The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

Featured Articles - January, 2005

We Sell the 17th St. Property for $1.1 Million with a 15-month Leaseback at $1 Per Month

After having listed the 17th St. property for sale in October, we closed the sale of the property on December 14 for a purchase price of $1,100,000. Even after our first buyer for the property walked away from the deal, there was a great deal of interest in the property and our broker fielded over 200 calls. We received several confirmed offers before settling on a final purchase agreement. The net cash to the church, after paying closing costs and commissions, is expected to be approximately $1,030,000, although a small portion of that purchase price is being held in escrow during our lease term. A total of $995,023 was wired into our bank account on December 14.

The agreement specifically includes a leaseback of the 17th St. property to the church for 15 months at $1 per month. We might be able to extend the lease longer (assuming we still need the space) if the developer is not yet ready to proceed with construction at the end of the 15 months. Based on estimates from some of the bidders, the value of this lease to the church is approximately $45,000 (based on a monthly rental rate of $3,000 per month).

I am so pleased that we were able to sell our very valuable asset at such a good price. As previous newsletter articles have indicated, we paid approximately $1,250,000 for the 11,000 square foot lot on 18th St. (which is about 3,500 square feet bigger than the 17th St. property), so the result for our 17th St. property is really excellent. We also did much better than some earlier estimates of value in the $600,000-$700,000 range. We ultimately sold the 17th St. property for about $146 per square foot, which is actually higher than the per square foot cost of the 18th Street property (coming in at $114 per square foot).

My thanks again to Pat McGuire and Warren Mathews for serving on the special committee that helped review offers and strategize about the property, and for the support of the board over the last two months. I hope everyone enjoys a happy and healthy new year.

—Carol Kerr, President

'Covenant Groups — A Healing Community'

This is the title of the article by Thandeka, published in the January/February 2005 issue of "UUWorld" She states in the article, “Five years ago, few churches had small group ministry programs. Recent anecdotal evidence indicates that at least 70 percent of our churches now have them or are making plans. Small group ministries are revitalizing the spiritual life of our congregations.”

Thandeka is an Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Meadville/Lombard Theological School. She is also Co-President of the Center for Community Values, a not-forprofit educational institute that serves as a resource center and networking facilitator for people engaged in covenant group work.

At UUCCSM we launched our program last October with two covenant groups. On Sunday January 9, at 12:30 p.m., we will offer an introduction to the program with the objective of forming more groups. The session will begin in the sanctuary with a short briefing. Participants will then break into small groups of up to 10 people to allow everyone to participate and experience what takes place in a typical covenant group gathering. So if you are curious about the possibilities of this new movement within the UU community, set aside a couple of hours and join the others after a short lunch in Forbes Hall.

As Thandeka puts it in her article, “As a spiritual practice, small group ministry focuses on process, not problems. It aims to treat all content of a person’s life in the same way, as a moment worthy of one’s full undivided attention. It does not aim to offer advice, guidance and direction, or to resolve personal problems. It simply stops time so that the full presence of each person is acknowledged and appreciated in that moment. The idea is not to work on problems. The idea is to share feelings. Each moment is packed full of joys and sorrows, the victories and defeats, the thoughts and ideas that make each lived moment of our life an experience worthy of our time.

“In small group ministry this personal practice of paying attention, of experiencing stress-free moments with others, is sacred time. Small group ministries are the practice of sacred time, which is why they are transforming our religious landscape.”

—Marv Pulliam

Democracy Does Work, Even on Difficult Problems

Well folks, you’ve just had a chance to see a bit of the inner workings of democracy in action. Last month, I shared with you a proposal that was being considered to abolish the position of church treasurer. I cited compelling reasons that had led to the proposal, some of the impediments to implementing it, and a list of major factors that needed to be considered.

It was the third of those factors, the need for any volunteer position to be filled by realistically available candidates, that led the discussion to an unexpected answer. That answer was to strengthen rather than abolish the treasurer position, but in a way that would not require unrealistic technical financial competence on the part of the incumbent.

Specifically, the annually elected treasurer would be responsible for monitoring and taking action relative to performance against budget, and for participating actively in development of the budget for the following year. The longer-term Finance Committee would be the primary source of technical financial competence on an advisory basis, providing technical support to both the treasurer and the financial accounting functions of the office staff. It would also serve as financial policy advisor to the board and the congregation.

Democracy does work, by golly, and discussion among intelligent people can lead to solid solutions to seemingly difficult problems.

—Warren Mathews, Finance Committee Chair

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