Growing Vital Leaders

A Shout-Out to Growing Congregations

What does a growing congregation look like? What are they doing the grow when most congregations are either stagnant or are declining?

Several days ago I shared that one third of UU congregations have grown in the past 10 years and highlighted a few of our congregations that have grown 30% or more in the past ten years. This week, I want to share the names and provide links to the websites of all of the congregations (over 70 members) that have been growing at that rate during this time where most mainline protestant denominations are declining.

In invite you to look at congregations that are near your size and see how they articulate and live in to their missions…..

Over 800 Members

All Souls Unitarian, Washington, DC 149.6% (from 401 to 1001 members)
All Souls Unitarian, Tulsa, OK 94% (from 1075 to 2086 members)
First Unitarian Church of Dallas, TX 40% (from 841 to 1177 members)
First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque NM 42.6% (from 564 to 804 members)
First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY 30.4% (from 783 to 1021 members)

From 401 to 800 Members

White Bear UU Church Mahtomedi MN 93.7% (from 398 to 771 members)
First Unitarian Church of Des Moines Des Moines IA 79.5% (from 264 to 474 members)
Fox Valley UU Fellowship Appleton WI 73.1% (from 391 to 677 members)
Unity Temple UU Congregation Oak Park IL 59.3% (from 359 to 572 members)
UU Church of Bloomington Bloomington IN 48.0% (from 331 to 490 members)
Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, CO 45% (from 513 to 744 members)
UU Congregation of Columbia Columbia, MD 41.2% (from 306 to 432 members)
UU Congregation of Phoenix Paradise Valley AZ 35.1% (from 305 to 412 members)
UU Church West Brookfield WI 34.9% (from 352 to 475 members)
First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City Oklahoma City OK 33.6% (from 357 to 477 members)
First UU Church of Richmond Richmond VA 31.9% (from 432 to 570 members)

From 251 to 400 Members

Quimper UU Fellowship Port Townsend WA 82.2% (from 185 to 337 members)
First Parish in Brookline, MA 79.3% (from 145 to 260 members)
Fox Valley UU Fellowship, Appleton, WI 73.1% (from 391 to 267 members)
Bull Run UUs Manassas VA 68.6% (from 159 to 268 members)
Shawnee Mission UU Church Lenexa KS 67.9% (from 187 to 314 members)
UU Area Church at First Parish in Sherborn MA Sherborn MA 58.6% (from 162 to 257 members)
Olympia Brown UU Church Racine WI 50.2% (from 225 to 338 members)
Oak Ridge UU Church Oak Ridge TN 42.9% (from 182 to 260 members)
UU Church Peoria Peoria, IL 42.6% (from 258 to 368 members)
First Unitarian Society of Denver Denver CO 37.3% (from 271 to 372 members)
First Parish Church UU of Stow & Acton Stow MA 35.6% (from 225 to 305 members)
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg Harrisburg PA 32.6% (from 276 to 366 members)

From 171 to 250 Members

UUs of Transylvania County, Brevard, FL 205.2% (from 58 to 177 members)
Westside UU Church Fort Worth TX 162.2% (from 82 to 215 members)
Westside UU Congregation Seattle WA 151.8% (from 85 to 214 members)
UU Fellowship of Wayne County, Wooster, OH 88.3% (from 111 to 209 members)
UU Fellowship of Vero Beach Vero Beach FL 78.6% (from 131 to 234 members)
UU Fellowship Redwood City CA 70.6% (from 102 to 174 members)
Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence Lawrence KS 63.4% (from 112 to 183 members)
UU Congregation of Venice Venice FL 62.4% (from 109 to 177 members)
UU Fellowship of Northern Nevada Reno NV 56.9% (from 123 to 193 members)
Abraham Lincoln UU Congregation Springfield IL 53.3% (from 150 to 230 members)
Woodinville UU Church Woodinville WA 47.1% (from 121 to 178 members)
UU Church West Lafayette IN 46.3% (from 134 to 196 members)
Northwoods UU Church The Woodlands TX 45.0% (from 151 to 219 members)
UU Fellowship Wilmington NC 40.4% (from 178 to 250 members)
Piedmont UU Church Charlotte NC 40.2% (from 164 to 230 members)
UU Church of Ventura Ventura CA 38.3% (from 167 to 231 members)
1st Congregational Society of Chelmsford, MA 38.1% (from 155 to 214 members)
UU Congregation Blacksburg VA 37.5% (from 144 to 198 members)
UU Congregation Eau Claire WI 34.0% (from 147 to 197 members)
UU Church of Las Cruces Las Cruces NM 33.3% (from 144 to 192 members)
First UU Church Berks County Reading PA 32.4% (from 136 to 180 members)
UU Fellowship of Falmouth Falmouth MA 31.0% (from 174 to 228 members)
Champlain Valley UU Society Middlebury VT 30.3% (from 132 to 172 members)

