Charge
The Covenantal Relations Team (CRT) is charged with:
- Promoting the UUCNH Congregational Covenant
- Designing and managing the process used by the church to address serious conflicts that may arise that threaten the health of the community
- Balancing the need for confidentiality with the need to keep the Board and Congregation informed when there is a conflict
The CRT is to be made up of three members of the Congregation, appointed by the UUCNH Board of Trustees, plus the Minister.
Authority
The UUCNH community is voluntarily bound together with a Covenant to one another that concludes with the words :
“Needing a safe, healthy environment, I will enter into conflict in a positive way, speaking with people directly, without divisiveness, honoring boundaries, and remaining respectfully engaged.”
The Congregation and the Board of the Church, desiring to live our Covenant, while recognizing that disagreements are inevitable, and that serious conflict must be addressed before it escalates to the point of creating division in our community, has given authority to the CRT to:
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- Develop programs and materials to publicize the Congregational Covenant
- Design and maintain a written process to address conflicts that may otherwise escalate
- Mediate among involved parties in cases of conflict, following the written process, with the goal of returning to respectful engagement
- In the event of behaviors or conflict that are not able to be resolved with direct engagement, and which risk escalating to become divisive, make recommendations to the Board concerning appropriate actions to protect the health of the community
In the case of any behaviors that threaten any person’s safety or the safety of our Church, the CRT is responsible to immediately expand confidentiality to the Minister, DFLD, the Safety Team Chair and/ or the Executive Committee so that the behaviors can be expediently addressed.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain a Master List of activities, duties, timelines, tasks, formats, etc. for which the Covenantal Relations Team is specifically responsible.
- Submit a report on the CRT’s activities for inclusion in the UUCNH annual report to the congregation.