I’m jumping in the middle of a conversation, late to the dance as usual, but here are the two most recent bits of the conversation I’m aware of: Kinsi talking about bylaws and the COA and East of Midnight’s response.

The center of the controversy is East of Midnight’s saying that she feels sorry for congregational leadership when people don’t know the bylaws, and Kinsi’s saying that most UUs don’t care about the bylaws (and perhaps shouldn’t?).

Some scattered points:

1. It’s important for all members of a congregation to know how their congregation is run, even more so in a congregational tradition like ours.  Membership isn’t a fan club, of the congregation, of the denomination, or of the minister(s) and staff.  Membership carries with it certain responsibilities and privileges, and people who aren’t willing to carry those responsibilities and privileges shouldn’t join, no matter how neat they think UUism is. Come and participate, please, but don’t join yet.

2.  You should know how your congregation is run.  But you don’t have to read the bylaws to know, and it should have been covered in new member classes to begin with.  If people can’t be taught how things run without reading the bylaws, your congregation either runs things poorly or has bad bylaws, or both.

3.  Some people in a congregation have a gift for bylaws.  They should be relied upon and their advice trusted, even if the congregation ends up making different decisions than they would prefer.  Not everyone needs to have a gift for bylaws.

4.  Still, bylaws have absolutely critical importance in a congregational setting like ours.  That’s why I recommended a change to our bylaws that came up for a vote at our last congregational meeting.  Bylaws matter.  Bad bylaws eventually hurt people they should be helping, and untended bylaws encourage organizational mediocrity.

5. Bylaws are a way we “operationalize” our values. If you do read them, you should come away with the sense that this what UUism looks like in action when it comes to running the necessary officialdom of a congregation.

6. Over the last 25 years I’ve occasionally seen people use bylaws to bludgeon one another in at least three denominations.  Bylaws are meant to be a tool, not a weapon.  A congregation that is excessively focused on its bylaws is having problems that have nothing at all to do with the bylaws.  Over-focus on bylaws is a symptom of something else.  If the only people who know your bylaws are the ones who use them to defeat opponents in open congregational combat, you have a big problem on your hands.  And arguing about the bylaws more isn’t going to fix it.

7. To East of Midnight’s point, I’ll speak as a staff member in a large UU congregation.  What really aggravates me isn’t when someone doesn’t know who the Nominating Committee nominates, but when they ask why I didn’t tell anybody about something that was announced in the monthly newsletter, weekly bulletin insert, weekly email update, the announcement email list, on a bulletin board, in a direct email to all members, and mentioned by one of the ministers during a sermon.  I exaggerate, but not by much.

8.  Even more important on a week-to-week basis than bylaws is a good congregational covenant that the congregation has helped write and feels ownership over.  And just as important, having a clear path to follow, whether it’s in the bylaws or not, when somebody is having trouble living the covenant.

9.  Finally, bylaws are the legal foundation upon which our congregations are built.  Without bylaws, there will be no community building, religious education, worship, or anything else, not for long.  I dare you to run a congregation of any size without bylaws to rely on.  At some point during the first major conflict, someone will say, “Hey, we should figure out how we’re going to deal with this in the future so this disaster doesn’t happen again.”  Enter the bylaws.