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Thanks to the 96 people who took the time to fill out
the Sunday Morning Program survey – and a special
thanks to Carol Kazmierski for putting the survey together
and compiling all of the results. These results amounted
to two pages of statistics and 34 pages of comments. Of
course the statistics are a helpful barometer of how we’re
doing and areas of growth. The comments give us some anecdotal
insights as to the meaning of the numbers.
Just over 10 percent (11.4) of those who responded are
not satisfied with Sunday mornings. Only one person was “very
dissatisfied.” Not a huge number, but still a reason
to be attentive to the numbers and comments. In the measures
of the various programmatic areas, more than half the respondents
thought the time allocations were “just right” for
all but two areas. One was discussion periods, where 48
thought it was just right, 27 want more, and 17 less. The
other area was live music. This is the only area that no
one said they wanted less and 40 people wanted more. Our
music programming is all volunteer. This means that Peggy
Earnshaw and the music committee need all of our help to
attend to the live music on Sunday mornings. An email to
Peggy or the office about ideas or talents you have would
be greatly appreciated.
While the statistics are fairly easy to glean meaning
from – though I’m certain we’ll differ
on interpretations, the comments are more wide ranging.
Insight from the comments tends to go to extremes. There
are those who would attend more if I spoke more, others
would attend more if we had a different minister all together.
Some wish the children weren’t part of the Sunday
service at all, others wish they were there every Sunday.
Some want more spiritual topics, others more scientific
subjects. One person said the stories are great, another
said that they are “dumb.” And so on. Most
of the comments were helpful, some brutal. From them we
have insight into possible topics and speakers.
Our hope is to have these results, the statistics and
comments, available on the website soon. Printed copies
are currently available at the Fellowship office. The Sunday
program committee will spend the summer looking through
the results and discuss how we might continue to improve
the experience we offer on Sunday mornings.
This survey is also part of an evaluative process we
will begin next year. The Committee on Ministry will be
looking at how we do ministry at the Fellowship and my
role in that ministry. Starting in the fall we’ll
have opportunities for feedback and input from all of you.
The ministries we do, just like the Sunday programs we
create, are community efforts. I hope everyone will participate
in this creative process.
As we close this fiscal and program year for the Fellowship,
I want to thank our officers and board for their leadership
during a year of transitions. Thanks to Lynne Van Valin
as she ends her term as secretary and to Dallas Thies and
Fred Vallier as their board terms end.
I will be on vacation for the month of July. If there
are caring emergencies please call Lynne Van Valin, Trish
Strah and the office. For Fellowship business please contact
our president, Brenda Witherspoon.
See you in August,
Brian
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UU growth has stagnated. In June at a General Assembly
session in Fort Worth, I learned that U.S. adult membership
grew last year by just 0.3 percent – or about 500
members of about 150,000 total. Combined with an RE drop
of 1.7 percent, UUism as a whole lost ground for the
second straight year.
Back in Ames, UU growth is a slow trickle. Some come;
almost as many leave (with the shining and critical contradiction
offered by the youth program).
Meanwhile, I read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that
Disciples of Christ leaders meeting just down the road
say they are seven years ahead of schedule toward their
goal of starting 1,000 new congregations by 2020.
At the UUFA June board meeting, driven by a question
about adjectives that evolved into a discussion of substance,
we agreed to revisit our mission statement in the fall.
I have a growing sense, though, that we will only grow
individually and collectively if we focus on revisiting
not just our written statement but our understanding
of and commitment to our mission itself.
In a workshop with congregational leaders, UUA President
Bill Sinkford spoke about whether we are simply collections
of individuals creating collections of congregations
or whether there is something common to hang our hats
on. The Rev. Robert Hardies of All Souls in Washington,
D.C., one of the fastest-growing congregations, cited
the clarity of its theological vision as a key to that
group’s growth and attractiveness.
And while he didn’t say it, I think we must remember
that welcoming all souls and having a theology that embraces
all souls does not mean that all souls will or should
find a spiritual home in a UU congregation. We should
not confuse making people feel welcome with making them
feel comfortable. UU tradition values speaking our truths,
not withholding our truths for fear – however well-intentioned – of
offending people.
We’ve all heard about comforting the afflicted
and afflicting the comfortable. By and large, I think
we need to grapple with more affliction. We are too comfortable
with our level of volunteer commitment, with our level
of financial giving, with valuing the UUFA for what it
is not rather than for what it is or could be.
We grow when we are challenged. We can lose ownership
when we aren’t.
I wrote last month about how we often use the Fellowship
as a place from which to go forth and be socially active
individually but not as a place to work collectively.
I think we do this in spiritual growth, too, assuming
that, because we each have our own paths, we must actually
be making progress along those paths. It is naïve
to think that we all have the tools or incentive to do
serious spiritual growth work independently. Our mission
statement says the UUFA “stimulates the study and
practice of ethical and liberal religious thought,” but
I think perhaps we should be compelled, not simply stimulated.
We’ve all been asked why we became UUs, why we
came to the UUFA. But we need to ask ourselves what about
it speaks to us regularly and profoundly. What about
it stirs us to action? What about it forces paradigm
shifts, not just reassurance that we’re thinking
about the right topics?
And if we have no answers, maybe we have at least identified
some key questions.
— Brenda |
