1. declared to be “emerging” with the goal of joining the UUA,
2. really dormant or inactive; in essence a “submerged congregation,”
3. independent, which includes some former members of the Universalist Church of America,
4. “half-federated” with a historic Unitarian or Universalist partner, but only affiliated with another denomination or none, or
5. a member of the American Unitarian Conference or (theoretically) some other group.

What’s left is, in essence, district-sanctioned revivals of the Fellowship Movement. But even this might not be quite right, as it isn’t clear if these congregations “in orbit” are simply “pre-emerging.” I also wonder if there’s a financial incentive to keep a few small congregations “off the books” for purposes of Annual Program Fund participation yields. The fact is that we don’t know: we don’t even know who or what these congregations are, much less what policies cover them in the districts or any statistics. Thank God a few have Web sites. (I’ll add them in as time permits.)

Since they seem to be a district-level phenomenon (or that some districts account for them better than others) that’s how they’re listed.

Heartland District

• Petoskey, Michigan: UU Congregation of Petoskey
• New Hudson, Michigan: New Hope - A Progressive Religious Congregation

Mountain Desert District

• Gunnison, Colorado: Never Sink Fellowship

Northeast District

• Eastport, Maine: Congregational Society (Unitarian)
• Greene, Maine: First Universalist Church of Greene
• Hiram, Maine: First Universalist Society
• Orono, Maine: Orono Church of Universal Fellowship
• Rumford, Maine: emerging congregation?
• Saint John, New Brunswick: Unitarian Universalist Church

Prairie Star District

• Okoboji, Iowa: Iowa Lakes UU Fellowship
• Storm Lake, Iowa: UUs of Storm Lake
• Hutchinson, Kansas: Hutchinson Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship
• Buffalo, Minnesota: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
• Minneapolis, Minnesota: Lighthouse Sanctuary
• St. Cloud, Minnesota: Spirit of Life Church
• St. Paul, Minnesota: Groveland UU Fellowship
• Osceola, Missouri: UUs of Osceola
• Warrensburg, Missouri: UUs of Warrensburg
• Dickenson, North Dakota: Ocean of Grass UU Fellowship

Pacific Central District

• Morgan Hill, CA: South Valley Unitarian Fellowship

Pacific Southwest District

• Seal Beach, California: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Leisure World

I’ve just now reviewed the minutes of the UUA Board of Trustees and the observer notes of the District Presidents Association since then and here are the additions and deletions to the congregational roster. Numbers in square brackets are most recently reported membership figures.

• April 18-20, 2008 meeting (DPA notes only)
1. Church of the Open Door [Chicago] “will no longer exist.” Quite a shame that, though it has also been a congregation that’s been very difficult to get much information on.
2. Washington [D.C.] Ethical Society admitted as a joint member with the American Ethical Union, accounted as a multi-denominational congregation for membership, delegates, etc. [148; unclear if that’s the whole or the half]
3. Unitarian Universalist Society of the Chesapeake, California, Maryland admitted. [36]
• January 19-20, 2008 meeting
1. Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Grayslake, Illinois admitted. [65]
2. Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Rocky Mount, North Carolina admitted. [32]
• October 20-21, 2007
no affiliations or disaffiliations, but DPA records reports “on applications for affiliation and disaffiliation.”
• June 19 and 25, 2007
no affiliations or disaffiliations, and no DPA report.
• April 21-22, 2007
1. Unitarian Universalist Church of Hot Springs, Arkansas admitted. [37]
• January 21-22, 2007
1. Unitarian Universalist Peace Fellowship, Raleigh, North Carolina admitted. [40]
• October 21-22, 2006
no affiliations or disaffiliations, and no DPA report.

Even more valuable than magazine ads.

Cost: $24 for two years.

Just saying.

View Larger Map

You can also view this page in Google Earth if you have it installed on your computer.

Google Map of Emerging UUA Congregations

P.s. Want to guess what my next project is?

So I asked myself: How many emerging congregations — organizations in formation and those (once covenanted) that plan to join the Unitarian Universalist Association — are there? Their number is a good indicator of the UUA’s growth prospects. I’ve heard that 5% per year growth is desirable, but I don’t recall where I heard that and besides, it reminds me a bit of the unsustainable growth economy we know all too well in the United States. (When the Southern Baptists have a drop in baptisms, you know something’s up.) Even so, you need to grow a bit just to make up for the congregations that disband, disassociate and consolidate.

So what’s the number? 41, or about 4%. If all emerging congregations became members within a year, but that’s hardly the case. Some have been “emerging” for several years, and I have to wonder if there’s a time where a congregation is mature enough (whatever its size) to be admitted. Or they should affiliate with the regional district and be done with it.

