5 -You and the Congregation as a System

1. A former board member is unhappy about the decision of the current board to outsource the congregation’s bookkeeping to the well-staffed office at a neighboring UU congregation. She sends a letter with her pledge card saying she is withholding her pledge this year. This is an example of:

2. The chair of the music committee is unhappy that the minister wants to have the music director attend worship planning meetings. The chair send a letter to the board complaining about this new practice and suggests that the music director be supervised by the music committee because of how closely they work together. This is an example of:

3. Every Monday morning, Lou sends a 3 page email to the minister critiquing the previous Sunday’s sermon. Lou becomes upset when the minister does not address all of his concerns. This is an example of:

4. The pastoral care team has had several members rotate off unexpectedly. The team’s visits to the local nursing home, where a few members are now residents, have dropped off. The daughter of one of the nursing home residents sees the pastoral care chair at coffee hour and asks why no one had visited lately. The chair replies, “I guess the minister just doesn’t have time for them.” This is an example of:

5. While walking to church, Pat notices that Chris is texting while driving toward the parking lot. At coffee hour Pat goes up to Chris, describes what she saw, then tells Chris that it is dangerous and asks Chris to promise to never do it again. This is an example of:

6. Ralph is on the stewardship team. When the team members meet to divide up the names to make stewardship phone calls, Ralph take twice as many names as the other team members. He claims he love talking to people on the phone. This is an example of:

7. Which is an example of a congregation creating a culture that demands “sameness”?

8. Which of the following is a sign that someone is NOT be acting in a self-differentiated way?