Becoming a Member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork

UUCSF is an open and caring community that welcomes all, fosters spiritual growth, wages peace, and works for human and environmental justice.

WHAT DOES MEMBERSHIP MEAN?

Members of UUCSF participate in this community of faith in ways as intricate and diverse as each individual personality. Congregational decisions arise from members’ hopes, needs, and imagination, and are settled by members’ votes. Our mission, detailed at the close of this entry, was developed and voted upon by UUCSF’s early membership. Today we continue to be guided by this mission along with the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism.

Membership offers not only respite from the world’s madness and materialism but also sustenance to go out and engage with that world, hoping to make a difference. Members feel the strength of numbers, the power that comes from knowing their values are shared. Members are not alone, either in their struggles or during good times of accomplishment and fun.

PRIVILEGES OF MEMBERSHIP

In addition to shaping and continually refreshing UUCSF, members enjoy two important privileges. Although UUCSF’s various committees include members and friends alike, only members can serve on on the elected Board of Trustees that governs the congregation. All members also have a say on how the congregation spends its pledge income because the budget, every year, is reviewed and put to their vote.

A further word on pledging: UUCSF, like every other Unitarian Universalist congregation, is solely responsible for funding its own programs and day-to-day operations. Members see their annual pledge not only as fiscally necessary but also as an opportunity to experience the deep joy of generosity.

WHAT JOINING WON’T DO FOR ANYONE AND WHAT IT MIGHT DO FOR YOU

One thing joining won’t do is deliver dogmatic answers to life’s most difficult questions. Unitarian Universalism is far less about having answers than embracing a lifelong, often exhilarating, process of thought, questioning and experience.

Among this congregation, as with UU congregations nationally, you can find great variety of belief. Some people believe in God or a divine being, for example, some are agnostic, and some atheist. Are we a religious organization? Yes, because “religion” means, at root, what binds us together. Unitarian Universalists are bound together by the values radiating through its seven principles.

Joining for you could mean discovering fresh insights along familiar pathways. It could mean venturing into uncharted territory. In whatever case, the initiative is yours. When you sign the UUCSF Membership Book, you are not signing on someone else’s dotted line.

HOW DO PEOPLE JOIN?

Joining is a simple process. If you are fundamentally in sympathy with our mission and principles and willing to support with energy and money that which reflects your values, take a moment to speak with someone on the Membership Committee. During coffee after service would be a fine time to begin this conversation.

UUCSF’s minister, the Reverend Alison Cornish, likes to talk with all prospective members before they join. This meeting is an opportunity to get better acquainted, for you to ask questions and hear a bit about the roots and traditions of Unitarian Universalism as well as the workings of UUCSF. A Membership Committee person can help set up this meeting, or you can call the minister yourself at 631-725-5987.

The UUCSF Membership Committee has prepared this summary and would be pleased to hear your comments and questions. (We’re the ones with green on our name tags.) May UUCSF be for you all you hope.

OUR MISSION

We, the members and friends of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, have joined together in community:

• to affirm our liberal, non-creedal religion;


• to examine our beliefs and values, allowing each to seek his or her own truth;


• to seek spiritual growth;


• to work individually and as a group to benefit the greater community;


• to guide our children in developing their own beliefs and values to meet their own experience and needs;


• to welcome diversity in our Congregation and our world; and


• to celebrate life’s wonder.

OUR PRINCIPLES

The member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to affirm and promote:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
  
• Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations;


• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;


• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;


• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;


• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;


• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part.

Adopted by the 1984 and 1985 General Assemblies