Or if there’s a lack of fostering and a want of resources to get over the hump with enough speed to fend off fatigue. That’s not a hypothetical idea. When combing the roster for emerging congregations, I noticed two omissions. Not emerging, not members. Gone.

I’ll go back over the last three years of Board of Trustees minutes to see what the congregational growth rate is, and how it compares with growth in individual members.

As in earlier requests, pointers to good association or government sites, or thoughtful blogs, are also welcome.

The fact is that, at last, everything dies: organizations and relationships included. Congregations do choose to leave the UUA, consolidate or (perhaps not by choice) disband. Even though we often talk about human death in a beautiful and pastoral way, I’ve noticed talk of congregational demise has vanished.

There was a day, I recall, when news of congregational departures was included in the milestones section of the denominational magazine — I’ve been a reader for a couple of decades — with the news of new congregations and ministerial comings-and-goings. And am I hallucinating but weren’t departures once a part of the opening ceremony at General Assembly?

It seems right to say goodbye with respect. Let’s bring this news back to print — the blogs can help — and in our public ceremonies. As with human life, our tributes show the value we afford congregational life, help heal the hurt of loss, honor the gifts remaining and draw its past presence into sharper, sweeter focus.

The Rev. Angela Mather knew her colleague J.W. at the nearby Asbury-Judson Larger Parish is a Linux freak — first out of cost necessity, later on principle — and this was her concern. For now, she wanted a tool, not a cause. But it turns out the office suite an easy download from www.OpenOffice.org. With a high-speed connection, the download and using all the default settings (best for most people) it takes about a half hour.

High-speed connections are rare in Wolastoq County, so J.W. gave Angela a copy of OpenOffice.org on CD-ROM, which she could then copy or share freely. Or, as J.W. put it, “to share the love.”

J.W. offered this additional bit of advice: once you’re in OpenOffice.org, go to Tools > Options and fill in the User Data, which are the fields that you see when that window pops up. “That will help with automating office practices later.”

One of the problems she had was an old Windows computer that was sluggish and temperamental. A friend from seminary thought it might be infected with viruses.

But anti-virus programs cost money or lead you on with a limited version. But there is a free (intellectually and financially) version called ClamWin that she can use. There’s also a portable version you can keep on a USB drive in case you have to use a strange computer.

A few weeks ago, a reader asked for Universalist liturgical help for a service with a theme that featured a historic woman. I suggested that the service could end with the benediction Phebe Hanaford gave at her ordination in 1868. Ministerial colleague and fellow blogger James Ford (Monkey Mind) writes about Hanaford, who was born this day in 1829, at his blog.

Here’s that benediction:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of the Truth, and the blessing of God Almighty—your Father and your Friend—be amongst you and remain with you always. Amen.

The service itself is worth a look, generally: http://books.google.com/books?id=9rPAsDYWz3YC

Dinner with Universalists

Monday, April 4th, 2005

Few things annoy me more than the pseudo-truism that Universalists were the simple, earthy yokels while the Unitarians has cultivated such powers of the mind that they never touched the ground.

Gay and Christian in the UUA

Funny: if I were a closet Christian, my professional options would be far better, but my soul would be dead, dead, dead.

Reorienting adult faith formation

Dan Harper in his blog recently made some comments about shifting from the customary way of offering a selection of adult courses (not unlike a community college) to a model where goals are established in advance.

Framework for ministerial education

Call me funny, but some kind of structure in the ministerial formation meta-curriculum is a good thing. Indeed, that’s what you get in a theological education, and your accredited seminary isn’t going to let you go with an M.Div. without a basic education.

How not to preach

A few things every first-time, early-going preacher should know. From the evergreen Presbyterian Church of New Zealand website

The role of the church in ordination

Let me be quite plain. Despite some vestiges of Universalist polity in the Unitarian Universalist Association, particularly around ministerial formation, credentialling, and ordination, the Universalist structure is defunct.

Discussing ministerial formation and ordination

I’d like to point those interested in ministerial formation and ordination options to a paper from the “third-way” Vineyard USA: a group that’s notoriously hard to pigeon-hole. (To describe them is to say more about yourself than them, so I shan’t.)

Church names

Back last year when I was sure I would be gathering a church, I posted about naming it. A good name is important, and A. at Call and Reponse has been thinking about it again. So, to reprise the idea, what church names would you like, and which would you think spell disaster?

