A letter from a new member

I am posting a letter I received (with permission) from a relatively new attender at my Unitarian congregation in north London. She has come to us after years of trying to find her place in the Church of England. Now, she travels two hours to get to us, passing by a vast number of Anglican and other churches along the way.

My pledge today is to do all I can to make the author's vision of New Unity increasingly real...

I had a thoroughly inspiring time today - thank you. I'm looking forward to the 3 facets course and to coming to services whenever I can. 

The journey itself is becoming something I enjoy - it gives me 2 hours of reading time- and I am looking forward to what will happen when I get to you, as there is usually something to challenge, inspire, move or enthral me, and sometimes all of these at once! 

People here keep asking me what it is that makes you so different to normal church that I'm willing and keen to travel this distance for it, when I constantly refuse to go to regular church services.To answer this would require an essay! But words like 'freedom' 'space' 'encouragement' 'respect' 'vision' 'energy' 'a sense of adventure' 'trusting people' 'belief in goodness' and a hopeful mood of 'we can' all convey what your community says to me.
Though Jesus is seldom mentionned, I find more of his spirit amongst you than I ever did in 20 years of attending an Anglican church. 

I like and respect everybody I have so far met and talked to in your community; they are all so intelligent and caring and thoughtful, and a privilege to know. I can honestly say that I have never before felt this in any church, and it is a healing experience for me, restoring something that got broken and jaded through disappointment and disillusion. 

Your leadership is in such a contrast to the paternalistic and often suffocating authority of priests, who treat their congregation like children. It feels like all things are possible here; that everyone has faith - in themselves and eachother - and that nobody is afraid to take that first brave step on a long journey towards a better society. 

I think that the only reason your church isn't packed on Sundays is that people don't like 'church'. That word gives the wrong idea and puts people off. Your community is nothing much like any church I've ever been to in my entire life, and that is its strength and 'selling point'. We need to spread this around. Something very good is going on here and a lot more people should come in and benefit from it...

What business is your congregation in?

My background is in business. One important question for businesses - a question which, when answered unwisely, has meant the demise of many businesses - is this "What business are you in?"

In the US, there was once a massive and thriving ice business. The clever and industrious organizations in this industry harvest ice from fresh water sources in the winter and stored it until the warmer weather when it would be delivered to households around the US - and even overseas - where it would be used to keep food from spoiling in the heat. There was, of course, no mechanical refrigeration at the time.

When refrigeration was invented and began to be commercialized, it was not initially the smooth, quiet, reliable, and adjustable appliances we now know.

It was noisy. It was large. It was very expensive. It was easy for the ice producers to laugh it off as no threat.

Of course, refrigeration began to improve. And as refrigeration improved and become more competitive, the ice producers had to respond. They did so by finding ever better, more effective ways to harvest and store ice. They invented great equipment for transporting and cutting blocks of ice. They developed every more efficient ways of insulating the ice in storage.  They were certain of one thing - they were in the ICE BUSINESS and they needed to remain competitive.

Well, you know the end of this story. You are unlikely to run into someone at a cocktail party today who proudly announces "I am in the ice harvesting business." Refrigeration won.

The ice business was successful in continuing to improve what they did in the face of the threat from refrigeration. They failed to make a key shift however that could have made them business titans still today.

They concluded that they were in the ICE BUSINESS rather than the COOLING BUSINESS.

What business is your congregation in?

Many congregations would produce answers to this question that reflect what they do today - such things as sermons and hymns, committee meetings, church buildings, members, pledges, organ music. They have been so resistant to change that I can only guess that they firmly believe these ways of doing things to be their "business."

What business is your congregation in?

Is it not in the "life transformation" business? The "meaning-making and purpose-finding" business? The "gratitude-building, connection-revealing, justice-seeking" business?

If we come to these kinds of answers and we begin to think beyond our equivalent of the ice business, how then do we do things differently?

Look around your world. Who is doing your business well? They may be at early stages and still be noisy and inefficient, but this may be tomorrow's sleek stainless steel refrigerator!

What business is your congregation in?

The answer to that question and your response to it will determine the fate of your congregation.

A liberal congregation grows in London

For the past four and a half years, I have been fortunate enough to be the minister - first student and then fully fledged - of the Newington Green and Islington Unitarians in north London. Each year over those years, I've had the pleasure of marking and celebrating the growth of this rapidly-growing congregation. The time for that tallying is always at the beginning of the New Year, when we honour and celebrate those who became members of the congregation over the previous year. So, here we are again!