From 121 to 170 Members

Unit. Univ. Fellowship of Marion County Summerfield FL 223.8% (from 42 to 136 members)
UU Fellowship of Central Oregon, Bend, OR 168.3% (from 60 to 161 members)
Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship Fairhope AL 161.5% (from 52 to 136 members)
UU Fellowship of Mankato Mankato MN 125.5% (from 55 to 124 members)
UU Church of Belfast Belfast ME 123.4% (from 64 to 143 members)
UU Church of Bowling Green, KY 119.6% (from 56 to 123 members)
Lake Country UU Church Hartland WI 115.0% (from 60 to 129 members)
First UU Fellowship of Hunterdon County, Baptistown, NY 86.7% (from 75 to 140 members)
First Unitarian Church Alton IL 76.4% (from 72 to 127 members)
Prairie UU Church Aurora CO 73.2% (from 82 to 142 members)
First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo Kitchener ON 66.3% (from 98 to 163 members)
Northlake UU Church Kirkland WA 65.5% (from 87 to 144 members)
High Plains Church UU Colorado Springs CO 64.0% (from 89 to 146 members)
Buckman Bridge UU Society Orange Park FL 61.3% (from 75 to 121 members)
UU Congregation of South County Peace Dale RI 60.2% (from 93 to 149 members)
Cascade UU Fellowship East Wenatchee WA 60.0% (from 80 to 128 members)
Summit UU Fellowship Santee CA 53.4% (from 103 to 158 members)
First Unitarian Church of Lynchburg UU Lynchburg VA 53.0% (from 83 to 127 members)
UU Church of Shenandoah Valley Stephens City VA 52.9% (from 102 to 156 members)
UU Society of Mill Creek Newark DE 46.5% (from 114 to 167 members)
UU Church of the Desert Rancho Mirage CA 46.1% (from 89 to 130 members)
UU Fellowship of Topeka Topeka KS 46.1% (from 115 to 168 members)
UU Congregation of Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs NY 45.6% (from 90 to 131 members)
First UU Church of Youngstown Ohio Youngstown OH 44.4% (from 90 to 130 members)
UU Church of Savannah, Troup Square Savannah GA 44.3% (from 106 to 153 members)
Cedars UU Church Bainbridge Island WA 42.5% (from 106 to 151 members)
UU Congregation of Gwinnett, Lawrenceville, GA 41.3% (from 109 to 154 members)
Emerson UU Congregation Marietta GA 38.5% (from 96 to 133 members)
Mission Peak UU Congregation Fremont CA 34.1% (from 91 to 122 members)
Sierra Foothills UUs Auburn CA 33.3% (from 96 to 128 members)
UU Fellowship of Flagstaff Flagstaff AZ 30.5% (from 95 to 124 members)

From 70 to 120 Members:

