Archive for January, 2005

Geneva bands in London

Sunday, January 30th, 2005

A small indulgence, please.

Was watching the fourth episode of the stellar In Search of Shakespeare, and saw a familiar place.

Host Michael Wood was investigating what the Bard would have done with an amount crimson cloth at the coronation of James I. He went to Ede and Ravenscroft, the kind of place the royals go to […]

Snow, Baptists, groceries

Sunday, January 30th, 2005

Like Terrance, who lives all of three blocks from me, the new-fallen snow is changing the day’s plans. The Swedenborgians are closed again today, so I’ll be visiting one of my favorite neighborhood churches, First Baptist. Always a warm welcome, both from those who recognize me an those who don’t. Described rather cleverly […]

Fast growing churches: why?

Friday, January 28th, 2005

I looked at the congregations already registered, between fifty and one hundred fifty members (the small but not tiny churches) that registered last year (no fair getting two years’ growth counted together) and ranked the top growers.

The three numbers are this year’s membership count, then number of new members, and finally percentage growth since last […]

Approaching 600 in certifications

Friday, January 28th, 2005

With 599 UUA member congregations reporting, the facts remain about the same, given the same small caveats from last time. (No new “new congregations” added.)

Net membrship increase of 1684 out of 102,378 members. 1.64% increase. Will report back when we hit 700.

Percentage holds among certified congregations

Thursday, January 27th, 2005

Jubilate, everybody: you’ve got two play-by-play commentaries of the incoming UUA congregation certification numbers. And I’m glad to say the 1.8-ish percent growth rate is persisting. Not perfect, but very, very gladsome when compared to last year’s blowout.

With 531 congregations reporting, I see a net increase of 1683 members in an aggregate membership […]

Rieux replies

Wednesday, January 26th, 2005

I’ve been sitting on a reply to Rieux, who wrote a comment a couple of days ago in “Mutual Respect at Philocrites and in the UUA.” Since I called him out, and he responded respectfully, he deserves a thoughtful reply. And that takes time.

Here’s his comment:

As for “fighting badly”–there is something to be said for […]

Two comments on UUA certification numbers

Wednesday, January 26th, 2005

RevThom asked this in the comments of the last post,

Hi Scott, I feel like I’m walking in the footsteps of giants.

I have a methodological question. Why do you discount new churches? It would seem that if we were growing by starting more churches, that is real growth.

My other methodological question: are you counting Canadian churches or […]

UUA certifications approach 400

Tuesday, January 25th, 2005

Even though I said I wouldn’t be tracking UUA congregation certification numbers this year — RevThom is doing an admirable job at Coffee Hour — I couldn’t help myself.

With 397 congregations in — and excluding the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines; something is odd with its reporting — the net increase is 1306 members. […]

Steve Caldwell responds

Monday, January 24th, 2005

Faithworks’s Steve Caldwell responded to my last posting, and since it spoke so well to the point I was making, I pulled it to the top.

Scott … if this discussion is a game with “winners” and “losers,” then perhaps we are left the realm of religious discussion for something different.

I can’t agree. We each have […]

Mutual respect at Philocrites and in the UUA

Sunday, January 23rd, 2005

Don’t expect great thoughts here — just a few scraps clubbed together on a snowy Sunday.

There’s a bit of a brouhaha at Philocrites in the comments. This is the second such “extended version” debates recently. The last time was over the future of YRUU; now, the matter is atheism and its fellow-traveller, mutual behavior within […]


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