mission

Shed old processes to create vitality

Natalie Briscoe, a Congregational Life staff member for the UUA’s Southern Region, invites congregational leaders to undertake some “spring cleaning” in a recent post on the region’s blog. She suggests some things congregations might want to get rid of, including:

• A mission that is uninspiring, inaccurate, or old. A vision that is too small, old, or doesn’t lead you to where you want to go. An old covenant that isn’t practiced. Processes that no longer serve the congregation (such as committee structures, governance style, or communication processes).

• Along with old processes, how about old technologies? Are you still using a membership database from 1994? Do you still have Yahoo email groups? The internet, social media, and new database systems can streamline our congregations. We no longer need to waste time with outdated technologies.

• Silence around financial issues. Does your congregation have anxiety when it comes to speaking about money? Throw out the silence and start having honest conversations about what we can realistically do to financially support Unitarian Universalism in our communities. There are no tips or tricks; we just have to do it.

Briscoe’s complete blog post, from March 16, is here.

 

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Uncategorized

Let your building speak for you

Congregations interested in clearly communicating their values and mission to guests and others will want to  read a recent post by the Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein on her blog, PeaceBang. Weinstein describes a visit to the Countryside UU Congregation in Palatine, Ill.

Starting with prominent exterior signage, neatly arranged informative bulletin boards, and interior signs that make it clear where people need to go, Weinstein congratulates the congregation on ably communicating “congregational vitality and purpose.” She writes that, without speaking to anyone, she “learned a ton about the congregation’s values and general health. The building itself communicated the congregation’s purpose in existing.”

Weinstein especially noted the presence of major areas of ministry—worship, study, foundations (stewardship and legacy), and kinship—communicated through prominent wall displays. She writes that “the visual consistency across the space announces that these areas of programmatic interest are all elements within one integrated system. That’s important and impressive.”

 

 

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Growth

Should we attract consumers or questers?

The Rev. Naomi King, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Plantation, Fla., posed the following question in the UU Growth Lab on Facebook:

Is your community living missionally or attractionally? When we devote our energies to making our congregations attractional, we’re providing a service that can be consumed, and we’ll be rated and expected to produce a high-grade consumable product, usually without a comparable budget. I’d argue that that rarely equips people for a life-changing spiritual quest, and it does even less for truly changing this world for the better.

It does tend to feel great for the consumer, though, (while creating) super-high anxiety for the service providers. When we’re living missionally, we’re on an astounding adventure together, in a multitude of ways, to transform this world for greater goodness, to be changed ourselves, and to give thanks and praise along the way.

The anxiety in missional congregations is more evenly distributed because everyone has their part to do as part of the questing company. Everyone’s gifts are important, and everyone bears big responsibilities about saving the world. Risk is there, failure is present, but failure is embraced as a chance to learn. Risk is just part of meaningful life.

The mission is more important than comfort, because we’re on fire with the passion of that mission . . . Is yours an attractional community model of growth or a missional community adventure model of growth?

Find out more about the UU Growth Lab here.

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Growth

Recommended articles on congregational life, religion

The following articles about congregational life or religion in general have been recommended by Unitarian Universalists and others on Facebook in recent weeks.

The Rev. Stefan Jonasson, the UUA’s director for Large Congregations, linked to an Alban Institute article by Alban senior consultant Susan Beaumont, “Determining Ideal Board Size.”  Beaumont notes:

Generally having more people in a group will increase the likelihood that someone will have the information needed to make the decision and someone will propose a correct choice or solution. However, more people produce more opinions that have to be communicated and discussed . . . Most of us cannot imagine reducing our governing bodies down to 5 individuals, but the closer we can get to that number, the more effective our problem solving will be.

The Rev. Ron Robinson, who has a community ministry in Turley, Okla., held up an article, “Loose Connections,” from Christian Century about thinking about membership as not a one-time joining, but an annual recommitment to mission and covenant, “making it more about membership in one another rather than an organization.”

Christian Schmidt, a candidate for the UU ministry and incoming intern minister at First Parish in Needham, Mass., posted a link in the Facebook UU Young Adult Growth Lab to “Young, like Jesus: Finding a liberal, 20-and-30-something community of faith,” by Episcopalian Julia Stroud, from thedaily.com.  The article describes how Stroud gave up one definition of what a young adult group could be and found another.

Heather Christensen, an Alaska UU, recommended  “The Church for the 21st Century,” an article by Presbyterian Carol Howard Merritt at TribalChurch.org, on the UU Facebook Growth Lab. The article asks that readers think about questions like “What sort of work do young adults do in our community?” “Do we ask people to give up their time for meaningful (church) work?” “Are we doing enough to change the world?”

 

 

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Resources

Book helps with youth mission trip planning

Youth leaders responsible for planning social justice trips with youth will want to pick up a new book, Journeys of the Spirit: Planning and Leading Mission Trips with Youth.

The authors are Jennifer McAdoo and Anne Principe, two Unitarian Universalist religious educators from New England who, between them, have organized mission trips to Central America, Romania, Massachusetts, Maine, the Texas border with Mexico, and New Orleans.

The book covers how to determine what type of mission trips to do and why, and goes on to explain team-building and fundraising and how to share the trip upon returning home. It also includes testimonials by veteran UU social justice activists, including the Rev. Richard S. Gilbert, on their various experiences with mission work.

The book, published by the Unitarian Universalist Association, is $15 and is available at the UUA Bookstore.

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Resources