The United Church of Winchester Winchester NH 1090.0% 10 119 (UU and UCC)
Namaqua UU Congregation Loveland CO 164.1% 39 103
UU Fellowship of Durango Durango CO 136.6% 41 97
UU Village Church Hot Springs Village AR 131.4% 35 81
Mid Columbia UU Fellowship Hood River OR 121.9% 32 71
UUs of Southern Delaware Lewes DE 110.9% 55 116
UU Congregation of Whidbey Island Freeland WA 113.3% 45 96
Green Bay Area UU Fellowship Green Bay WI 112.5% 40 85
UU Fellowship of La Crosse La Crosse WI 89.8% 59 112
UU Fellowship of North Bay Napa CA 82.9% 41 75
Emerson UU Chapel Ellisville MO 82.8% 64 117
UU Fellowship of Bozeman Bozeman MT 82.3% 62 113
UU Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley Black Mountain NC 82.2% 45 82
Keweenaw UU Fellowship Houghton MI 80.4% 56 101
UU Fellowship of Door County Sister Bay WI 79.6% 54 97
UU Fellowship of Bennington Bennington VT 78.6% 42 75
Nature Coast UUs Citrus Springs FL 78.0% 59 105
UU Congregation of the South Jersey Shore Pomona NJ 76.9% 65 115
UU Fellowship of Beaufort, Beaufort SC 76.5% 51 90
Amarillo UU Fellowship Amarillo TX 73.7% 57 99
UU Fellowship of the Eastern Slopes Tamworth NH 68.3% 63 106
All Souls Church UU Sioux Falls SD 67.9% 53 89
UU Church of Oak Cliff Dallas TX 66.7% 54 90
Sugarloaf Congregation of UU’s Germantown MD 65.1% 63 104
UU Society of River Falls River Falls WI 64.3% 56 92
UU Fellowship of Bay County Panama City FL 59.1% 44 70
Eastrose Fellowship UU Portland OR 56.1% 57 89
First Church of Christ, Unitarian Lancaster MA 50.8% 65 98
Harrisonburg UUs Harrisonburg VA 48.3% 58 86
UU Congregation of Columbus Indiana Columbus IN 46.7% 75 110
Northwoods UU Fellowship Woodruff WI 44.4% 54 78
UU Fellowship of Fairbanks Fairbanks AK 43.8% 64 92
UU Fellowship of St Augustine St Augustine FL 41.7% 60 85
First Universalist Society Hartland Four Corners VT 39.7% 73 102
UU Society of Cleveland Cleveland Heights OH 39.1% 64 89
Columbine Unit. Univ. Church Littleton CO 39.1% 64 89
UU Church in Meriden Meriden CT 37.1% 62 85
UU Church of Loudoun Leesburg VA 33.3% 54 72
UU Congregation of Castine Castine ME 32.7% 55 73
UU Fellowship of Galveston County Galveston TX 32.1% 78 103
First Universalist Church of Essex MA Essex MA 31.3% 67 88
UU Fellowship of De Kalb Dekalb IL 31.0% 58 76
UU Fellowship of Plattsburgh Plattsburgh NY 30.2% 63 82

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

May 20th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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The Church is Dead, Long Live the…?

Traditional church is becoming less relevent in the lives of young Americans. Yet, the values and perspectives of one third of American young people — those who identify as “nones” (as in “no religious affilitation”) — align beautifully with the values and perspectives of Unitarian Universalists. So why aren’t we growing at an exponential rate?

Here’s the good news (although it may feel a bit flat at first): In comparison to other mainline Protestant denominations that share our demographics, we are doing relatively well. (See this report on Religion and Spirituality in a Changing Society from CBS News.) We are maintaining our numbers while our Christian counterparts are hemmoraging members. I believe this is because we do have the core values that align with the core values of many Millennials as they enter emerging adulthood.

Why aren’t we growing at a higher rate? Well, I would argue that we are growing at a higher rate – that is, nearly a third of our congregations are. During roughly the same time period shown on this graph, 31% of our congregations grew by 10% or more. Looking over the list of congregations in the latest growth report, I see the names of growing congregations from every district and of all sizes. (16% of UU congregations grew 30% or more — see a sampling below for examples.)

What are these congregations doing differently?

The ones I am familiar with are living into authentic ways of “doing church.”

They focus on living into a compelling, outward-focused mission, not on maintaining a institution that is valued by and caters only to the needs of existing members.

They are not just welcoming to visitors. They also offer a path to membership and into a faith community with opportunities for spiritual development and deepening.

