Boy in the Bands
So, Unitarian minister and blogger Stephen Lingwood (Reignite) considers the Unitarian and Free Christian General Assembly Executive Committee growth plan for the religion in Great Britain. It comes with an audacious goal: 20% growth in five years. Of course, because of British Unitarianism’s diminished state, that’s a scant thousand people. And that makes it all the more audacious and encouraging. And for that matter, realistic. Even though American Unitarian Universalism is much larger (comparatively), there’s no such goal on the table, and that makes me keen to encourage my compatriot co-religionists to help the British Unitarians in any appropriate way.
But what are the appropriate ways, if any? Perhaps technical help, since it’s hard to generate enough support and contracting it out can be very expensive. Or fundraising? I’d like to hear from you.
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There could be a fundraising component. I recall a few years ago, getting a fundraising appeal at my church in Ohio, to benefit restoration work at the Unitarian Church of Dublin, Ireland. Our rural church sent about $100. Multiply that a few hundred times, and a special outreach project could be funded.
I feel you could easily exceed this target if you approached the right people. I did a Beliefnet quiz which told me that I was a UU, and I’d never heard of you before! So I did some research which found that indeed I was, and probably so are most of my friends.
The most fruitful places I feel you could target recruitment are the healing and wellness fairs. Typically stands there cost less than £100. Plenty of people who, like myself, consider themselves “spiritual but not religious” attend such fairs, and indeed plenty of those in the healing professions have stands there. Maybe worth a try?
Campus ministries might be a good idea too. Perhaps a program that invite interested college-bound British students to participate in YRUU leadership programs with a view towards training them to lead lay ministries in college campuses?
To think about it, it’d be a great program for church-planting in other countries too, not just Britain.
This is just my initial comment, I may come back to this.
The US UU community has already done quite a bit. Don Southworth and Peter Morales came over and did two growth workshops for ministers, and the planning I did during those conferences still shapes my ministry.
The othet way you already help is providing ministry. A good number of our Ministers are American. This could be expanded on in some way or another. We’ve never really officially said, “let’s have 10 of your ministers” but that would make a difference. Though there would be resistance to it.
Hmm, not quite sure what else, but I will think about it.
[...] think it started with Helping the British Unitarians and Free Christians. But there’s [...]