The Small Congregation Prepares for Annual Meeting

Annual Meeting is coming.

The idea of preparation is a little new.

The budget must be prepared, but just this week, the Religious Education Committee decided to charge a small fee to help cover the cost of supplies, and never told the Treasurer.  Not really a problem, since it's a wash, but still...

And nobody actually put together a budget item for the 50th anniversary celebration next fall.

But the budget will be presented, probably line by line, and passed.

The nominating committee (known as the Recruitment and Recognition Committee) has managed to find enough people to staff the Board of Trustees, but not to replace themselves.  There may or may not be people who want to nominate for Nominating from the floor.

Most committees have affirmed that they have chairs for the coming year.

There is "always" a pot luck lunch beforehand, although this has not been mentioned so far in the publicity for this event.

The interim minister (that would be me) has instigated a printed booklet of annual reports on the congregation's activities.  The Building and Grounds Committee is alone in declining to participate.  This is a positive development!

The main event is that the part time minister and the part time religious education coordinator-and-administrative-coordinator will be working with this congregation for another year.  This is implicit in the budget and will not be discussed separately, thank goodness!

People are happy about the way things are going.  This is good, because apparently there is no parliamentarian, either official or unofficial. And little knowledge of how to use Robert's or another system to guide discussion to a vote.

Moving to a more formal way of being in the world is happening.  But this congregation is not quite there yet.

That's okay.  In fact, it's fine.

No, this is not the congregation in question....

American Nations and My Religion

It's really true.  My religion is firmly rooted in New England. Unitarian Universalism is an expression of the New England way.  Our central offices are in Boston.  Our people were intimately involved over two centuries in the great project of exporting New England values through educational institutions, publishing, writing, and speaking.  Our people went West in the nineteenth century to participate in that project of cultural evangelism.  To St. Louis, to Minneapolis, to San Francisco, and more.  People with Boston names were their ministers, at least at first.

When I started reading Colin Woodard's American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America, I was pursuing a thread I had picked up in my political reading.  I had gotten interested in the political evolution of Scots-Irish culture in Appalachia and beyond, since I personally have that heritage.  And since I had been living in the northern marches of the part of our country that once was in Mexico, the political implications of that very different cultural background were also on my mind.  Politics: red, blue, and purple, that was what was thinking about.  Not religion.

But then it struck me: The eleven nations Woodard identifies have very distinctive ways of faith as well as very distinctive ways of politics.  He writes about the private protestants, interested in personal salvation versus the public protestants, interested in doing right in this world for everyone.  We're the apotheosis of public protestants, I thought.  It's a good place to stand -- or was, maybe, in the 20th century-- but kind of limited on a continent with eleven different "Nations." We stand in the very center of Yankeedom, as Woodard calls our nation of greater New England.  Maybe we have reached out into the upper Midwest to the point that it is part of our nation.  And maybe we have strong allies in New Netherlands and the Left Coast, but culturally we are not doing so well in the Deep South, Tidewater, New France, El Norte, Greater Appalachia, the Midlands, the Far West, or the First Nations.

From American Nations, by Colin Woodard

The impact of our impressive reach into education and the printed word has been eroded by changes in media.  Once, it might not have mattered if no one had heard of Unitarian Universalists, for they were reading what we wrote. Now, fewer people read. And reading has a different social meaning.  Instead, people watch things produced in places culturally distant from us.  We need to reach out again to find  places to stand that can reach into all these nations. For our message is not identical with the culture of Yankeedom.

Maybe that's what's important for us about reaching out into nations that are actually in different countries. Maybe we need to do that to understand how to establish our faith in places that are culturally not part of Yankeedom.  There are people building congregations from Catalunya to Burundi. from Rural Northeast India to urban Czech Republic.They are very different from us, and yet have some things in common. Some of them -- with Uganda the chilling example of the moment -- are risking their lives for principles we share. There's always the intriguing question -- what things do we need to have in common, and what can we let go?