I was sure that this year our growth would finally slow down. A month ago, it looked like it would, but a late swell of new members meant that we grew faster than ever before! Four and a half years ago, there were thirty-five members. This year, we are welcoming twenty-eight new members. After adding in the new members and removing a few inactive members from the roles - we have decisively broken the one-hundred barrier and reached 106 members. This is a congregation where - when my predecessor began some ten years ago - the total membership was about one dozen.

Each year, as we grew, we have heard comments from outside the congregation that the growth can not and will not continue. We have heard that our success is simply due to being in a good location. And most sadly, we have heard that with growth like that, we must not be 'authentic Unitarians.' Fortunately, that latter view comes from a small minority of very discouraged people.

Well, the growth has certainly continued. If I'm not mistaken, we are now the second largest Unitarian congregation in England as measured by membership.

Why have we grown? And why is our membership so young (we are at least half young adults, despite the minister being a decidedly middle-aged adult!)

As always, explaining congregational growth is extremely difficult - it is the result of so many factors. Some are the things we're doing right and others are simply the traps we've managed not to fall into.

Here are the factors I think explain our growth:

• Our services are not bad... They could be a whole lot better (and they will be!) but they are good enough not to repel visitors!
• We handle conflict reasonably well - people don't sense a lot of anger or hostility when they come in
• We are visible in the world - with signs, articles in the local paper, our web site, Twitter, Facebook, etc. we make sure that people can find us easily.
• We know what we're here for. My predecessor laid the ground work and a clear mission has emerged of a justice-seeking congregation that welcomes, accepts, loves, and thereby heals. 
• We are not afraid. We've taken controversial stands on social justice issues and let the chips fall as they will.
• We have good lay leadership. Our committee members and other volunteers understand our mission and put that ahead of their personal preferences.
• We have focused on the people who need Unitarianism and are not yet among us. We strive to be conscious of their interests, tastes, needs, and ways of thinking. We have reached out to them with programming that addresses their life issues and interests.
• We set goals and then keep our eyes on them and work to meet them. 
• Continuous improvement - we never cease to ask how we could be doing something better
• We are not afraid to fail - we fail often and know that this is the cost of trying new things. Experimentation is good!

This is the best I can do at this point in time. I hope it is helpful to others. 

I would just ask us all to remember that it is not only religiously conservative congregations that can grow. If we reach out to the millions who share the open-minded, open-hearted, justice-seeking perspective of Unitarianism, we will experience dramatic growth, we will transform lives, and we will make a better, more tolerant, more justice, more peaceful, and more loving world.

How to Start a Mega-Church in 7 Steps | Irreducible Complexity

Over at Irreducibility Complexity, Ian wrote a wonderful post two months ago [hey - it's summer. I'm allowed to be slow...] on How to Start a Mega-Church in 7 Steps.

I have very mixed feelings about what he's written... I'm pretty sure he's right about the content. Of course the plan he lays out is entirely cynical, calculating and businesslike. I am certain that good religion should not be like that (or if I am feeling more skeptical, I am sure that religion is always like that - and when it's not, it is is a matter of incompetence rather than intent!)

For a really sincere religious movement dedicated to inclusiveness, openness, faith, and transparency, much of what seems necessary to succeed in such a large-scale way also seems contradictory to the mission. We want everyone to have a say, and that very democratic process may be antithetical to the kind of bold leadership and decisive strategy that leads to huge congregations. Can't we just imagine the committee meetings trying to decide about whether or not to have a rock band? Each person giving their personal preference about types of music and winding up with a compromise that pleases no one completely...

On the other hand, if religious people are serious about religion in the sense of service to the world and not just to themselves, they ought to be doing everything it takes to include more people. Is this where liberals go wrong? Too much emphasis on making ourselves comfortable and not enough on transformation or service?

Of course, I only want people who have an inclusive religious ethos to succeed. Anything homophobic, doctrinal, repressive, misogynistic, superstitious, abusive, etc. should not be permitted to read Ian's post!

Unitarian, Quakers, Liberal Jews and any other group that is working for true justice and is truly accepting of all - study this carefully!!

Unitarian congregations membership

Warning! The numbers below may be very inaccurate! Very!