John Murray the Methodist

Saturday, April 16th, 2005

I got the following email a while back: I’m enjoying the youth bio on John Murray which you provide on your ministry site (I’m sure it could pass for some adults too!). I’m printing and reading it at different intervals as I have the time.

Universalism in shape notes

Saturday, April 16th, 2005

I discovered a “lost” Universalist hymn of lament by J. S. Warren (1829-1905) — in shape notes, no less — in the odd 7.7.7.8. meter.

Intro to vesture

Saturday, April 16th, 2005

I mentioned a while back that on one of the Confidential Mailing Lists I’m On the question of clericals and vestments came up. I offered this.

“I joined the Unitarian Universalist Association”

Sunday, April 17th, 2005

“I joined the Unitarian Universalist Association” is a common enough comment, quickly followed by the rejoinder (said nicely or not) to the effect, “No, you joined a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association; individuals can’t be members.”

High/Low

Monday, April 18th, 2005

Before I go back and address Matthew Gatheringwater’s now lost (and partially restored) comment about clerical garb — its propriety, how people understand it, what Theodore Parker would have thought — I need to ramp up by considering “high church” and “low church”

Vestments: it’s not about me

Monday, April 18th, 2005

Matthew Gatheringwater: If your vestments were atavistic 145 years ago, what does that make them now? Timeless and uniform.

Unitarian Universalism by transit

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Wouldn’t it be a good idea for Unitarian Universalists — and other church-goers, for my ecumenical visitors — to have a schedule for those congregations that are transit-accessible?

Unitarian Universalist ministerial vesture continued

Tuesday, April 19th, 2005

Most recently, Matthew Gatheringwater said: Wouldn’t your argument work better, however, if it related to a pre-existing uniform vesture among Unitarian Universalist ministers?

Relly’s walk

Thursday, April 21st, 2005

Now I can fulfill my whistful wish and show you the relative distances between (the site of) Whitefield’s now lost London (Moorfields) Tabernacle where early Universalist James Relly — whom John Wesley later called an antinomian — started his career as a Calvinist Methodist and the Sandys Row Synagogue, which is in the building formerly used by Relly as a Universalist chapel.

Taking the bus or subway to church

Saturday, April 23rd, 2005

A few days ago, I wondered if Unitarian Universalists wouldn’t be better off to promote transit options to get to church. (”Unitarian Universalism by Transit“) Follow the link below to see a few of the congregational sites that give transit directions. It isn’t comprehensive, so please add more in the comments.

Gown talk

Tuesday, April 26th, 2005

I wanted the talk about clericals and vesture to cool down — there are lots of other things far more important to talk about.

Trinity

Sunday, May 22nd, 2005

While I hold fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, and formerly held unitarian theology, I am a trinitarian Universalist. I can (and have) said the Nicene Creed without bursting into flames or rueing my hypocrisy. There are a few of us, and perhaps to the scandal of the UU rank-and-file, more than would be guessed.

Making orders of service easier II

Thursday, May 26th, 2005

Why ministers get votes at General Assembly

Saturday, May 28th, 2005

Lacking direct evidence, I think the reason that some ministers have a vote at General Assembly is because the Unitarians and Universalists consolidated. Those who criticize the practice seem to think the Unitarians merged with the Unitarians.

Simple Church omnibus

Sunday, May 29th, 2005

I know there are a few of us that pine after a simple church: one that attends to Christian ministry without the extraneous trappings associated with “establishment” churches.

A German view toward open Christian sources

Monday, May 30th, 2005

A while back I wrote about how the core works of Christian faith should be open (free of copyright, and by extension open to interpretation) and have been scratching around the historical margins to look to works that are old and have lost copyright protection.

What not to buy, what to buy instead

Tuesday, June 21st, 2005

I’m convinced that consumerism is the great distracter in America today. Why decry the many erosions of personal liberties, civil behavior, or quality of life when I can buy a sharp new outfit. The Style Network is my favorite venue for shadows and delusion. What’s yours?

I can’t read your protest sign! (Or GA banner!)

Thursday, June 30th, 2005

In short, if you can’t recognize a banner from a thumbnail, how in the world can someone recognize it from the rafters at the Opening Ceremony or when hung up?

That case has long given me hope that Hubby and I might enjoy legal marriage without having to move to the one state in the Union that permits it. (And even then garners no federal recognition.)

Less than a year ago, at the decision’s fortieth anniversary, Mildred Loving herself made the connection:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the “wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

Thank you. We’ll keep at it.

Ubuntu two

Monday, January 3rd, 2005

Earlier, I referred to the Zulu word ubuntu, musing on its familiar themes to Universalists. Tonight, I was casting through those parts of the 1662 Anglican prayerbook in Zulu.

