Visioning
Shaping Our Story: Congregational Visioning
The Visioning Task Force completed its work in the spring of 2024 and presented its Strategic Plan recommendations to the UUCE Board.
History
Why Visioning? UUCE makes a meaningful difference for ourselves and our neighbors in Eugene, Springfield, and beyond. By coming together to pool our ideas, resources, and commitments, we feel that we can ensure our positive impact for years to come.
By engaging with our congregants, our neighbors, and outside consultants, the visioning team spent from April 2024 to May 2025 formulating a strategic plan for our future. This resulted in five broad themes and multiple goals within each theme, as documented below.
UUCE 2025–2028 Strategic Plan
Financial Sustainability
- Invest in Creative Partnerships
- Strengthen Financial Development Programs
- Experiment with Crowdfunding
Community Engagement
- Strengthen Community Partnerships
- Increase Environmental Action
- Address Needs with Multi-Generational Groups
- Be a Bridge for Differences
Spiritual Deepening
- Embed Spiritual Deepening in All Programs
- Utilize UUA.org Curricula
Energize Participation
- Deepen Connection and Belonging
- Engage Children, Youth and Young Adults
- Optimize CRM (Breeze)
Congregational Care
- Expand Culture of Caring
- Secure Resources to Enhance Congregational Care
Task Forces
In the fall of 2025, each theme was presented to the church during a service and also discussed in a listening circle to refine interests and possible next steps. In the beginning of 2026, refined interests and next steps were presented in a Church-wide survey. The purpose of the survey was to identify the ideas with enough participant energy to move forward as task forces.
In Spring of 2026, based on the results of the Church-wide survey, we formed and launched our Visioning task forces – after months of winnowing and prioritizing, these task forces represent our most popular Visioning ideas. Some of the Visioning Task Forces fall within one of the original organizing themes, and some cross over themes.
Visioning Task Forces
· Care Network
· Chalice Lighter Coordination
· Eco Audit Earthling
· Family Bridge
· Grant Seekers
· JETPIG’s Assistants
· Multigenerational Events
· Ollie Court Neighbors
· Our Whole Paycheck Team
· Spiritual Retreat Planning
· Two Weeks Ready
Preparedness Partners
· UUA Discovery Squad
· Young Adult Ministry
What’s Next
The size of each task force varies. Each task force is now in a ‘norming’ phase; they are identifying how they will organize, and they are identifying feasible goals and next steps. Each self-leading task force also has a liaison from the Board of Trustees to provide assistance if needed. The Board will track the progress of each task force.
If you are not on one of the fifteen task forces, but you think that you might like to be, send an email to uuceboard@uueugene.org and please be sure to include your area of interest. In a time frame that is not yet defined, our intention is for the various task forces to report to the broader congregation on their progress and the exciting work that they are doing.
Past Steps
UUCE teamed up with Convergence Consultants for a multi-step visioning process.
Our first action was to complete the 2024 Congregational Vitality Survey which was submitted by nearly two-hundred UUCE members and friends. This survey was a wellness check for Convergence to learn about UUCE and the information gathered along with our attendance records, demographics, and other communications, were used by the consultants to look for trends, concerns, and emerging possibilities and connections.
- April-May, 2024
- Congregational Survey (assessment report PDF)
- June 23, 2024
- Visioning Report: Survey Results (video)
- August 27, 2024
- Creative Congregations: A Virtual Tour of Congregations Architecting Inventive Futures (video)
- September 22, 2024
- Futures Lab (report PDF)
- March 6, 2025
- Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene Recommendations for the 2025-2028 Strategic Plan (plan PDF)
- Summary PDF
Your voice matters.
You’re continued participation in this important community process is invaluable. Help shape the future story of UUCE!