My understanding of the people who claim to be “spirtual but not religious” is not that they have a resistance to commitment or to institutions, but a resistance to committing to something unless it is really compelling and worth ones commitment. Many of our churches don’t meet that higher bar.

To become worthy of commitment, we need to live into the promise of our core values: of covenantal relationship, of living into genuine diversity, and of cultivating an openness to change and being changed. Until we have a critical mass of members in our congregations who are skilled at intercultural interactions, who are curious rather than dismissive toward theologies and political views that contradict theirs and who can articulate their own beliefs with humility, we won’t look much different than any other stagnant protestant denomination to the unchurched or unaffiliated.

We know that we are different, but we need to show that we are different.

In this video, UUA President Peter Morales claims we need to change the way we practice our faith and break down the barriers–not only when people walk through our doors, but also when those “nones” meet us outside our walls. (Here is a link to the full keynote address.)

This is a sample of growing congregations from different parts of the US, though not necessarily the largest or fastest-growing ones. This list is by no means comprehensive! I tried to show congregations of different theologies, sizes and communities.

UUs of Transylvania County, Brevard, FL 205.2% (from 58 to 177 members)
UU Fellowship of Central Oregon, Bend, OR 168.3% (from 60 to 161 members)
All Souls Unitarian, Washington, DC 149.6% (from 401 to 1001 members)
UU Church of Bowling Green, KY 119.6% (from 56 to 123 members)
UU Church in Anaheim, CA 97% (from 33 to 65 members)
All Souls Unitarian, Tulsa, OK 94% (from 1075 to 2086 members)
UU Fellowship of Wayne County, Wooster, OH 88.3% (from 111 to 209 members)
First UU Fellowship of Hunterdon County, Baptistown, NY 86.7% (from 75 to 140 members)
First Parish in Brookline, MA 79.3% (from 145 to 260 members)
Fox Valley UU Fellowship, Appleton, WI 73.1% (from 391 to 267)
Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, CO 45% (from 513 to 744)
UU Congregation of Gwinnett, Lawrenceville, GA 41.3% (from 109 to 154)
1st Congregational Society of Chelmsford, MA 38.1% (from 155 to 214 members)
First Unitarian Church of Rochester, NY 30.4% (from 783 to 1021 members)

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

May 10th, 2013

Leadership Philosophy

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Lead other Leaders with Honey, Not Vinegar

If I could give one piece of advice for congregational leaders who wish to grow others into leadership, I would say, “Have one-on-one, personal conversations. Ask about their passions. Ask how they are doing. Focus on the positives while encouraging them to stretch and grow.”

A great model for this is in the book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman. Here’s a brief description from their website:

We’ve all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drains intelligence, energy, and capability from the people around them and always needs to be the smartest person in the room. These are the idea killers, the energy sappers, the diminishers of talent and commitment. On the other side of the spectrum are leaders who use their intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around them. When these leaders walk into a room, light bulbs go off over people’s heads; ideas flow and problems get solved. These are the leaders who inspire employees to stretch themselves to deliver results that surpass expectations. These are the Multipliers. And the world needs more of them, especially now when leaders are expected to do more with less.

Do you want to be a multiplier, but don’t know where to start? Unitarian Universalist and Leadership Consultant Karin Hurt gives this advice in her April 18 blog post In Defense of Wow: It’s Okay to Be Impressed:

Tips for a Good “Wow”

Pick something amazing
Mean it
Explain why
Be specific
Say it loud so others can hear
Vary the recipients (don’t always chose John)

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

April 30th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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To Be “Seen” – Recruiting Leaders

We are heading into the time of year where some nominating committees are scrambling to recruiting potential leaders for governing boards and other elected positions to be offered for election at Spring congregational meetings.

Hopefully, your congregation is transitioning toward having a year-round leadership development committee that is enabling your congregation to identify potential leaders, match them to roles that match their skills and passions and equip them with appropriate training.

