Showing posts with label Birth Of A Congregation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birth Of A Congregation. Show all posts

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Stages of membership induction


Why do most visitor's visit a UU church?"


Here are some possible reasons.

  • Visitors are UUs and they are visiting in our area or have moved to our area.

  • Visitors are dissatisfied with their faith tradition and looking for a church more liberal or open to flexible theologies.

  • Visitors have children and want to obtain some sort of religious instruction and religious upbringing for them.

  • Visitors are looking for people who would be supportive of their religious and spiritual growth.

  • Visitors sometimes have problems and are looking for "help", material as well as emotional.

  • Visitors are looking for validation for their values and confirmation of a their way of life, or they are looking for values that help them build a more satisfying and fulfilling way of life.

  • Visitors have certain talents and abilities and interests and are looking for activities that would allow them to use their talents and abilities in satisfying ways.

  • Visitors are looking for an organization with a mission and a vision of how to make the world a healthier and happier place to be.

  • Visitors are often looking for a minister they like and they feel likes them.

  • Visitors are looking for an inspiring, motivating, interesting, and enjoyable worship service.

  • Visitors are looking for a place they feel welcome, and a place where they would feel comfortable belonging.

  • There are probably more reasons that people visit a church but I think that these might be the most important ones. If a church were to respond to these visitor expections and requirements how could they engage visitors to return, and one they have come a few times retain them for the long haul?


    The road to full membership in a church can be thought of as having stages. I call this "membership induction."


    The first stage is getting noticed by potential newcomers.


    The second stage is attraction which stimulates a visit.


    The third stage is courtship where the newcomer is interested and wants to learn more, and begins to develop relationships with church members. The newcomer may be paired with a sponsor or mentor.


    The fourth stage is engagement where the newcomer wants to more formally pursue the possibility of taking a vow of covenanting with the church. This involves a proces of study and discernment as well as further relationship building.


    The fifth stage is taking vows of covenanting.


    A church which is successful in growing its membership provides services to newcomes who are at each stage in this membership process. The services and activities the church would engage in for stage one would be different from the services and activities at stage three and four.


    This is article #15 in a series on Birth Of A Congregaton.


    Monday, August 3, 2009

    Collective Ministry


    I am reading Michael Durall's book, The Almost Church: Redefining Unitarian Universalism for a New Era. It is a very good book and I am learning a lot.

    Michael's book was published in 2004 and at that time he says there were 1008 UU congregations in the United States. Of those, only 50 - 60, or 5%, had experienced growth in the previous decade.

    Only 49 UU churches had memberships of 500 or more, and 3/4s of UU churches, attract fewer than 100 members.

    There are many reasons for this decline and stagnation. Durall quotes Miroslav Volf, a theologian at Yale Divinity School who asked this question, "Why are communities of faith increasingly ineffective in their central task?" Great question. What would you say in answer?

    Here is what Volf says, "Because churches do not offer a compelling vision of a way of life that is worth living."

    I thought to myself, "Wow!"

    It would seem that Unitarian Universalist churches have become clubs for the middle class to give comfort and solace to those who expect reasurrance from their past church experience than forward thinking risk takers trying to make the world a better place.

    Durall asks the question, "Does your congregation have a soul?"

    At the workshop sponsored by the St. Lawrence District in Barneveld, NY on "Big ideas for Small Congregations", the idea of a "collective ministry" was raised. Does our church have a collective ministry?

    It would seem that sociologically, churches are institutions that exist to perform certain functions in the society in which they exist. What are those functions? There are many, of course, but it seems to me that a main function is to be a stablizing social institution to socialize community members into ethical ways of living for their own benefit and the benefit of the broader society.

    Do Unitarian Universalist churches play this function in society? Marginally, but I am not sure that most UU churches even see this as their function as they eschew the idea of prostylitizing or more assertively outreaching to engage others into joining in its shared vision.

    What do you see BUUFs "congregational soul" as being?

    Here are some of the replies that Durall collected from members of other churches.

    "Yes, it is for caring for others."

    "Yes, but our church is paralyzed because church leaders fear offending someone by a decision or action they may take."

    "If this church has a soul, I don't see it or feel it."

    "Yes, because there is a greater presence than self."

    This is article #14 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Wednesday, July 22, 2009

    Every Church Needs Goals.


