Join us on a two year journey of celebrating the Planet Earth from spiritual, educational and social outreach points of view.

"Celebrating the Planet - First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor's Plan B" will engage our Congregation to promote environmentalism from March, 2007 through May, 2009.

Mission and Purpose

Mission: We envision a world in which all people make reverence, gratitude, and care for the living Earth central to their lives.
Purpose: Our purpose is to inspire, facilitate and support personal, congregational, and denominational practices that honor and sustain the Earth and all beings.

We affirm the beliefs of Unitarian Universalism by seeking to put into action its 7th principle:

"Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

Mission and Purpose are from the "Unitarian Universalist Ministry For Earth", sponsors of the Green Sanctuary Program.

What we do

• Live out our Seven UU Principles and, in particular, the 7th UU Principle (Interdependent Web of all Existence) while identifying and taking concrete actions celebrating the Planet.
• Educate ourselves about critical environmental issues.
• Develop leaders by offering focused involvement and leadership opportunities for the members of the First UU Congregation.
• Advocate for a clear, strong, personal, First UU of Ann Arbor, denominational, and community voice for Earth ministry. We will provide visibility of the First UU in the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw community through our efforts
• Offer connectedness to other faith communities, to "Green" nonprofit organizations and to UU Denominational efforts.

Background and Project description

With the retirement of the church's Senior Minister Kenneth Phifer after 25 years of service, we conducted 350 one-on-one interviews to determine what our community values most.

A value that we agreed was central to our mission was to engage in social action, particularly those activities connected to the environment. The members of the First UU have a need, a desire, and a responsibility to engage in the community to help create a better world. The Earth needs responsible human beings to reduce the stress on our Planet and to aid a civilization in trouble. These two needs became the basis of the proposal, "Celebrating the Planet - First UU of Ann Arbor's Plan B."

On March 6, 2007 the congregation's Board of Trustees unanimously approved this motion:

"The Board of Trustees of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor pledges to coordinate through a task force a two year efforts to mobilize the members of the First UU Congregation to focus on "Celebrating the Planet.""

Under the leadership of Terry Madden and Colleen Crawley, the Task Force has accomplished the following:

• Formed a Think Tank
• An educational effort using a study/discussion action model was implemented from March - October, 2007
• Identified Action Task and formed Circles in the areas of a) Spiritual Practice; b) Sustainable Living; c) Religious Education; and d) Environmental Justice.

We have also developed an evaluation plan to review progress and to provide a feedback loop into the planning process. (To be developed in December, 2007.)

To join our efforts or learn more, please contact Terry Madden or Colleen Crawley at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Celebrating the Planet Events for 2009

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• ACTION CIRCLES

  Wind Turbine: Dave Friedrichs, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  Locavores (Local Food Group): Gail Lauzzana, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  Climate/Sustainable Communities: Holly Calderwood, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  Environmental Justice: Lucia Heinold. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  Spiritual Practices: Ricardo Wyatt, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  Religious Education: Tom Bartoshesky, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
  ADVISORY COUNCIL
  The Celebrating the Planet Advisory Council consists of co-chairs Terry Madden, and Colleen Crawley,  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and representatives from each Action Circle. Meetings are held at 7:00pm on the third Wednesdays of the month at the First UU Congregation building.