In yesterday’s post, I suggested that there is no “mother lode of churchgoers somewhere out there just waiting to call themselves Unitarian Universalists,” which begs the following question (at least for me): Just how is this movement going to sustain itself, let alone grow? There are a lot of folk who believe that there are more than enough potential UUs coming through our congregations’ doors every Sunday to keep our movement alive. But as Daniel Aleshire has noted [PDF], contemporary “culture has moved congregations further from the center of public life than they have ever been.” If that, indeed, is the case, then we should expect that fewer and fewer people will be actively seeking out congregations to be part of. So even if we have an abundance of visitors today, we can’t count on them being there tomorrow.
Besides, turning visitors into members isn’t exactly our strong suit. If it were, we probably could have managed more than the meager 1% growth rate we’ve been so proud of (a growth rate that has actually disappeared in the last couple of years). As I mentioned yesterday, there are plenty of resources out there to help congregations attract and retain members, if they’re so inclined. But the challenge for me, as a UUA staff member working for the Prairie Star District and the MidAmerica region, is to see if there are things a denomination and its middle judicatories can do to encourage growth. Obviously, I’m not the only person thinking about this. For example, our Presbyterian cousins (who are, I believe, suffering the sharpest decline of all mainline Protestant denominations), have compiled a list of what growing churches do. Here are the broad categories they group congregational strategies into:
- Strong churches welcome new people
- Strong churches encourage participation
- Strong churches offer meaningful worship experiences
- Strong churches help people grow spiritually
- Strong churches commit to a positive future
They go on to say that
research also says denominations and local judicatories using the following strategies help congregations grow in numbers and ministry effectiveness:
- Take action and set policies to help congregations undertake the above steps.
- Start new churches.
Now, I’m always looking for research that corroborates information I’ve found elsewhere, and these tidbits from the Presbyterian’s U. S. Congregations survey bear a striking resemblance to something else I quoted yesterday, George Bullard’s “Judicatories Working Hard Vs. Working Smart.” Bullard says that smart judicatories focus on four congregational movements:
- Congregational multiplication movements
- Faithful, effective, and innovative congregational movements
- Congregational transformation movements
- Congregational support movements
And the first two of these seem to line up nicely with the two strategies named by U. S. Congregations. Take Bullard’s second focus, for example, “Faithful, effective, and innovative congregational movements”:
Really smart judicatories are seeking to help the top twenty percent of their congregations, who are already pursuing a spiritual strategic journey, to recognize sustainable habits that empower them to continue to soar as congregations.
What better description of “sustainable habits that empower them to continue to soar as congregations” than those five strategies of growing churches from the U. S. Congregations survey quoted above? Bullard says that middle judicatories should be spending 25% of their time encouraging these practices in those top 20% of congregations.
But even more enlightening (and perhaps damning for Unitarian Universalists), is what’s implied by the first point in Bullard’s list: smart judicatories focus 25% of their time and resources on “congregational multiplication movements.” This is, I believe, the solution to the rather intractable difficulty suggested by the U. S. Congregations’ survey: that denominations and local judicatories “help congregations grow in numbers and ministry effectiveness” by starting new congregations. This is an intractable difficulty because, to be honest, when has the UUA and its middle judicatories ever been particularly successful at starting new congregations?
Not since the “fellowship movement.” A movement that targeted “growing college communities [that] were especially fertile ground for planting the Unitarian religious flag.” I mention this because Bullard suggests a different target group for “congregational multiplication movements”:
The focus of new congregations is on preChristian, unchurched, underchurched, and dechurched persons, rather than transplanted members of churches of their denomination who need to be reclaimed.
And rather, I might add, than the politically and religiously liberal academics the fellowship movement appealed to. And that’s really my point. The only experience we’ve had starting new churches on even a moderate scale has been forming new fellowships after World War II, and not much since then. (The old “extension” program, by the way, was basically about bringing ministerial leadership to some of those lay-led fellowships that were founded in the middle of the 20th century.)