    Without collective goals, organizations drift and stagnate. Goals give an organization focus, clarity, and purpose. Good goal setting is based on the collection of the expectations and requirements of organizational stakeholders and the rich data obtained from the SWOT anaylsis. For the sake of my examples in these series of articles, I am going to base my goal development upon the suggested mission statement for BUUF and my own informal attempts to collect the data on stakeholder expectations and requirements and from my own SWOT. This data that I am using is totally inadequate but it is all I have at the moment.


    Good goals describe outcomes or results that are measurable.


    What are the goals for worship?


    PMUC will provide weekly worship services on Sunday that at least 80% of those who attend 2 or more times per month for at least 3 months report on survey are satisfying.


    What are the goals for spiritual development of members?


    PMUC will provide adult religious educational programs and fellowship opportunities that at least 80% of those who attend church 2 or more times per month for 3 months report on survey are satisfying.


    What are the goals for being a facilitative factor for positive community change?


    PMUC will provide opportunities for collective ministry that at least 50% of church members who attend church 2 or more times per month for 3 months report on church survey is satisfying.


    What are the process goals for managing the organization?


    PMUC will maintain its physical buildings in good repair and make them accessible and readily available for both congregational use and when possible for the use of the broader community as evaluated by at least an annual inspection and utilization logs.


    These are just examples to get things started. Many more goals can be developed. Good goals describe outcomes, results, the deliverables. They describe the ends but not the means. So every good goal, in order to be accomplished, requires staff, activities, equipment, money, and expertise to accomplish them. For each goal in the plan, there must be a strategy for goal accomplishment.


    The goals and the stategies are the core of the plan. They guide the organizations activities. No winning team takes the field without a game plan. No church can hope to be a successful organization without a game plan. Does your church have a game plan? If so, would you share it with us? Please leave comments or email me at david@davidgmarkham.com
    This is article #13 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Tuesday, July 21, 2009

    Part Of The Church Planning Process Should Include a SWOT analysis


    In the series on church growth we have covered the need for a plan, the idea of describing the various church stakeholders and their expectations and requirements, the components of a logic model, the mission, vision, and values statement, and the last idea to cover before we get on to describing goals is a SWOT analysis.

    A SWOT analysis is simply a description of the church's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses tend to be internal dimensions and Opportunties and Threats are external dimensions.

    Specifically, what are the strenths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of PMUC. Some of our strengths are that we have a very beautiful and useful building and location, our long history in the community, and a small but very committed group of parishoners.

    Weaknesses include our small numbers, our financial problems, and the fact that we are a liberal religion in a conservative area.

    Opportunities include our positive values which the world badly needs and the fact that especially in the younger generation there is an interest in a more liberal view of life.

    Threats are increasing costs to maintain and operate our building and the aging of our congregation.

    You can add your ideas to each of these categories to further enrich the data sets in each category. We also can ask other stakeholders what their ideas are about PMUC's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Once we have captured this data, the data sparks ideas about goals, about things we should work toward in improving our church.

    Video on SWOT analysis lasts 5:21.



    Please leave your comments and/or email me at david@davidgmarkham.com

    This is article #12 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Monday, July 20, 2009

    Every church needs a behavioral covenant based on shared values


    Every church needs a behavioral covenant which is based on shared values. This behavioral convenant can be implicitly understood or made explicit. Ideally it is both explicitly discussed, developed, and agreed to and after a while it becomes a part of the implicit culture of the organization. That is, everybody just understands "how things are done around here" and "how people are supposed to act."

    Of course, an explicit statement of values guiding a behavioral convenant is most helpful when there is disagreement, conflict, dissension, and attacks and fighting. Often, organizations try to do too little, too late, after significant damage to the church has already occured.

    So as a part of the planning process it is not only a good idea but perhaps a critical part of the process to have the planning group at some point explicitly discuss, develop, and design a value statment that guides behavioral dynamics of the organization. These values are not set in stone but here are a few that I like and believe are necessay:

    Respect - We need to respect each others ideas and feelings. Sometimes this means agreeing to disagree.

    Empathy - We need to put ourselves as much as possible in other people's shoes and try to understand their point of view and feelings. Empathy is not the same thing as sympathy which is feeling like the other person, or agreement. Empathy is the ability to understand, and to be curious and interested in where the other person is coming from.

    Assertiveness - People need to speak directly to one another and not behind their back and gossip. This may take courage as there may be a fear of conflict, rejection, or derision, but in the long run it is better to take the bull by the horns, and call a spade a spade than to walk around on egg shells and pins and needles, and beat around the bush, and then "back bite" the other.

