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What others say
about Rev. Latham’s workshop leadership:
Rev.
Robert T. Latham’s workshops are dynamic events. A gifted teacher
and presenter, Robert has the ability to lift up the congregational
experience that people bring into the room with them and turn it into
the light where new and profound lessons are revealed. People leave his
workshops not only with new ideas and insights, but also with excitement
and motivation to be change agents in their congregations.
I strongly encourage any
congregation, no matter how large or small, to consider hosting its own
Latham Workshop. Robert is one of the best consultants in the UU fold.
Rev. Dr. Patrick T. O’Neill,
Senior Minister, First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, NY
In
2006, during an interim between Senior Ministers, the Board of
First Unitarian Society of Wilmington, DE recognized the need for a
change agent. Reverend Robert Latham was specifically selected based on
his process for achieving congregational transition as outlined in his
book, Moving On From Church Folly Lane, and filled his role
beyond expectation.
In his initial interactive
workshop, Rev. Latham effectively engaged and stimulated the
congregation to access current performance and to define steps needed to
fulfill its potential as a large church. During the workshop,
participants agreed on four priority areas critical to achieving Program
Church behavior. The congregation embraced these priorities and made
measurable progress in all four areas during subsequent months.
The specificity of Rev.
Latham’s process and the clarity of the workshops he presents enable
participants to quickly grasp concepts and begin applying them. He
brings insight and experience that add to his credibility; his workshops
are laced with anecdotes.
Dale Stratton, Board Chair,
2006-2008, First Unitarian Society of Wilmington, DE
Workshop
Sampler
A Paradigm for Transition
Stuck in transition? Has this stuckness become an institutional lifestyle? Want to move into a different future? Then, this workshop is for you.
It is designed for the entire congregation because only the whole can
empower a movement beyond stuckness.
Based on the book, Moving on From
Church Folly Lane, this workshop distinguishes between the dynamic
characteristics of the four major attendance size cultures in
congregational life from the peculiar perspective of Unitarian Universalists. It empowers participants to see where they have been,
where they are, where they need to go and what they need to do to
transition into a new future.
Those attending are given the
opportunity to identify the major areas that need to be addressed in
order to complete the transition and maximize a positive future for the
congregation. The intention is for the Staff and Board to take
this information and create a game-plan of action with criteria that
measures results.
The Mything Link
The workshop
enables participants to arrive at a consensus about common beliefs and
empowers the possibility of faith witness. It is predicated on three
assertions. The first is that what Unitarian Universalists hold in
common is what unites them as a community of faith. The second is that
the power to create social change is found in commonality rather than in
diversity. And the third is that the mission of religion is to offer a
compelling mythic message that provokes toward individual and social
transformation. This workshop is a dynamic interactive process that
provides the foundation for arriving at such a message.
Motivating Myself and Others
How we can use the diversity of life
style that exists in our congregations to motivate energy investment in
our mission and ministry while, at the same time, raising appreciation
for this diversity? This workshop uses the Strength Deployment
Inventory to identify the four basic motivational lifestyles common to
membership and assesses their respective strengths and weaknesses. It
empowers recognitions that enable volunteer recruitment.
Unlike personality profiles, this
paradigm is easily retained in the mind and referenced when desirable.
It is the ground of new perceptions of reality and tends to alter
attitudes and behaviors in a profitable manner. Many participants
testify that its usage has not only significantly empowered their
congregational relationships but also their personal and vocational ones
as well.
Rev. Latham is a certified trainer in the
use of the SDI.
Creating a Mission-Covenant
Nothing has been more confusing for
Unitarian Universalists over the past forty years than the role of
mission in congregational life. This workshop addresses the "whys"
of this confusion and invites participants to begin formulating a
statement of clarity and power.
This workshop is the kick-off event of a
process that enables a congregation to achieve a consensus statement
about its reason for being. It uses an approach that places all
participants on the same dialogue page, thus avoiding the common pitfall
of trying to work from a cacophony of individual agendas. It
re-energizes the congregation's commitment to a mission that serves as a
beacon for action and a gage for success.
What Makes Policy Governance Work?
The ostensible purpose of PG is to
liberate a board from what it is generally unskilled for and least
prepared to do with any expectation of success, namely, micro-managing
the ministry of the congregation. Instead, for the religious
institution, it primarily shifts board responsibility to the
congregation's mission and to being a visionary body of spiritual
leadership.
However, since PG's original design
was to empower corporate boards, to work effectively in a voluntary
institution it must be adapted. This workshop gives focus to PG's
purpose, its primary tenets, its benefits and pitfalls, its organization,
the role of policy and the role of the minister.
It can be utilized for a small group
of leadership or for the education of all who might be interested.
The Committee on Ministry
The Committee on Ministry's function
is radically different from that of a Ministerial Relations Committee.
Unfortunately, the MRC has often been relabeled as a COM by those who
are ignorant of this difference. Thus, the failure rate of both
COMs and MRCs has often been high to the surprise of those instituting
them.
This workshop explores the difference
between the two and defines the role of the COM in congregational life.
It looks at its necessary purpose, organization, composition, policies
and relationships to the congregation and other bodies of leadership.
It is a model that began developing in
the late 1970s and was applied and refined in congregational life over a
nine year period in the 1980s and 1990s. The reason it is a model is
because in its refined mode it fulfilled its intended purpose.
This model will be the focus of the workshop. |