I needed to get that warning out of the way... I arrived at these membership numbers using the congregational quota contributions from the GA's 2009 Annual Report. I simply divided by £24 and rounded, as each chapel was meant to contribute £24 per member in 2009. Some chapels give more and some give less. Some chapels have  not cleaned out their membership list in a while. It happens... Life is messy.
Nonetheless, as the old management adage goes, "you can't manage what you can't measure." If we are trying to measure growth, we need to be able to measure it.
Admittedly, weekly attendance is a better, more reliable measure than membership, but you have to use what you've got.  So, here are the 2009 numbers!
If anyone would like to correct the numbers listed for their chapel, please feel free to post a comment.

Congregation	Members
Aberdare	23
Aberdeen	50
Ainsworth	17
Alltyblaca	3
Altrincham	50
Ashton-in-Makerfield	52
Atherton	59
Banbury	10
Bath	7
Bedfield	2
Belper	4
Billingshurst	7
Birmingham Edgbaston	48
Birmingham Hollywood	50
Blackpool	19
Bolton Bank Street	56
Bolton Chorley New Road	19
Bolton Egerton	29
Bolton Halliwell Road	15
Boston	9
Bournemouth	8
Bradford Russell Street	17
Bradford Unitarians	17
Bridgwater	5
Bridport	12
Brighton	38
Bristol Brunswick Square	14
Bristol Frenchay	19
Bury	81
Bury St Edmunds	22
Cambridge	49
Capel Ifan	0
Cardiff West Grove	18
Cefn Coed y Cymer	23
Cellan	2
Chatham	8
Chelmsford	10
Cheltenham	11
Chester	10
Chesterfield	4
Chorley	23
Ciliau Aeron	2
Cirencester	6
Coseley	7
Coventry	10
Cradley	24
Crewkerne	12
Cribyn	5
Croydon	49
Cullompton	6
Cwmsychbant	5
Cwrtnewydd	7
Dean Row	84
Denton	0
Derby	7
Ditchling	16
Doncaster	18
Douglas	6
Dover	5
Dudley	1
Dukinfield	50
Dundee	35
Eccles	64
Edinburgh	54
Enfield	16
Evesham	26
Felinfach	2
Framlingham	10
Glasgow	38
Gloucester	8
Godalming	34
Great Hucklow	19
Great Yarmouth	11
Hale Barns	29
Hastings	16
Hinckley	64
Hindley	12
Horsham	29
Horwich	6
Hull	27
Hyde	2
Hyde Flowery Field	8
Hyde Gee Cross	12
Ipswich	38
Kendal	47
Kidderminster	29
Knutsford	53
Lampeter	14
Leeds	30
Leicester	25
Lincoln	13
Liverpool Gateacre	19
Liverpool Sefton Park	28
Liverpool Toxteth	9
Llandysul	4
Llanwnnen	8
London Bethnal Green	0
London Brixton	0
London Golders Green	39
London Hampstead	163
London Islington/Newington Green	56
London Kensington	50
London Lewisham	13
London Stratford	5
Loughborough	2
Lytham St Annes	14
Macclesfield	42
Maidstone	7
Manchester Chorlton	10
Manchester Cross Street	26
Manchester Dob Lane	15
Manchester Gorton	14
Mansfield	48
Mossley	12
New Mill	6
Newcastle	22
Newcastle upon Tyne	21
Newport	7
Northampton	8
Norwich	34
Nottage	12
Nottingham	21
Oldbury	4
Oldham	10
Oxford	36
Padiham	50
Plymouth	22
Pontsian	5
Portsmouth	45
Prengwyn	6
Pudsey	12
Rawtenstall	8
Richmond	34
Rivington	19
Rochdale	54
Scarborough	13
Sevenoaks	26
Sheffield Fulwood	48
Sheffield Norfolk Street	56
Sheffield Stannington	24
Shrewsbury	25
Sidmouth	4
Southampton	16
Southend-on-Sea	3
Southport	10
Stalybridge	12
Stockport	8
Stockton-on-Tees	21
Stourbridge	7
Styal	24
Swansea	12
Talgarreg	8
Taunton	13
Tenterden	8
Torquay	9
Trebanos	19
Trowbridge	20
Urmston	46
Wakefield	17
Warrington	14
Warwick	18
Watford	11
Whitby	7
Whitefield	53
Wick	10
Wirral	19
Wolverhampton	2
Worthing	4
York	40