following questions:

1.  How did you get involved with the church. What keeps you coming back?
2. Describe the church at its best.
3. What are the common themes in those two questions?
4. What are the actions that illustrate those themes?
5. What would we like to hear others say about our church in 20 years?

The task force took the hundreds of responses to the first two questions and created 77 common themes, with a nearly equal number of illustrative actions that were with a nearly equal number of illustrative actions that were distilled down to five Provocative Propositions, which can be described as, “Statements that bridge the best of ‘what is’ and with your own speculation or intuition of what might be.” The propositions had to meet four criteria: 1. Is it provocative? Does it stretch, challenge, or innovate? 2. Is it grounded in examples? 3. Is it what we want? Will people defend it or get passionate about it? 4. Is it stated

in the affirmative, in bold terms, and in the present tense (as if it were already happening)?

Many more meetings and discussions followed the development of the Provocative Propositions. The task force coordinated the generation of goals for each

proposition. By February 2013, the church settled on fifteen goals, of which seven were considered actionable in the short term and eight were reserved for future action.

The following seven goals were presented to the congregation at the May 5, 2013 Annual Meeting:

1. Hire a Membership/Connections Coordinator
2. Support our current worship services and explore, experiment, and evaluate innovative changes
3. Increase participation and service opportunities into the Lifespan RE program
4. Make our church more green
5. Investigate and strengthen our RE programs
6. Conduct a space/facilities/utilization needs assessment
7. Strengthen Young Adult (18-35) group(s) at UUCUC

We are currently about three-quarters of the way through the 20 years mentioned in the final question to the 2012 cottage meetings: What would we like to hear others say about our church in 20 years? Some of the more interesting (to me, anyway) answers were:

• Church is a public leader advocating for people in need through public witness and action.
• UUCUC is known for taking courageous stands.
• Most people in church are active in some way.
• There are many active small groups.
• There’s space for non-profits to use to start up their organizations.
• Board of Trustee elections are hotly contested.
• The physical space is well maintained, the organ is still in great shape, and the sanctuary is air conditioned.
• We have a full time, paid volunteer coordinator.
• A church whose age pyramid has a lot of young families at the base.
• Building improvements: we have a real elevator and are very accessible to all.
• We are a community presence, joining with other faith communities to improve lives in our community.