    Accountability - We need to be accountable to the good of the whole, and the whole needs to be accountable to its members. Accountability is about meaning what we say and saying what we mean. Accountability is about doing what we agree to and saying "no" when we are not able or willing to take on some responsibilities. It is always more disappointing to the whole when we aree to something and let people down that to just say "no" up front. Accountability, like assertiveness, often takes courage.

    Value diversity - We need to be inclusive and not exclusive. The goal is not the melting pot, but rather the tossed salad or the mosaic where people's unique differences are not only tolerated but appreciated and valued as contributing to the richness of the whole. Blending in is not the goal, but appreciating and valuing differences in an enriching and empowering way is

    Integrity - We need to value integrity that is the individual's right to self determination and honesty in the face of unpopularity, disappointment, disagreement, and skepticism. It is difficult to be true to oneself and to others when one is experiencing various pressures and stressors to profess and act otherwise. We believe in the right of conscience, and justice and equity in human relations.

    Teamwork - We need to work with others in a fair, collaborative, and a democratic way welcoming all ideas even if they cannot always be used. Leadership is used on behalf of others as a means of service for the good of the church and not of the self. Service above self becomes an important value of a healthy church.

    These values which could be agreed to as a basis for gthe Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship or any church's behavioral convenant, Respect, Empathy, Assertiveness, Accountability, Diversity, Integrity, and Teamwork make the acronym REAADIT. "Read it".

    Whether these values or other values are chosen, it is important for a church to have agreement on what the preferred values are which are the basis for the ways in which people interact and conduct themselves.

    Video lasts 4:45.



    This is article #11 in a series on Birth Of A Congregaton.

    Sunday, July 19, 2009

    Every church needs a vision.


    In addition to a mission every church needs a vision. The vision is a description of where the organization is headed and what things would be like if it succeeded in its mission. There can be many visions. In fact every stakeholder in the church may have a unique vision of what the organization is trying to bring about. The church leadership is the steward of the vision. That is, it is the job of the leadership to collect the various visions and integrate them into a vision statement that can be feed back to the people in a way that resonates with them and brings about a degree of enthusiasm, committement, and engagement.

    People resonate with the vision at four levels. Some people do not care or share the vision at all and never engage with the organization. Some people comply with the vision but their engagement is marginal and peripheral. The third group of people cooperate with the organization and " go along with the program." The fourth group are the people who engage at the level not just of compliance and cooperation but they contribute to the development of the vision. Organizations have members at all 3levels of engagement and yet it is the 3rd level that is preferred.

    What is the vision for the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship? My vision is that BUUF become a thriving spiritual community that provides support, guidance, and inspiration to enable the spiritual growth of its members, friends, and the broader society of which it is a part.

    Having made this vision statement it raises a number of questions, the two most important of which are how will it achieve its vision and how will it measure its progress? The general answers are that it will achieve its vision by carrying out its mission which we discussed yesterday and it will measure its progress by choosing indicators that can be measured in meaningful ways to help evaluate progress. More on these things later.

    For now, let me ask you what is your vision for BUUF and for the Unitarian Universalist Association? Leave comments or email me at david@davidgmarkham.com.

    Strategic visioning video lasts 4:32



    This is article #10 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Wednesday, July 15, 2009

    Birth Of A Congregation - What is our mission?


    Every church needs a sense of its mission or it will die. There is the biblical statement that without a vision the people will perish. Without a sense of purpose the people will drift or stagnate.

    Many mission statements seem contrived, clumsily worded, and while lofty in sentiment, irrelevant to the members, and out of touch with the members more direct experience. A good mission statement should be memorable, meaningful, and relevant. It should be a clear statement of the organization's purpose.

    I have been thinking about the mission of the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and it seems to me that BUUF should do three things: provide comforting and inspiring worship services, to facilitate the spiritual growth and development of its members and others with whom it comes into contact, and to work towards making the world a better place.

    I believe that BUUF can do this because Unitarian Universalists have good values that I whole heartedly believe in. I like associating with kindred spirits, with like minded people. I believe that BUUF and the UUA can make a difference in my life, in the life of my community, and in the world.

    So here is my attempt at fashioning a mission statement for BUUF. The mission of the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is to provide opportunities to publically acknolwedge and worship the transcendent, to promote the spiritual growth and development of its members and interested friends, and to work for positive social change. This mission statement has the elements in it that are important to me and I can quote it from memory.

    What would your mission statement for BUUF and Unitarian Universalism be? Leave a comment or email me at david@davidgmarkham.com

    Video lasts 1:52



    This is article #9 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Sunday, July 12, 2009

    At our church what do we want to have happen?


