Recently the Church Board formed a Summer Services Committee composed of Tim Chambless, Sydney Fonnesbeck, Joe Herring, Mary Kroener-Ekstrand, and Harold Straughn, with Christian Dimaano as Board liaison. The Board asked Harold Straughn to direct the Committee for the purpose of evaluating the future format of Summer Forum.

Here is the Board’s charge to us:

For many years the First Unitarian Church has, during the summer, put Sunday Services on hold and operated a Summer Forum series. This has been done on a volunteer committee basis. A minimal budget has been made available by the Board of Trustees, but there has been little or no assistance from the Church’s professional staff – the minister, religious education director, or music director.

The Forum is a series of weekly speakers, generally from the local community, who have, over the years, brought many thought-provoking or humorous presentations to an interested audience. Often the weekly presentations have been without music of any kind, although in the last couple of years, good piano music has been added for prelude, postlude, and at other appropriate points in the meetings. There has been no children’s program, only child care.

From time-to-time the issue gets raised, by interested congregants, whether the Forum ought to be expanded or changed so that the meeting looks more like a regular Sunday service, with a full or at least modest music program, and a children’s program sufficient to attract young families.

So, the questions before the Summer Services Committee are:

1. Is there widespread congregational interest in changing/broadening our existing summer program?
2. If so, what should the new program look like?
3. What resources would be necessary in order to make it work?
4. Detail the above three issues.
It is easy to conceptualize an enlarged program. Where/how would the Church get the resources necessary to actualize it?

In making our report to the Board, the Summer Service Committee enlists your help in objectively measuring support for the existing format, compared to a change toward continuing in the summer more like the rest of the year.

Our report will not affect the upcoming Summer Forum, but will provide guidance as the Board considers possible changes for future years.

Some reasons for continuing unchanged:
a. Summer Forum has been successful for over 25 years in its current format.
b. Its main purpose is to provide service to the community outside the church.
c. The current format meets an important need of our members for thoughtful speakers on significant topics.

Some reasons for considering changes:
a. Families with children might be more likely to attend church during the summer if an educational program for elementary children were offered rather than just childcare.
b. Summer is a time when “church shoppers” attend our services, but they can’t tell what kind of church we are.
c. People’s spiritual needs and interests don’t stop in the summertime.
Here is an important opportunity to reflect about an important aspect of our church life.

Our thanks in advance for your responses!
Harold Straughn, Committee Chair,
Tim Chambless, Sydney Fonnesbeck, Joe Herring, Mary Kroener-Ekstrand, Board Liaison Christian DiMaano

Summer Forum Survey Instructions (please read)

Please fill out the survey below -- Use the scroll bar on the right to see all of the questions (survey is longer than the page). Make sure to click on the "submit" button (below the section for comments) when you are finished.