Assumptions
- UU faith communities need vital leadership to have impact.
- Leadership formation is a part of lifelong faith development.
- Cohesive leadership teams can effect lasting change and ensure organizational health.
- Leverage face-to-face time to build connections.
- Combining the experience of lay leaders and the expertise of staff will foster innovation.
Mission
The purpose of the UU Leadership Institute is to:
- grow Unitarian/Universalism and to support leaders with liberal religious values
- provide quality training that is accessible, affordable and convenient
- help leaders to develop sensibilities around culture, race, generations, gender and other identities so that we become more skillful in intercultural relationships
- provide opportunities for deeper understanding and innovative thinking
- provide leadership formation that is also faith with a strong grounding in liberal theology
Values
- No one of us has all of the answers. The world around us is always changing and we always have something new to learn.
- All relationships should be consensual (never coerced).
- Our communities should be places where all souls can flourish.
- We are called to build the Beloved Community and we have faith that we have the resources to do so.
- We need to work at being our best selves.
- We need to be able to make mistakes with humility and forgiveness.
- We share ourselves and our resources with the spirit of generosity.
- Our Covenants help us to be accountable to all of the above values.
*Loosely based on Guiding Principles for a Free Faith by James Luther Adams