I'm thinking our practice of asking and answering that question in an international framework can help us find the way into a Unitarian Universalism that speaks broadly in the Far West, El Norte, and New France, maybe even in the Midlands, Greater Appalachia, and the Deep South.  I believe this is something we need to explore. What do you think?

What They Believe, for Now...

What can I say about this wonderful Coming of Age group?

They are all wonderful, year after year, congregation after congregation, and I never get tired of the presentations on Coming of Age Sunday.

Godzilla, this year.  An awesome way to start a reflection on God and heroes and making meaning.

And the two kids who appeared by video because they had to be at a soccer tournament in Coeur d'Alene.
(I hate Sunday soccer tournaments.)

Some believe in God, some are not sure, and some for sure don't.  Interesting riff on the Big Bang and who might have started it. Or not.

All speak well and radiate the glow of youth, filling me with hope for the future of our world, or at least some corner of it.

We only see the tip of the iceberg.  It has been a struggle in this congregation to persuade these youth and their parents that this program is worth it.  But they mostly came on Sundays and were part of it, maybe absorbing more passively than an observer would have liked, but mostly, they were there.  And so much effort from some of the mentors to engage them more fully!

A cold-water plunge in November before the lake froze, taking their instructions from the way of certain Northwest indigenous people.

Afternoon hangouts at the coffee shop, talking about life, the universe, and everything.

And the Sunday service affirmed it had been worth it! Yes, the presentations of their faith statements, of course.  And so many people!  So much food!  So many pictures being taken!  Gifts exchanged!
And so much talk.

Much later, people went home, smiling.

It won't happen next year in this congregation, but looking at the population of the lower grades in Sunday school, they're into a time of doing this every other year.

This is a blessing.

Is a Small Congregation a Black Hole?

The woman sat in my office and tried to explain.  It was just too much, she said.  One leadership commitment always led to two more.  Or worse, when she signed up to do a piece of a project, she often turned out to be organizing the whole thing.  "It's a black hole," she said. "It sucks you in and never lets you out."  She had done it long enough.  She was going to find an alternative to church, something that did not require her to give up her life.  I wished her well, and told her I hoped she would be back in time.

In a small congregation, it's hard to find the people to fill important leadership roles.

It's one real reason to find ways to grow just a little larger. But you can't just  grab the first newcomer and make them committee chair, board member, board officer.  Sometimes you might get lucky, but not often.  I remember the congregation where the secretary of the board had been serving for too long.  A brand new member was selected to replace her.  She lasted three months before bolting.  She left the position and left the congregation, never to darken the doorway again.  The previous secretary returned, and as far as I know is still serving that role, lo these many years later. Complaining proudly that she is the only one who can do the job.  I don't believe this is a good way.

As people get tired, things get sloppy and functions are pared down, a faded feeling of weariness permeates all activities. Potluck suppers feature things people bought at the supermarket on the way over. A certain odor in the building speaks of not quite thorough cleaning. People no longer take time to check in with each other.  Little silos of different functions develop and operate independently.  Efforts to collaborate or even communicate just flutter and die. Children grow up and classes in Religious Education are no longer needed. 

The leaders are just too tired to get to know anyone new.  Sometimes they say "I have enough friends; I don't need to meet people."  Other times, they are just discouraged and can't find positive things to say to newcomers.  

And of course, if that's the way your congregation is operating, growth is unlikely.

Some congregations find a way to suck it up and get through the slump.  Others do not.

I try to encourage leaders in congregations to remember why they are doing what they do, to get to know whatever new people are coming through the doors, and to coach them to get involved without foisting leadership on them too soon.  It's more effort, but signs of positive change begin to emerge very soon, so it doesn't seem like effort for nothing.  What are the resources that can be drawn on for the required added effort?  Each congregation has its own story.  I am convinced that it can most often be a story with a happy ending.