Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Congregations and Beyond


In my last two posts, I have discussed research findings about Unitarian Universalists from the American Religious Identification Survey.   Now…what does it all mean? 

More than half of those who tell researchers that they are UU’s don’t belong to a UU church.  Some are probably peripherally involved with a UU church,  but it seems more likely that the majority of this group consists of people who were raised UU.  (This can be inferred from the large number of people who identified as UU’s who said that they had never changed faiths, ie, were raised UU’s.  Over 50% reported of the sample claimed this, whereas I have never been in a group of UU’s over age 35 where more than about 20% were raised UU’s; the usual figure is 10%.)   So it appears to me that a major question we should be asking is,  “What could we do to get our kids back?”  (most of those “kids” are now over 40, of course).  The answer to that question will have to be found by discovering ways we can serve the religious needs of adults who were raised UU’s, still think of themselves as UU’s,  but are no longer participating in a congregation.  

A second, more general question would be,  “How can we serve the religious needs of those who tell researchers that they are UU’s but are not members of our congregations?  (In some polling situations, three times as many people tell researchers that they are UU’s than are members of our congregations)    What’s up, here?  Are there solvable issues with current congregations that would bring more folks in?  (maybe most of our congregations need to find ways to offer Saturday worship? Maybe what people really want is small groups?)  Is the problem that we’ve conflated legal membership in the corporation with membership in the religious community? (We need to ask the Puritans how that worked for them!)   Are there ways to meet needs on a fee-for-service basis that would allow non-member UU’s to feel a part of things and offer support without joining? (Retreats, RE, Small Groups, etc?)  Do we want to do that?    This discernment is the work that is being called “Congregations and Beyond”. 

13 comments:

puzzler said...

We should be talking to these former UUs and bring them in as co-creators of a church experience they'd want. The kind of discussion needs to happen over many sessions, nationwide and with creative exercises to really draw out what would excite these lapsed UUs. I believe this is not rocket science. I believe it requires us to get help conducting the conversations from a third party object entity. As I've been thinking through relational culture and social networking, I've stumbled upon the following thought: We UUs can relate to others but the issue is can we relate with others -- meaning can we co-create with lapsed UUs to truly welcome them back? If you have any examples from your congregation's growth that speak to this question, I'd be grateful. Has your congregation listed to lapsed UUs and addressed their needs successfully? Actually, I'd appreciate anyone address this query.

Matt Alspaugh said...

I think this would be a fruitful area for a little informal research. It would be easy enough for me to ask some of my congregants with grown children gone away (they all go away) what those children are doing, have they abandoned the faith, did they try to find a church in their current locale, etc. Many of these adult children do come back to town and to church at holiday times -- I'll explore with them what their experience with organized religion is. I agree that alternatives to traditional church (like fee-for-service) might work with them, but we need to ask and find out.

Book Doctor said...

Just a couple of comments:
Other religions gather together to celebrate and maintain a myth structure. We don't have one. In principle we are developing our individual path which may include a myth. In practice most of us are too busy with life to be that introspective.
Children going away. If they are instilled in the principles before they leave they will be fine. They only need to be encouraged to filter beliefs through those principles.
I'd suggest that meeting together weekly has nothing to do with our faith but is our need to see and visit with friends. Some of our ancestors suggested that Unitarians do not need a church.
With more and more liberal churches taking up the causes we have advanced, we have good reason for some reflection. What we will do now? Will we just fade away?
Personally, I think UU churches will be gone in the next 50-75 years. Some Universalists who have maintained some connection to Christianity will still be around.
We really do need a prophet who will bring us back to where we understand what our core belief really is. We need that energy that made us seek out the causes we are known for.

Robin Edgar said...

"The kind of discussion needs to happen over many sessions, nationwide and with creative exercises to really draw out what would excite these lapsed UUs."

Maybe the "lapsed UUs" are all too often the UUs *in* UU "churches" and the more principles ones are the two-thirds who decided that attending a UU church full of "lapsed UUs" was not worth the bother. . .

Christine, you know perfectly well that there are "solvable issues with current congregations that would bring more folks in" but you and other UUs don't seem all that interested in doing the work required to solve these problems. One of these problems is the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of the "lapsed UUs" that *I* call "fundamentalist atheists" who are members and leaders of too many Unitarian Universalist "churches". Another problem that has yet to be solved is the fact that over 400 UU congregations have been affected by one form of clergy sexual misconduct or another and then there's the non-sexual forms of UU clergy misconduct that UUs disregard, condone and even outright whitewash. . . Yet another Unitarian Universalist problem is the anti-Republican and broader anti-conservative bad attitude of many "lapsed UUs", including "lapsed" UU clergy in many if not most UU "churches". I *could* go on about other "solvable issues with current congregations that would bring more folks in" but hopefully by now you and other UUs have caught my proverbial drift. . .

Book Doctor said...

Finally someone else mentions our undercurrent of anti-religion--translated as anti-Christian. There are innumerable Christians who want a quiet place to reflect and discuss alternative Christian paths. That could the UUs' greatest ministry. Unfortunately our dislike for Christians is easily discernible in congregations. In fact we are becoming quite attractive to those who have strong dislikes for Christians.

Robin Edgar said...

I have been sharing my concerns about Unitarian Universalism's "undercurrent of anti-religion--translated as anti-Christian" for a over decade and a half Book Doctor. Indeed I have been publicly protesting against UU anti-religious intolerance and bigotry and other UU injustices and abuses since May of 1998. Sadly, Unitarian Universalists are rather slow learners. . .