If you are not quite “there” yet, here are a few quick tips about how to recruit:

Look for people who fit the demographic that you are trying to become. Young Adults. People of Color. People with disabilities.
Know the person you are recruiting. This may sound simple, but it is essential. Each one of us has gifts. Our humanist DNA implies an obligation to treasure each person and their potential. It goes against our ideals (and is downright insulting) to treat a person as an object to fill a slot (or slate, as the case may be).
Know yourself. What first connected you to a leadership role? When were did you first feel valued by others in the congregation? When did you feel that you were not really being “seen?”
If you don’t know the person you want to recruit, get to know them. Ask them about their passions. What do they love about the church? What would they change? Where do they see themselves fitting in? What potential do you see in them?

I am becoming convinced that one-on-one conversations are the core to an effective leadership development program. I invite you to give it a try.

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

April 24th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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We Pray….

To Unitarian Universalists, Boston is normally the shorthand for the “center” of our faith. This morning we wake with grief and mourning in our hearts over the tragedy at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. For me, this is a reminder about one of the most important roles of a faith community: to provide a container for private grief and public mourning.

For me, these are the times where I hope we can grow into a spiritual maturity that makes space for words that are not always welcome in some of our congregations. God. Prayer. Lamentation. Perhaps we might read from the book of Psalms.

There Is a Balm in Gilead

African American Spiritual

Sometimes I feel discouraged

and think my work’s in vain,

But then the Holy Spirit

revives my soul again.

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul.

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

April 16th, 2013

Leadership Philosophy

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The Power of Symbolic Language

Unitarian Universalists tend to use a lot of words when we attempt to explain our religious beliefs and values. We have a complicated faith that does not fit into typical questions about religion from outsiders.

This makes sense at a national level. We have a big tent that makes room for a lot of diversity of belief. But at the level of the individual congregation there needs to be more focus and purpose. Unless your congregation has over 1000 members and a full staff, you can’t do it all. Congregational leaders who understand this have been crafting mission statements and developing strategic (not long-range!) plans to give them direction.

There is a trend for these congregations to state their mission in 3 words:

Inspire – Connect – Serve

Invite – Inspire – Involve

Listen – Open – Serve

Inspire – Serve – Grow

At first glance this may seem a bit simplistic. How can a few verbs guide congregational decision-making?

Such words are really just shorthand, pointing to a much more complicated understanding. Using a three-word mission statement can only work when there is a deep and shared meaning of what the words mean.

Creating a shared meaning requires time and intention by your congregation’s leadership. Larry Osborne, in his book Sticky Teams: Keeping Your Leadership Team and Staff on the Same Page, suggests creating “Ministry Plumb Lines:”

The most powerful tool I’ve found for overcoming these differences (in understanding) and for making sure that my staff is aligned in terms of their day-to-day values and decisions is something I call “ministry plumb lines.”

I first started using these years ago in an attempt to find some way to quickly and accurately convey the values and priorities I wanted our staff members to keep in mind when making decisions.

Ministry plumb lines function much like a carpenter’s or mason’s plumb line. They make sure our programs, ministries, and decisions line up with the core values and priorities we claim to have. And they let everyone know how we are supposed to do things around here.

In a sense, they’re organizational proverbs — a list of pithy sayings that describe clearly and concisely what we value and what I expect our staff to think through when making ministry decisions.

In a congregation with shared ministry, the understanding is co-created and the plumb lines guide both paid staff and volunteer lay leaders, providing for a permission-giving culture.

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Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

April 9th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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Is Leadership Wasted on the “Young”?

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Somerset Hills, New Jersey (UUCSH) recently did a fascinating analysis of former Trustees of the Board and their tendency to stay or leave the congregation after the completion of their terms. The findings have significant implications for whom we choose to serve on our Boards in the first place.

The major finding was this: 80% of those who joined the board after having been a member for 4 years or less left the congregation after their terms. At the same time, 100% of those who became trustees after having been a member for more than 4 years are still members today.

Peter Hansch, who ran the numbers and did the analysis, speculates on several reasons why this is so.

- Newer members may not have fully decided if UUCSH is the right fit for them.

- Newer members are not as “invested” in the congregation and may not have established as many personal connections yet. The feeling of UUCSH being their “family” has not been formed as strongly yet.

