Showing posts with label BUUF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BUUF. Show all posts

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship - BUUF - Birth and death of a UU congregation



The idea for the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was born on Mother's Day in 2009. This interview with Don Zimmer was done in October of 2010 17 months later.

The church grew and was chartered in 2011 and then slowly atrophied and was dissolved in 2019.

The death of the church has been due to many factors. The primary factor being the lack of leadership which failed to attract, engage, and retain members.

Leading a church requires vision, and sense of mission, high levels of energy, persistence, patience, and above all else, an ability to resolve conflict.

The second factor beyond lack of competent leadership is the unwillingness of people to follow. As one person put it, "managing Unitarian Universalists is like herding cats." Being free thinkers and lacking any respect for centralized authority, Unitarian Universalists tend to be lone wolves and their willingness to pull together for a common goal especially when it is contrary to one's personal interests weakens the organizational coheasiveness.

The life of BUUF would be a good case study in the failure of Unitarian Universalism to provide centralized support for the incubation and development of fledgling congregations.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

The Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship starts its seventh year this morning.

I attended the first service of the new church year this morning at the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, BUUF, in Brockport, NY. The congregation numbered 10 in attendance at the Different Path Gallery on Market Street, Brockport, NY in the midst of the Sunday Farmer's market. The focus of the service was on  our UU forebearers and the meaning of social justice in our UU tradition.

This is the beginning of the seventh year for BUUF which has had its ups and downs. The plan is to have one service per month on the first Sunday of the month at 10:00 AM.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Giving thanks for BUUF, the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

At my home church, the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, we are coming together and growing. We are a new congregation which first starting holding services in September of 2009. The last couple of services we have had well over 30 adults and 5 or 6 kids. Our goal is to hold Charter Sunday on April 17, 2011 with over 30 adults becoming charter members and then joining the UUA.

It is very exciting of being a member of a faith filled community which is very diverse in terms of age and social status.

I give thanks for this new faith community on this Thanksgiving day and I ask that you pray for us.
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