Morning Worship

Many of us began the final day of the 2024 General Assembly with a meditational morning worship service, led by Rosie Whiting of the Findhorn Unitarian Network. It brought back pleasant memories of the Findhorn Experience Week I enjoyed in 2018, and was a beautiful start to the day as we listened to Taizé chants, and joined in singing.

Plenary IV

A slightly chaotic start to Plenary IV, as the (revised) Gaza Motion (motion 3) had been moved to the start of Plenary IV, replacing the opening, much to the surprise of those of us who only learned this as we entered the room! Nevertheless, we attended and listened, and whilst it was an often impassioned debate, it was a constructive one. The motion was passed, albeit with some feelings of dissatisfaction. This is, perhaps, a foundation to build on, rather than a last word on the matter. After that, we had motion 4 from Stockton Unitarians, Chorley Unitarians, FOY Society, and the Northern Unitarian Association, to remove the ‘maximum of four ordinary motions with one emergency motion’ wording from the GA Constitution, to allow for unlimited motions to be brought before the General Assembly. After some debate, this motion was not passed. As a motion affecting the GA’s constitution, it needed to be a two-thirds majority, and whilst it had a simple majority, it was not large enough to do this. We will see how things work in future given the move to a three-day (not four-day) General Assembly – the report on this should be read by all of us, if you haven’t read it already!

Following this, we had motion 5 on the plan to make the General Assembly a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) over the next few years. This has been recommended to protect members of the Executive Committee – the trustees – from personal liability, and is also something all of us should be thinking about over the next few years, as the ‘excepted charity’ status for various church denominations, including ours, will end in 2030. Next, we had motion 6 on the ‘Match Funding’, or perhaps it would be better to refer it to it as the Innovation Challenge. Given the events of Plenary III, many of us were uncertain how this would go, but in the end the debate was mostly constructive, and the motion was passed, to some cheers! Whilst this clearly isn’t an uncontroversial idea, and there are obviously some challenges to its implementation, it does at least represent a possible step forward towards ensuring we survive as a spiritual movement. In this author’s opinion, there is no point our hanging on to our funds if we have to close due to our failure to grow our membership by reaching those for whom we are a natural spiritual home. To close this session, we had a report on the Nightingale Centre from its new manager, Kathryn Breen, whose enthusiasm surely bodes well for the future.

Workshop 7: The Social Action Audit

A first-time experience for the author, as I was one of four people – the others being Ann Howell, the GA Social Action Officer, Rev. Stephanie Bisby and Rev. Winnie Gordon – presenting the findings of the recent Social Action Survey. We split the session between exploring what congregations and individuals are doing on the main topics of social concern that emerged from the survey; climate justice, peace, and housing & homelessness, and presenting the full findings from the survey. It was great to see so many people interested in the findings and in social action in general, perhaps we will have the opportunity in a few years’ time to revisit the survey and see how our Unitarian social action continues to develop.

Closing Session

We returned for the Closing Session, including a vote on the Honorary Membership motion, which had been bumped from Plenary IV to allow for discussion of the Gaza Motion. The vote was in favour, as were the votes for the motions of thanks, and for the appointment of the new GA President – Geoff Levermore – and the new GA Vice-President – Rev. Jeffrey Bowes. We also voted to thank Vince McCully for his service as GA President during a time of great challenge. Geoff Levermore’s speech on the nature of Unitarian beliefs, and the importance of tackling climate change, left me convinced that he will be an excellent choice for GA President for the coming challenges ahead. Ahead of lunch and the long road home, Rev. Mark Hutchinson closed out the 2024 GA with a moving closing worship, including a rousing cheer of thanks to Rev. Ant Howe for his excellent address at the Anniversary Service the night before, and clutching our banners and new books under our arms, we concluded the 2024 General Assembly and prepared to return home to our congregations (and, possibly, a well-earned rest!).