- Trustees may have to make unpleasant or unpopular decisions. Without a stronger sense of ownership and commitment to UUCSH any rough times on the board may be too much to handle.

- The majority of the board typically consists of long-term members who have a shared history that goes back to the beginning of our congregation. Is it possible that references to past events create a feeling that new members are not part of the ‘in-crowd’?

These findings and Peter’s analysis of the reasons certainly underscores the importance of a sense of ownership as a pre-requisite for taking a major role in the congregation, whether it’s as a member of the Board, a committee head, or other significant leadership position. In order to deal with the stress and responsibility of leadership, one must be convinced, as Peter Block contends in his book, Community: The Structure of Belonging that the congregation is theirs to create; that they as leaders are cause, not effect; that they are accountable to lead the congregation forward. Believing this takes experience and a strong sense of confidence, things that can only occur after considerable time spent as a member of the congregation.

Leaders must also must belief in the transformative power of our Unitarian Universalist faith which can sustain them through rough times and compel them to stay with the congregation after their period of leadership has ended. Again, it takes time, sometimes years, to understand and embrace this concept.

Certainly there are members in our congregations who are ready to take the leadership reins well before four years, but the Somerset Hills study cautions us not to rush people into leadership roles just to fill a void or because that person looks “promising”. We may meet a need in the short run, but in the long run we may have lost a valuable member of the congregation.

My thanks to Peter and to Ann Perry, President of the Board of UUCSH, for granting permission to share this information.

With respect,

Mark Bernstein

CERG Growth Consultant

Posted by:
Mark Bernstein

March 29th, 2013

Leadership as Faith Formation

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The Data Trap

Attempting to reconcile liberal religion to the scientific method has a long history among Unitarian Universalists. From the Biblical Criticism of the 19th century, to the Process Theologians of the 20th, to Thandeka’s Affect Theology today, we yearn to quantify religious understanding and experience. Not surprisingly, UU leaders also yearn to quantify how well we are “doing church.”

Those of us who work with congregations see different kinds of data gathering and different uses of the data. Some data, such as the numbers that congregations report to the UUA every January, are helpful to spot trends over time:

Certified Members
Church School Enrollment
Pledging Units
Total Expenditures

Congregations who care about growth have more detailed tracking, though they still look for long-term trends (i.e. you can’t draw conclusions without looking at the data over several months or even years):

First time visitors (weekly)
Return visitors (weekly)
Adults in the building on Sunday Morning (weekly)
Children & Youth in the building on Sunday Morning (weekly)
Adults in non-Sunday programming (monthly)
New members (monthly)
Member loss (monthly)

But how do we measure how well a congregation is “doing ministry?”

One tempting method is the congregational survey. Surveys are more enticing than ever with popular online tools such as SurveyMonkey, Constant Contact or Google’s online forms. These tools compile the answers and put it into a spreadsheet just like the attendance data.

Please exercise caution before taking any congregational survey!

It is important to understand what information you are trying to discern, i.e. what do you want to know versus what is really being measured. What is the context, i.e. is there a recent or brewing conflict? How are the questions worded? Are there “trigger words?” Is the survey anonymous, inviting triangulation? Remember that surveys are one-way conversations that don’t allow for the give-and-take of covenantal conversations that encourage mutuality and growth.

Evaluating ministry is best done on an ongoing, regular schedule in a way that recognizes that ministry is a partnership between professional and lay leaders. Starting with the congregation’s mission (or ends, if a congregation uses policy-based governance), the evaluating body (often a “committee on shared ministry“) identifies goals or objectives and a few measurable criteria. Assessment tools are available through the UUMA. Other excellent tools are two books by Alban Institute author Jill Hudson: When Better Isn’t Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st Century and Evaluating Ministry: Principles and Processes for Clergy and Congregations.

So when is a survey helpful? When you are looking to get demographic data (age, culture, household information, distance travelled to church, attendance patterns, length of membership, theological orientation, preferences around worship or music, etc) and some open-ended hopes and dreams questions to help provide a sense of the congregation’s membership, such as the survey template provided to congregations in search for a new minister.

