Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace.
The first full day of the Global Council meeting has drawn to a close with everyone in high spirits and weary from a long, engaging, demanding, productive day. A day – as Honorable Elisha Buba Yero from Nigeria highlighted in his closing thanksgiving – of deepening friendship, smiles and laughter, offered in service to the URI global community, on whose behalf we’re here, and on behalf of our world.
Though we are missing five trustees because of either personal or visa issues, twenty-two trustees from eight regions and fourteen countries met today. The last to arrive, after a fourteen-hour delay in Hong Kong, was Vrajapati Das, trustee in the Multi-Region from India.
Of those twenty-two trustees, only seven served on the previous GC. So, we have placed a high value on time to build strong relationships among this new group of trustees and to provide the best possible orientation to the unique role and responsibilities of the GC. This effort began on Tuesday evening with an opening reception where people could begin to get to know each other, followed by a lengthy dinner marked by engaged conversation as people became more relaxed and comfortable together and began forging the deep relationships that will enable this group to work well on behalf of URI’s global community.
Wednesday, after a sacred opening that included reading the Preamble, Purpose and Principles, and time in silence connecting with and calling into our presence URI’s global CC community, we spent the morning with a briefing and dialogue on trustee roles and responsibilities. This orientation focused on a description of the GC’s role and responsibilities developed and adopted by the previous GC, one of many gifts from that GC to this GC and to the ongoing growth and development of URI.
We all acknowledge the debt of gratitude we, and all of URI, owe to the previous GC, as well as to the GCs before that. At the end of the morning session, trustees read aloud together the GC Trustee oath they had read during the conference call on 20 June 2012, reaffirming their commitment to honoring the sacred trust the URI community has bestowed on them as trustees.
After lunch, again marked by animated engagement among the trustees, we reconvened to conduct some formal business. We began with an explanation of key elements of GC decision-making. We stressed that it is important for the GC to have space to deliberate carefully, encouraging diverse perspectives on key issues, and to move through deliberation toward a shared commitment to a particular decision/action. We reviewed the formal process of reaching a decision. Then the GC reaffirmed the officers and committee assignments it approved when it was inaugurated during a conference call on 20 June 2012.
During the election process for the current Global Council, URI’s CC community voted, at the recommendation of the previous GC, to amend the bylaws to provide for “staggered terms” for the GC. Therefore, beginning with this GC, every two years four of URI’s eight regions will elect trustees. The intention of staggered terms is to improve continuity on the GC since at least half of the GC will remain in place each time there is an election.
The task for this GC was to implement this amendment by selecting four regions to hold early elections, beginning later in 2013, with the election of trustees completed by June 2014. These trustees will then serve a four-year term, ending in 2018. The four regions selected, either by random drawing or because the trustees in that region volunteered for early election, are Africa, Asia, Europe and SEAPac. The current trustees in these regions will serve a partial term and are eligible to stand for re-election if they choose.
The four regions selected by random drawing to hold their next election in 2016 are Latin America and the Caribbean, MENA, Multi-Region and North America. The current trustees in these regions will serve a full four-year term.
The balance of the afternoon was spent in an in-depth conversation on how to promote the best possible communication among trustees. By the end of the afternoon, we had generated a long list of important communication skills/practices, including: listening with patience and openness; promoting mutual respect; honoring different communication styles; allowing the time and space for deep communication and balancing that with the need to make decisions in a timely manner, assuming a positive intent, and developing strong, positive, appreciative relationships as the foundation of all good communication.
We finished the day with reflections on what we had experienced and accomplished and then a thanksgiving for the day. Dinner and the balance of the evening were unstructured, but I saw people lingering long in conversations with each other.
During the day, members of URI’s staff around the world began to arrive ahead of a reception for GC and Staff at the end of the afternoon on Thursday, which will begin the joint GC-Staff portion of this meeting.
I want to thank all the members of the CC community who are supporting this gathering with their prayers and meditation. You offer a precious and deeply-appreciated gift.
Faithfully,
Charles
The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs
Executive Director, United Religions Initiative