    Every church needs a plan, and every plan needs goals, and goals are formed from understanding the expectations and requirements of church stakeholders. Are you still with me?

    Once we have some understanding of the expectations and requirements of the various church stakeholders then we need to figure out how the church can go about meeting those expectations over the next 2, 5, 10 years. And if those expectations were met what would be the results, the outcomes? Once we have identified those outcomes they become the plan goals. The production or achievement of these outcomes can take place in the short term, the intermediate, the longer term, thus the 2, 5, 10 year plans.

    Let's take but one example. Members say they come to church to worship and they do this because it gives them comfort, and inspiration. Everyone agrees that the church needs to provide worship services that are comforting and inspirational. The goal might be stated as "80% of parishioners who attend weekly worship services at least 24 times per year (twice a month) will report on survey that they experience those services as comforting and inspirational."

    Let's say we have done a survey and only 40% of parishoners say that they find the services comforting and inspirational. The question is how can we create worship services that increase the number of satisfied parishoners from 40% to 80%?

    Once we have specified the goal or outcome, now we are able to design the activities most likely to help us achieve our desired outcomes. Would we improve the music, the preaching, the prayers, the hospitality? Would we add elements to the service and delete some or modify others?

    So a good plan starts with understanding the expectations and requirements of church stakeholders, articulating desired outcomes/results that would meet those expectations and requirements, and designing activities that would produce the desired outcomes.

    There are two more pieces to this model which is called a "logic model" and those pieces are: what are the resources needed to carry out the activities and how would we evaluate and measure our progress and results?

    A good plan will result in church success.

    BUUF will create a church that will thrive because we will have clear values, a sense of purpose, and create the mechanisms to sustain and nurture a congregational life over the years.

    This is article #8 in a series on the Birth Of A Congregation.

    Saturday, July 11, 2009

    What do you want from a church? Supposing you could build it from scratch.


    Every church needs a plan and every plan needs goals, but before we get to the goals we have to understand what the expectations and requirements are of the various stakeholders in that church.

    Who are the stakeholders in a church?

    They are the members, the members families, the potential members, the community in which the church exists, the wider organizatonal structure of the religious organization, the State and nation in which the church exists and lastly, the world.

    What are the expectations and requirements of each of these groups?

    What do the members want? It is hard to know unless you ask them.

    If you are a member of BUUF what do you want from BUUF? If you are a UU what do you want from Unitarian Universalism? If you are not a member of BUUF or the UUA what would you want from a UU church in your community?

    Please leave your comments on this blog.

    This is article #7 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Monday, July 6, 2009

    A viable plan for church growth is based on core values and a sense of purpose


    Every church needs a plan. Where are we going? Where do we want to be in 2, 5, 10 years? What is our mission? What is our collective ministry? What difference do we make to ourselves, to our community, to our world? Who is it, as a church, we want to become?

    So many questions and without answers we are adrift. As W. Edwards Deming said, the great total quality management guru, "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

    Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, in their book, Built To Last, described visionary organizations as having a "core ideology" which is made up of organizational values and mission, a sense of purpose.

    In thinking about BUUFs core values I would say a commitment to spiritual growth and satisfaction of its members and exuding compassion toward the world. It is spiritual satisfaction and compassion which will drive BUUFs development and life.

    BUUF's purpose is to provide an opportunity for spiritual growth and sustenance in an ennervating environment.

    Right now these are my answers to these questions about what are BUUF's core values and purpose. What are yours? Together we can combine our energy and do great things. Jesus said, "Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be." and St. Paul said, "If God is with you, who can be against you?"

    At the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, as with any church, we need to plan our work and work our plan.

    Where do you want Unitarian Universalism to be in 2, 5, 10 years? Leave your comments on the blog.

    This is article #7 in a series on birth of a congregation.

    Thursday, July 2, 2009

    Birth of BUUF - What's the potential?


    Three members of the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship went to Barneveld, NY on Saturday, November 1, 2008 to attend the workshop on "Big Ideas For Small Churches". The question came up about how many people live within 25 miles of Brockport? The estimated answer is 150,000.

    According to the Pew Research on Religious Affiliation in 2008, 0.3% of the population in the United States idenfifies itself as Unitarian Universalist. That would mean there could be as many as 450 UUs within the reach of BUUF. This does not count people who identify themselves as "liberal" who might find Unitarian Universalism attractive to them.

    Could the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship develop a membership of 100 people in the next 3 years? What would it take?

