|
|
Office Location
1708 "I" Street
(was 1207 Ellsworth Street)
Bellingham, WA 98225
Mailing Address
1708 "I" Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-733-3837
uubellingham@nas.com
Church Administrator
Office Hours
by appointment only - please call ahead
|
|
BUF Facility Use Practices and Policies
Purpose
The Board has authorized the Outreach Study Group (OSG) to examine our current outreach and facility use practices and to propose and initiate new policies and procedures for outreach activity.
General Methodology
-
Identify any current procedures or policies that address involvement by BUF with outside agencies or programs, including building use policies, and outreach processes
-
Collect info on current congregational and outreach uses of BUF's facility. Construct a list of programs agencies and groups that regularly use and /or rent our building.
-
Examine our current alliances and the BUF policies governing our involvement with these organizations.
-
Examine the impact and effectiveness of the alliances on achieving BUF's mission.
-
Research other congregations' approaches to outreach.
-
Create a process to assess the financial and non-financial impact of each alliance to BUF/for BUF on an ongoing basis.
-
Develop procedural recommendations for Outreach programs in light of our mission and vision statements
-
Provide the information to the Board in a fashion that facilitates a visioning process for the congregation.
-
Submits finalized recommendations to Board for consideration by congregation at the fall/winter 2008 congregational meeting
Assumptions
-
It is the intention of the congregation to increase use of its facility as the building and BUF programs expand.
-
All programs developed by BUF or hosted at BUF should be consistent with BUF mission, values and principles.
-
Programs that are sponsored and subsidized by BUF should follow an additional program development process to gather information and encourage congregational support and collaboration.
-
The entire church and its membership are stakeholders in all outreach activities including all building use rentals. When there is a social justice use of the space, it is not only a social justice concern, but a church-wide concern.
-
There is a process for determining which outside non-profits shall be selected for Social Justice Collections during Sunday Services once a month. That process should be made transparent to the membership.
-
It would be helpful to BUF to increase building use revenue.
-
Where a process or product that is proposed in this document already exists, OSG has added that information to its output.
-
It would be useful to the Board, to the Executive Team, and to the users of the BUF facility to standardize, clarify, and regularly review the parameters for the use of the BUF facility.
-
It would be useful to the Board, to the Executive Team and to the users of the BUF facility to have priority for use of the BUF facility created and publicized.
-
The greater the degree of BUF's involvement in outreach activities the greater the complexity and need for democratic and transparent processes.
-
No member or committee of BUF may make a partnership alliance, enter into joint ventures, or represent BUF in the community without following an appropriate congregational process.
|
Overview
Outreach encompasses all BUF activities that invite people into our congregation or extend our mission into the community to encourage individual relationships, develop collaborative partnerships and act as public leaders.
It is through this process of Outreach that we accomplish the business of our congregation: to put our principles into action by connecting people to their greater purpose.
As Fredrick Buechner said of vocation, our sense of calling in life, it is "the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need." And as we say in our covenant, "love is the spirit of this fellowship, and service gives it life." Finding ways to empower individuals in this process of living our principles has become the shared vision of our leaders and teams at BUF.
In the process of looking at Outreach, we have come to realize that there is great overlap amongst Outreach, program development, facility use, and the great work of the many groups at BUF.
Realizing this, we see great value in Outreach Policies and Procedures, along with comprehensive program planning and resource materials, that can
help anybody navigate from an idea, through all the policies, procedures, forms, and fees, to an actualized project in a way that is easy, logical, transparent, and accessible.
|