The worst site

Saturday, February 12th, 2005

I won’t be naming the worst website in the UUA but I have certainly found it.

Did Universalists do Ash Wednesday?

Saturday, February 12th, 2005

PeaceBang asked me (on her blog) to follow up with Fausto’s question on her posting about Ash Wednesday.

Ring-around-the-chancel

Saturday, February 19th, 2005

Call me silly but I have a fascination with mixed-use (or interfaith) religious architecture with a particular period (post-WWII it seems) feature: turntable altars.

Vandiver dies, Universalist ties

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005

Ernest Vandiver was one of those bridge “old South-new South” figures that leaves most people scratching their heads.

UCC and blog ads

Saturday, March 12th, 2005

I was going to comment on the UCC’s move to buy blog ads — I saw the story first at Philocrites.com — and build off of my last post, but then Philo wrote about the UCC blog ads and thought I had better comment while the iron’s hot.

CHMOD primer

Sunday, March 20th, 2005

Philocrites has said that blog ‘ware is too hard for non-geeks, and I said it needn’t be so if there were detailed directions for some of the housekeeping pieces, like setting permissions on the server (remote computer that has the files) — this is the enigmatic CHMOD.

How to run a meeting

Sunday, March 20th, 2005

Anyone who has even a passing responsibility in the running of churches need to read . . . .

Universalist hymn-writers remembered

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005

March 23 is the death anniversary of two Universalist hymn-writers. Given there weren’t all that many, this is a significant coincidence.

Risen indeed!

Friday, March 25th, 2005

The traditional Easter greeting and response is, in English, “Christ is risen!” and “He is risen indeed!” PeaceBang and I — as real, talking people — have been known to greet one another the same way in Greek and Slavonic.

Universalist daily prayer asked for

Friday, March 25th, 2005

A reader — I love y’all; keep those cards and letters coming — asked Question: what prayer books, if any, do you recommend for daily use?

Historic theological bibliography

Saturday, March 26th, 2005

I have a new toy: an online book at Making of America: Malcom, Howard. Theological index : references to the principal works in every department of religious literature embracing nearly seventy thousand citations, alphabetically arranged under two thousand heads. (1868)

KenCollins.com

Monday, March 28th, 2005

There is so much to love here. Essays galore, but if you have to start somewhere, check the reference sections and subordinate links.

Lutheran chanting resource

Monday, March 28th, 2005

For Easter Eve, I nearly went to a Missouri Synod Lutheran church and decided to put aside my scruples about attending churches that bar communion to me.

Creed concerns

Monday, March 28th, 2005

I think ChaliceChick is just right about creeds. Where there is a void, we will attempt to fill it.

There’s little one can read about it, but aha! I found 1890-1915: twenty five years of the Universalist Japan mission for download at Archive.org that fills in some details. Go thou and download.

And use it to prepare something for Japan Sunday in November (or not.)

The first reason: it is very good and faithful to the book.

The second reason: I read the book is because he and I visited Knutsford, the Cheshire town Gaskell based Cranford on, as a day trip from Manchester during our honeymoon in 2003. There we visited the Rev. Alex Bradley, a name among the British Unitarian Christians and the minister of the historic Brook Street Chapel, who kindly gave us a tour, showing us Mrs. Gaskell’s grave, followed by a chat over tea. (Image of building.)

I like to think the more reform-minded residents would have worshiped there. Something to think about over the rest of the series.

Noodling around for a Google map for a post to come out tomorrow, I ran across a Google map of “Unitarians and Universalists Around the Globe” (with a KML file to add to Google Earth, if you use it) from the UUA International Resources Office — so props for this useful resource.

Which may take the shine off of a similar project I have in mind, but so be it. More later, when I have something to show.

Unitarians and Universalists Around the Globe

Why wasn’t it online for general download? “[I]n order to respect the privacy of individual donors.” A bit cautious, but see with development (and not tech) eyes, perfectly understandable. The last thing I would want to do is field calls trying to comfort donors that their public information was, perhaps, too public. (Which presumably is why the congregational portion is online.)

I’ll comment on the report as time permits. Go to http://www.uua.org/giving/annualreport/ then email from there to get your own. There’s a bug on that page which keeps inquirers from ordering it directly, which is being addressed.

The power plays one sees at these meetings . . . . Heavens!

So, should I be surprised when blogger and ministerial colleague Debra W. Haffner (Sexuality and Religion: What’s the Connection?) reports that the 2008 General Conference of the United Methodist Church passed a spate of measures “to affirm their teaching that homosexuality was incompatible with God’s teaching”?

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