If starting new congregations is one of the two main strategies denominations and middle judicatories need to employ in order to grow, then we’d better get started. And Bullard’s “congregational multiplication movements” may be the best way to go. But if that’s true, then we need to figure out ways to help our congregations expand their base and attract the unchurched, underchurched, and dechurched. Is this even possible?
Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie 
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July 31, 2010 at 4:21 am
Kathy Burek
Thanks for posting this, Phil. There’s a lot to think about here.
July 31, 2010 at 5:39 am
psdlund
Thanks for your comment, Kathy. Yeah, I’m not sure what our strategy needs to be for the future, but I’m pretty sure we need to develop one!
July 31, 2010 at 6:37 am
nagoonberry
I read this UU World article recently about the fellowship movement: http://www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/93593.shtml
The origin of the Boulder Fellowship? A UU minister from Denver telling a Boulder resident, “You’re going to have to do it yourself.”
July 31, 2010 at 7:18 am
psdlund
And sometimes folks can do it themselves! Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we developed (reclaimed, perhaps) a culture where existing congregations felt it was their obligation to help new congregations get started? And knew they’d have the support of the UUA and the district staff?
July 31, 2010 at 8:33 am
nagoonberry
Exactly. Some can do it themselves. Obviously, they did in the fellowship movement. But think of the repercussions. The origin story? A layperson asked a minister for help, and the minister told the layperson that she was on her own. Any wonder that there are still suspicions about ministers in our fellowships?
As I understand the story, some help did eventually come from the AUA (curriculum materials, and eventually a staff person). But what it might have made (and still could) if congregation-starting had been a priority.
I’ve also been thinking about the role of the Iowa Sisterhood in congregation-starting. Once again, congregations started by people who didn’t fit the system.
What would happen if our most seasoned, our most effective ministers felt called to start new congregations (like Christine Robinson has in NM), rather than leaving the work of church starting to rookies who can’t find established pulpits to fill?
August 5, 2010 at 8:34 pm
psdlund
Or, what if our most effective ministers at least felt called assist new congregations by offering to provide administrative support in addition to occasional preaching, etc.?
August 4, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Chuck B.
Good Post.
I would also suggest that part of the problem of sustainability and growth could be resolved if our churches barrowed some tricks from the evangelicals.
Those churches target young families. From what little I gleaned from the limited UU blogosphere, however, UU churches don’t. Generally ours is an aging baby boomer yuppie faith that is more comfortable catering to empty nesters. Oh we have UU young ministries programs, but those target teens. I am talking about couples with little kids looking for activities.
I rearely read of UU churches trying to offer themselves as the social center for young families and that is where you would get a motherlode of UU’s.
How often do you hear of multiple UU church jamborees?
When you go to UU church websites how many activities do they have through the week that provide a cheap place for young UU families to take their children?
What ministers make these things a goal that church staff must reach? Not a collection of dual income busy congregants tasked to sit at another lay-led minister, but the paid staff who will see an increase in their salaries if there is an increase in membership?
Currently I am working to bring together a Jamboree in my area. I will not be an Association Sunday, but an honest to goodness multi-UU church picnic.
It will be social. It’s purpose is to kick start the idea of socia events that families will attend. Those families will invoite their friends. It is easier to invite another family to a church picnic than to a church, but in that event those outside families will see what they are missing.
The trick, however, will be getting ministers to see that this is something they should work to have their staff do next summer. These things must be constant for growth.
August 5, 2010 at 8:38 pm
psdlund
Thanks, C.B. I agree that being more welcoming to families (ALL families) and having a stronger collective presence (i.e., multi-congregation gatherings), could raise awareness about Unitarian Universalism on the local level. And most of the denominational and middle judicatory support congregations receive should be focused on raising that local awareness.
August 6, 2010 at 1:57 am
nagoonberry
Our UU fellowship in Anchorage is about 360 miles from our nearest UU neighbor in Fairbanks, but we’ve started an Alaskan UU Facebook group that helps us connect with the other UUs across the state. We’re hoping at some point to have something we’re calling “Meet UU Half Way.” In 2012, the Anchorage fellowship is hosting PNWD’s annual meeting, and we’re looking forward to the ways in which Alaskan UUs will work together to make that happen, building relationships along the way.