    This is article #5 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Saturday, May 23, 2009

    Starting a new church = Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (BUUF)


    What's it like to start a new church? I have some experience doing this but not much. I was a member of Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in Rochester, NY when a group of people left and started what was to become Spiritus Christi.


    Now, in Brockport, NY, a small group of enthusiastic folks are starting a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. We are right at the beginning stages and you will be able to follow the progress right here on UU A Way Of Life. Periodically, updates and news on the effort will be posted here. We need your prayers, positive thoughts, knowledge, ideas, and if possible actual work and energy in making this dream come true.


    The next steering committee meeting will by on Thursday evening, 05/28/09, at 7:00 PM in Brockport, NY. It you are interested in attending, call me at 585-637-0040 and/or send me an email at david@davidgmarkham.com.


    If you are geographically distant and would still like to participate, let me know, and I will put you on our email list to receive information about the work, and the BUUF newsletter. Financial donations would be greatly welcomed to cover our start up costs.


    This is article #3 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Wednesday, May 20, 2009

    Birth Of A Congregation - That vision thing


    In addition to a mission every church needs a vision. The vision is a description of where the organization is headed and what things would be like if it succeeded in its mission. There can be many visions. In fact every stakeholder in the church may have a unique vision of what the organization is trying to bring about. The church leadership is the steward of the vision. That is, it is the job of the leadership to collect the various visions and integrate them into a vision statement that can be feed back to the people in a way that resonates with them and brings about a degree of enthusiasm, committement, and engagement.

    People resonate with the vision at four levels. Some people do not care or share the vision at all and never engage with the organization. Some people comply with the vision but their engagement is marginal and peripheral. The third group of people cooperate with the organization and " go along with the program." The fourth group are the people who engage at the level not just of compliance and cooperation but they contribute to the development of the vision. Organizations have members at all 3levels of engagement and yet it is the 3rd level that is preferred.

    What is the vision for the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship? BUUF's steering committee is working on this right now. My vision is that the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will become a thriving spiritual community that provides support, guidance, and inspiration to enable the spiritual growth of its members, friends, and the broader society of which it is a part.

    BUUF's steering committee is meeting again on May 28, 2009 to further formulate a vision. What would the characteristics of your dream UU Fellowship? What would be the two most important?

    Having made this vision statement it raises a number of questions, the two most important of which are how will it achieve its vision and how will it measure its progress? The general answers are that it will achieve its vision by carrying out its mission which we discussed yesterday and it will measure its progress by choosing indicators that can be measured in meaningful ways to help evaluate progress. More on these things later.

    For now, let me ask you what is your vision for a new Unitarian Universalist Fellowship like BUUF and for the Unitarian Universalist Association? Leave comments or email me at david@davidgmarkham.com.

    Strategic visioning video lasts 4:32



    This is article #2 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Sunday, May 17, 2009

    Birth of a congregation

    The first meeting of the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship was held this morning with an enthusiastic group of hopeful people.

    Unitarian Universalism is not dead but very much alive in the hearts and minds of people who love UU values and want to celebrate them at home and in the wider world.

    Creating an opportunity for people to come together to celebrate UU values and to express this faith and optimism in the world is very unusual. Usually if it bleeds, it leads, but in this case it is gratitude and joy that leads the way and gives one hope not just for one's own life, but for the lives of others as well.

    Our first step is to develop our vision and assumptions about what is possible and to engage people in this shared vision.

    We are off to an auspicious start. I hope that you will pray for us, send positive wishes and thoughts our way, and help us articulate our vision and assumptions not just for ourselves but for our church and the world.

    This is article #2 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.

    Wednesday, May 13, 2009

    Birth of a congregation - We're pregnant!

    A plan was conceived last Sunday, 05/10/09, on Mother's Day, to start the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, BUFF, for short.

    We were reluctant to announce the pregancy until we were sure that the fetus was viable but our joy overpowered reason and we decided to take a chance and announce the pregancy.

    The first check with the OB/GYN will be on Sunday, May 17, at 10:00 AM at the Java Junction with the Brockport Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Advisory Group, that's BUFFAG, if you are following the acronym building process here.

    If anyone knows anything about giving birth to a Unitarian Universalist church we sure could benefit from your experience.

    Please let me know of your availability for coaching either by leaving comments or emailing me off blog at david@davidgmarkham.com.

    I will be tagging these posts, Birth Of A Congregation.

    This is article #1 in a series on Birth Of A Congregation.
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