Dedicated to Bringing Our Congregational Covenant to Life

A covenant is a living, breathing aspiration, made new every day.”  -- Rev. Victoria Sanford

Who we are and what we are doing

Currently, we facilitate monthly, theme-based Community Listening Circles, which have explored USNH monthly themes of Worship, such as WELCOME and COURAGE.

The Listening and Restorative Circle Process

USNH has committed itself to aligning our community relationships with our Congregational Covenant. Encouraging our community to live out these promises is an ongoing mission of the CRC that is carried out through workshops, circle gatherings, and Board/Committees support.  We have adopted the Circle Process for Restorative Dialogue, an approach for which the CRC provided the USNH community with trainings to learn how dialogue circles can be used for building relationships, for peacekeeping, and for creating a vibrant fellowship. We have recognized that this process can transform a topical group conversation from loosely structured socializing or opinionated discussion into a receptive space for thoughtful speaking and deep listening.

*Circles Can be Used To:

  • Build connections through telling our own stories
  • Achieve greater mutual understanding
  • Have an intentional opportunity to speak without interruption
  • Work through differences, difficult issues, painful experiences
  • Share and listen in a deeper, more heartfelt way
  • Focus on interests and meaning and much more! *from: The Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking, the University of Minnesota, School of Social Work.

Covenantal Relations Committee

PURPOSE: The purpose of the Covenantal Relations Committee (CRC) is to serve as partners in building, maintaining, and repairing congregational relationships to ensure that we are living in alignment with the USNH covenant. ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES: The work of the CRC will reflect USNH and UU values, and the congregation’s governing policies, and will seek to strengthen the shared covenant-based fabric of our community. Members of the CRC will serve the congregation, not individual congregants, staff, ministers, specific program areas of the congregation, or specific subgroups of the congregation.  The needs of the USHN community as a whole will always be held first and foremost at the center of all that the CRC does. The CRC is committed to supporting and nurturing healthy, mutually enhancing relationships, and for embodying and modeling the fact that our community cares when harm has been caused, whether intentional or not, whether the harm was initially recognized or not. The CRC serves to encourage cooperation and communal responsibility. The CRC is not a decision-making entity. The CRC honors the confidentiality of its internal reflection, deliberation processes, and outcomes. The CRC will engage in its work of supporting covenant-based relationships through three modalities:
  •  Supporting covenant-based relationships: Providing such proactive, skill-building activities as workshops, seminars, and discussion circles, among other activities.
  •  In the moment of potential or actual harm or conflict:  Serving as proactive witnesses and models of healthy covenant and mutual care.
  • After harm or conflict has been caused:  Serving as facilitators, mediators and guides to assist and support the conversation, healing, recommitment to covenant, and affirm mutual care and respect.

SELECTION PROCESS & ACCOUNTABILITY:

Recognizing that everyone possesses different skills and expertise, the CRC is committed to reflecting, learning, and working together.  Because this team functions as a ‘community of practice,’ rotation on/off the team will include a process of invitation and discernment in conversation with the chair, or co-chairs, of the team and/or minister.  We welcome those who are committed to this work, and provide support to those who feel called to contribute elsewhere.   Individuals may self-nominate or be nominated by committee members and others.  We encourage as many people as possible to join the committee to deepen their covenant-based skillfulness.  The term of service shall be at least two years and no more than five years.  Former members may return to the CRC one year after completing their terms. The CRC meets at least quarterly with the minister and will submit a periodic report on its activities to the congregation’s Board of Trustees, as is helpful or requested.
For a special reprint from our newsletter on Living Out Our Covenant, and the Covenant Readings Used at USNH, please click here.