:There are innumerable Christians who want a quiet place to reflect and discuss alternative Christian paths. That could the UUs' greatest ministry.

But. . . That "undercurrent of anti-religion--translated as anti-Christian", that you are apparently all to well aware of, all but guarantees that Unitarian Universalism will remain "a tiny, declining, fringe religion" as Rev. Peter Morales so aptly described UUism in his 'A Religion For Our Time' sermon cum "stump speech" announcing his candidacy. A speech/sermon that most ironically contained a strong "undercurrent of anti-religion". . .

:Unfortunately our dislike for Christians is easily discernible in congregations.

Indeed. . .

:In fact we are becoming quite attractive to those who have strong dislikes for Christians.

Actually, in my experience and observation, Unitarian Universalism became quite attractive to those who have strong dislikes for Christians decades ago Book Doctor, possibly even before the 1961 merger of the Unitarians with the Universalists.

Thank you for your frank admissions here.

Book Doctor said...

I think the merger was the sign that we were starting to tread water; in some ways I think the Universalists would have been better off without us.
I am new in the UU world--only 11 years but as I travel a lot, I have a long list of 'visited' UUs. Most are nice places to visit but not necessarily good places to hang one's hat.
Then again, my personality probably has some bearing on that, as well.

Robin Edgar said...

Like most corporate mergers, the merger of the American Unitarian Association with the Universalist Church of America came about because both institutions were in decline. I think you are right in thinking that in some ways the Universalists would have been better off if they had not merged with the Unitarians. In fact I have heard the merger characterized as something akin to a hostile corporate take-over by *some* disgruntled UUs. That is all I that will say about *that* Unitarian Universalist history here.

Robin Edgar said...

It might interest Book Doctor and other readers of this blog to know that The Blog That Cannot Be Named received yet another visit by a person of inherent worth and dignity hailing from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania just over an hour ago after they ran a free and responsible Google search for -

unitarian universalist anti-christian

I quite regularly receive blog visits as a result of people running the same or similar Google searches. . . Where might The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™ be today if Unitarian Universalists in positions of leadership and authority in Montreal, and "The Place That Reeks Of Privilege And Hierarchy"* in Boston, had actually responded in *responsibility* to what one insightful UU minister (who is very well aware of the UUA's past and ongoing negligent and complicit responses to ALL manner of UU clergy misconduct) recently called my "prophetic work". . . way back in 1996 when I first started "prophesying" about UU anti-religious intolerance and bigotry and related non-sexual UU clergy abuse?


* To borrow yet another "less than polite" turn of a phrase from Rev. Peter Morales. . .

Robin Edgar said...

:So it appears to me that a major question we should be asking is, “What could we do to get our kids back?” (most of those “kids” are now over 40, of course).

Fair enough Christine but it seems to me that an even better question that Unitarian Universalists might want to ask themselves would be -

“What could (or indeed *should*) we do to get our kids to stay?”

The Unitarian Universalist religious community has done a very poor job when it comes to *retention* of UU Youth over the last decade or so, and RE enrollments have steadily and significantly declined over that time span, far more so than adult membership in UU congregations.

Allow me to be ever so Green and recycle this telling material from The Blog That Cannot Be Named here -

So here is probably one of the most dismal UUA membership statistics of them all. . . Indeed Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA’s vice president for Ministries and Congregational Support, called this continued decline in UUA religious education enrollment a "discouraging sign" of the times. Within the last decade UUA RE enrollments have declined from just over 60,000 young people to under 54,000, a loss of well over 6,000 RE enrollments which corresponds to 11.2 percent of RE enrollments.

Book Doctor said...

Chicken or the egg
Aren't youth RE enrollment numbers directly related to the number of young families in the church?
I don't think the RE decline is the fault of the youth. Maybe it has to do with the age of our members and/or the relevance of our religion to the lives of young families.

Robin Edgar said...

Good point Book Doctor.

Indeed the significant decline in RE enrollments in UUA congregations *could* also be an indication of a significant decline in "young families" choosing the fate of becoming card carrying members of Unitarian Universalist congregations. That however does not change the fact that recent UUA administrations at 25 Beacon Street in Boston, perhaps most notably the Rev. Bill Sinkford administration, did things that caused many UU Youth to become quite disillusioned with the UUA and the UU institutional "church", if not Unitarian Universalism more generally. . . I am not blaming UU Youth for the decline in UUA RE enrollments, I bellieve the *fault* lies very much with the UUA and broader problems within UUism more generally. One thing about youth, they are usually quite idealistic and can smell hypocrisy a mile away. . . I have definitely seen evidence of UU Youth being VERY disillusioned by UU hypocrisy of various kinds.

Mark Erickson said...

I commented on the previous post that self-identifiers with spouses of a different or no faith are a bigger mission field - and probably much more fruitful - than UU youth grown up. For one thing, if somebody grows up in a UU church, they have a good idea of whether they want to continue as an adult or not. Not much marketing room there.

For another, self-identifiers with a non-self-identifying spouse need to spend a great deal of energy being active in a UU church. Imagine having to convince your spouse to give up x% of your income to an organization that they don't support. Or the dilemma of bringing your children every Sunday when they want to stay home with the other parent or burden imposed on the other parent of watching the kids alone every Sunday.