The comments in the Zoom chat can be especially distracting in a GA business session. It’s like listening in on a dozen side conversations at once while someone is trying to present a position for or against an issue we’ll be voting on. Or eavesdropping on a loud conversation at the next table over in a coffee shop. But once in a while, I “overhear” a comment in the Zoom chat that sticks with me. 

What I’ve overheard in multiple comments this year relates to how “other nonprofit organizations” do things. I wonder how many UUs think our congregations should be run just like other nonprofit organizations. Because the thing is, we aren’t like other nonprofits. 

We do have nonprofit status as a religion, but that’s not quite the same. If people were to compare how we do things with Episcopal culture and processes or Muslim community practices, that might be a closer comparison. But we aren’t comparable to most nonprofit organizations. 

Most nonprofits that aren’t churches have a clear mission to accomplish something in the world—a reason they exist that can be quantified, even if it’s a big challenge. “No child in this city goes hungry.” Or “free career skills and job placement for high school graduates.” There’s a thing that they do. And ideally, every decision points in the direction of that mission. 

Spiritual communities aren’t that. We have a different sort of reason for existing. We commit ourselves to aligning with a set of shared values, and all of those values are relational. So, for Unitarian Universalists, we are about centering our values and one another. The only reason for us to do anything is because it helps us be better embodiments of the spiritual principles to which we’ve committed ourselves. And those principles or values aren’t anything we can do alone. We thrive as a community when we nurture our relationships. 

I’ll be even more direct. I think if someone is serving on a committee in a UU church and not prioritizing (a) the other human beings sharing that responsibility, and (b) the values held in common with all UUs, they aren’t accomplishing the work of the church. 

Maybe that’s what it would mean to be a “devout UU.” In other faith traditions, a devout person might have a clearer definition. Pray at the appropriate times. Wear the appropriate garments in public. We don’t have those sorts of specific requirements. What we have are covenants. Which is to say, we have one another. We have values. Which is to say, we have a foundation for everything we do. 

If we prioritize efficiency or some other outcome at the expense of relationship and integrity to our values, we fail to be who we say we are. We don’t get to say, “We provided 4,000 audiobooks for dolphins, so it doesn’t matter how many bridges or people we burned to accomplish that goal.” In non-church nonprofits, it often doesn’t matter how the mission gets accomplished, how toxic the environment is, or how many volunteers leave every year, as long as the mission is achieved. In churches, especially in UU churches, the method is the mission. How we show up covenantally in all aspects of our community is the work. The quality of relationships we co-create, built on the values we share, is the point of our being.

We don’t always honor our covenants, which gives us opportunities for repair. And we don’t always build on the foundation of our values, which gives us opportunities for recalibration or refocusing. These distinguish us from “other nonprofits” in very important ways. What we create in the world will be an outcome of us living with integrity to these defining commitments. And we might not know what that looks like ahead of time. A UU version of faith perhaps.

As we go about our work, in our congregation and beyond, may we center ourselves in our relationships with one another and our mutual values—which is to say, may we center ourselves first and foremost in liberating love in all of its expressions, within our community and beyond—and trust that effective practices and structures will emerge from that commitment.