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TJ Connection - Summer 2003

Table of Contents

UUA General Assembly 2003

District President’s Column/Fall Leadership Conference 

Qiyamah’s Corner 

Ministerial Matters 

Annual Meeting Focuses on Membership, Annual Meeting Awards and Elections 

Lifespan REflections

TJD District Staff Calendars 

Your Wild(e) Trustees Column

Does Your Congregation Want to Be More Family Friendly?

New Fair Compensation Guidelines Will be Available at GA; CLF Pen Pals

Accepting Allies News/Study Action Issues at GA/New Asian Pacific Islander Caucus 

TJ District Fair Share

Consulting Ministry

Chalice Lighter Grant Made/Western Carolinas Cluster Forms 

Congregations Focus Deeply on War / TJD Welcomes New Congregation / District Office Has New Sign

Welcome to Our New DREs / UUs Supporting National Public Radio / UUA President Spotted in TJ District

On the Journey Toward Wholeness / DRUUMM Events at GA

District Calendar

New Fair Compensation Guidelines Will Be Available     at GA

The first part of 2003 has been a busy time for all District Compensation Consultants. Together with our 22 colleagues from the other districts, we contacted and worked with our assigned congregations with paid staff to get great participation in the UUA triennial survey of salaries and benefits. This survey is extremely important, since it is the main input to the new, and expanded, fair compensation guidelines to be available at GA, in Boston.

The 2003 UUA Staff Compensation Survey heard from 53% of UU congregations about wages and benefits paid to over 2000 employees. There was an 80% response rate from congregations of 150+ members and 85 % response rate from congregations of 250+ members.

The 2003 survey was also special in two other ways: 
+First, we used the World Wide Web! All TJ District's congregations completed their surveys on line, saving many hours for everybody and allowing us to view the information as soon as it was entered. About 80% of our district's eligible congregations participated, and the data for our district's participants was complete and correct on first entry in all but a very few cases - THANKS - THANKS - THANKS
+Secondly, while we have collected information on non-ordained staff in previous surveys, this time we tried to break down these positions by level of responsibility and degree of qualification. Following the expanded mission of the Ministry and Professional Leadership Staff Group, the new 2003 report will now cover non-ordained staff in greater detail by making the guidelines more specific to the job level and also by including some of the recommendations from staff groups such as LREDA. This is a wonderful addition to our mission for the TJ District.

After GA we will be available to work will each congregation to set a Fair Compensation plan for all your staff. Either contact us first or we will contact you as the new church year starts in the fall. Wendell covers the western portion of the district and he can be reached at WPutney@EssilorUSA.com or 336-855-8018. If you are in the eastern portion, contact Frankie at fpricestern@uua.org or 919-945-0886.

Frankie Price Stern
Wendell Putney
TJD Compensation Consultants

Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) Pen Pals

You can help the Church of the Larger Fellowship bring the UU voice to our incarcerated members and their friends by spreading the word about this worthy program. The CLF has forty-seven members who are in prisons across the U.S. and Canada. Thanks to the CLF’s prison chaplain, the Rev. Anne Hines, we have a Pen Pal program, linking incarcerated CLF members with members in the “free world.”

As of this writing, 25 inmates have requested CLF Pen Pals, and the number is growing. Please help us let folks know about this worthy program. For more information, contact the CLF at clf@uua.org.