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

March 26th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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Learning as a UU Virtue

William Ellery Channing

…self-culture is possible, not only because we can enter into and search ourselves. We have a still nobler power, that of acting on, determining and forming ourselves. This is a fearful as well as glorious endowment, for it is the ground of human responsibility. We have the power not only of tracing our powers, but of guiding and impelling them, not only of watching our passions, but of controlling them, not only of seeing our faculties grow, but of applying to them means and influences to aid their growth.
-from “Self Culture” by William Ellery Channing

“Faith Formation” is a topic that has been geting a lot of attention lately. Most of the UUA field staff have attended a Faith Formation 2020 training to enable us to adapt to changing culture and new technology. Implicit in the idea of faith formation is that part of being faithful is to be a life-long learner. We are works in progress and can always improve ourselves.

This striving for perfection is part of our DNA that we inherited from the Puritans, and shows up in the writings of William Ellery Channing. I would even say that there is a moral imperative to improve our minds while living into our ideals.

A recent editorial by David Brooks in the New York Times–”The Learning Virtures”– contrasts differences between how the Chinese and Westerners approach learning. He summarizes:

The simplest way to summarize her findings is that Westerners tend to define learning cognitively while Asians tend to define it morally. Westerners tend to see learning as something people do in order to understand and master the external world. Asians tend to see learning as an arduous process they undertake in order to cultivate virtues inside the self.

When I read this, I thought of Channing, and his essay “Self Culture.” When I read it, I hear a moral imperative for self improvement. It was written as introduction to the Franklin Lectures in Boston, which was created as an opportunity for young men (because only men were thought worth educating at the time) to improve themselves.

I would like to think that, as leaders, we commit to lifelong learning so that we continue to improve ourselves as we serve the faith.

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

March 5th, 2013

Leadership as Faith Formation

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Meetings that Matter

I have a love-hate relationship with meetings. Some of my best experiences have been when I was in a room with engaged, creative people doing important work or solving a difficult challenge. Some of my worst experiences have been when I was in a room where people talked at–or over–each other with no real connection, purpose or effectiveness.

As leaders, we know that our time is valuable. We hold a shared value as Unitarian Universalists that implicitly and explicitly calls us to honor the worth and dignity–and I would add time–of others, in a way where we honor the value of their time spent in meetings.

Here are some suggestions about how to plan meetings that are engaging and invite creativity:

Send out the monthly reports and minutes a week ahead of time, then create a “consent agenda” to accept and/or approve the reports, thus eliminating one of the most potentially tedious parts of a meeting, i.e. people using the meeting time to read aloud material that folks can review at their own pace and schedule. If there is an item that merits discussion or needs a decision, it can be moved from the consent agenda to the scheduled agenda.
Keep meetings to 90 minutes. If you congregation is in the middle of a situation of project where you need to meet for longer periods of time or more often, consider adopting a model similar to that suggested by Patrick Lencioni in his book Death by Meeting, modified for volunteers boards and/or committees:

♦ A weekly check-in/tactical meeting (which could be by phone or web conference) for updates, scheduling, and other items that need timely decisions or coordination.

♦ A monthly strategic meeting where you can discuss your alignment with your mission and strategic plan, to introduce new initiatives or brainstorm new ideas.

♦ A longer retreat 2-3 times a year to “get on the balcony” about the how the team is working together and how they are helping the congregation serve its mission.

Assign start and end times to each agenda item. Appoint and empower a time-keeper to help keep the meeting on track.
Consider putting the more juicy, even controversial issues at the beginning of the meeting when energy is high.
Encourage your committee members to use some of tips in the book Serving with Grace: Lay Leadership as a Spiritual Practice.

Posted by:
Rev. Renee Ruchotzke

February 26th, 2013

Leadership Technical Skills

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Over 800 Members

From 401 to 800 Members

From 251 to 400 Members

From 171 to 250 Members

From 121 to 170 Members

From 70 to 120 Members:

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Tips for a Good “Wow”

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Please exercise caution before taking any congregational survey!

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