Comments on: Without members of congregations, UUism would die

By: Blog awards, UU congregationalism, marriage joys, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:30:33 +0000

[…] defense of the congregation-based model: “The movement known as Unitarian Universalism is kept alive by actual people who are actual members of actual congregations. Other facets of the movement contribute to its vitality in their own ways, but their importance […]

By: 4alarm

4alarm — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:08:08 +0000

i’m not sure you go far enough here to describe UUism and the true essence of religion in terms of relationships.

i mean, why aren’t we all reading the same newsletter or listening to the same podcast at home on sunday mornings? it certainly ain’t because we’re extroverts.

By: Replacing or Supplementing the UUA? « Transient and Permanent

Replacing or Supplementing the UUA? « Transient and Permanent — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:32:42 +0000

[…] of less than 1/4 of American UUs, albeit an extremely important voice.Â No one is denying that, as Chutney pointed out, UU congregations form the backbone of the Unitarian-Universalist movement in America.Â Yet they […]

By: kim

kim — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:04:34 +0000

Itâ€s been interesting to go from walking down a street and recognizing fellow believers (and greeting them as such) to having to be satisfied with seeing a parked car with a UU bumper sticker. This is why I keep trying to get UUs to wear their chalice jewelry all the time. Maybe we could find each other....

By: chutney

chutney — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:27:54 +0000

Steve: I couldn’t agree more. And we’re doing better already getting them to come back into the fold. Probably ten of those new members were actually re-members who had grown up in our congregation and come back, and that’s a step up for us.

By: Tim Fitzgerald

Tim Fitzgerald — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:32:05 +0000

Itâ€s a small loss compared to the loss extra-congregational UUs choose to experience when they donâ€t participate in congregational life. Yes, itâ€s a choice. And, yes, itâ€s a loss...Congregations are not perfect, and neither are congregational UUs. But there is so much good that comes from congregational life, things that cannot be matched by camps and conferences and district meetings. Disagree. I've been to hundreds of Sunday services and grew up in a congregation, but I've never experienced anywhere near the spiritual meaning and heights in a congregational setting that I have at conferences. UUism has cultivated an active and effective conference-based form. At conferences, worship takes on dimensions and forms that are impossible in congregational settings. In this post, I'm with you about congregational UUs being the bones until you act as if congregational UUism is inherently superior -- religiously, spiritually, and effectiveness-wise -- to other forms. The fact is, that is just plain not the case.

By: Steve Caldwell

Steve Caldwell — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:25:14 +0000

Chutney wrote:
“And if the stats are still trueâ€”80-90% of us are ‘converts'”

Chutney,

The fact that we’re 80 to 90% converts may suggest that we may need to do a better job at keeping youth and young adults who were raised as Unitarian Universalists in our congregations, camps, and conferences.

I would recommend checking out “Children of a Different Tribe: UU Young Adult Developmental Issues” by Sharon Hwang Colligan.

You can find this online here:

http://www.circlemaker.org/cdt.html

Sharon did this resource based on a presentation she did on UU young adult developmental issues at the Nashville GA in 2000.

Sharon suggests in her paper that our churches do an excellent job at reaching out to and providing ministry to newcomer converts but we don’t do that well at reaching out to the former children and youth who were raised in our church basements.

By: h sofia

h sofia — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:14:40 +0000

CC – I’m not saying that some people don’t feel connected to churches they’ve belonged to. I’m talking specifically about churches being isolated from each other. I’m sure that two years or so again there was a discussion about this in the blogosphere, and at that time I pointed out that although there are five or six congregations within 15 miles of each other in my area – in the SEVEN years that I’ve been a UU, I’m unaware of a single intracongregational gathering apart from the small group of leaders that works on things like finding volunteers for General Assembly and district assemblies.

I mean, not even a potluck!?! Absolutely, I run into UUs in Portland or Seattle who have been to my church, but now belong to another, and if you belong to enough progressive organizations, your paths will cross with other UUs here. But I don’t see the congregations connecting with each other, sharing resources, or cross pollinating – not at a membership level.

And I just think that’s weird! I’ve never been a UU anywhere else but the Pac NW, so maybe this is something specific to my region.

By: chutney

chutney — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:22:39 +0000

CC, of the 100 or so new members I’ve taken in the past twelve months, less than 25 were UUs previously. It’s not a question of whether the new members should have connections outside the congregation. Most simply don’t, and won’t for some time.

And if the stats are still true—80-90% of us are “converts”—then this will be true across the board, even as the “converts” gradually pick up connections.

By: Jim McFarland

Jim McFarland — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:14:22 +0000

Well said.