At the February 1 Community Dialog meeting, I shared a concept with the Unity of Fairfax congregration about how to manifest our mission which is: We are a vibrant spiritual community awakening each life to the Christ within.
The concept is: Unity of Fairfax shall establish itself as a spiritual center for education, service and practice.
The concept met with a favorable response, and a team was established to flesh it out and seek additional input from the congregration. At Unity of Fairfax, we have a de facto sixth core value "collaboration." This team has met and realized that more information is needed in order to continue its discernment work. I'll get to that in a moment, but first I'd like to address the question of "Just what exactly is a spiritual center for education, service and practice?"
In point of fact, Unity of Fairfax already offers quality educational programs for children and adults; already sponsors service projects both within and outside the church; already offers inspiring programs of spiritual practice. The concept has to do with scale (we could be doing all these things on a much grander scale, thereby supporting our mission) and reputation (Unity still remains not well-known, thereby limiting our capacity to fulfill our mission). A detailed sample list of all these things is provided in the audio recording and written transcript of the February 1 Community Dialog Meeting on our website under the Stay in Touch tab.
An important factor in all of this is that roughly 20% of our income (around $200,000 in 2014) comes from the rent from our tenant. It's a good working relationship in that the rent is paid on time, and the tenant provides quality education for children in our community. The kicker is that mostly likely the tenant will vacate our premises in 2017 - and 2 years can go very quickly! (I know this personally - my 2 year anniversary at Unity of Fairfax is April 1!)
With the upcoming departure of our tenant, we have both an opportunity and a challenge. More of our physical plant will be available for our direct use, and we will have to generate the income the rent provides. There are many ways we could use the space both in the church building and the Mildred Park Center in support of our mission; and there are many ways we could generate the income that will need to be replaced. And that's where you come in.
On Sunday, March 22, the Strategic Initiative Team (its working title) will present a brief survey at the conclusion of both services. The survey will also be distributed online via Survey Monkey on or around March 19. It will have a variety of questions - all of which are designed to provide the Team with important and necessary information that will be shared at the May 2 Community Dialog meeting. YOUR INPUT IS CRUCIAL! Please check your email and/or plan to be at services on March 22. An investment of 10 minutes on your part will help steer Unity of Fairfax for years to come.
This is truly an exciting time - Spring is in the air, Easter is almost at hand, and we're quickened with the knowing that all things are possible. Let is feel into the future with enthusiasm and joyous expectation!
Peace be with you and namaste,
KEYWORDS: Spirituality, Personal Growth, Meditation, Self-improvement, Healing, Self-development, Consciousness, Spiritual Growth & Transformation, Christianity, New Age & Spirituality, Spiritual Healing, Contemplative Prayer