Circle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Our Membership Journey
Making New Friends and Keeping the Old
Ten Recommendations for Growing a Congregation
(Items in bold will be focused on first)
1. Develop a consensus among all the members of your congregation that sharing Unitarian Universalism, which will result in growth, is a necessary and significant objective. Discuss growth in terms of numerical targets and demographic targets so that as many in the congregation as possible support outreach to specific groups underrepresented in the community. Without this consensus, some individuals and groups will resist the changes that result when growth becomes a major focus. Consider holding a congregational meeting to vote formally on this objective.
2. Develop a mission statement, vision, or idea for your congregation's identity and purpose. No single congregation, especially if it has less than a thousand members, can do everything. Smaller congregations in particular need to concentrate on two or three areas of congregational life that they can do well and promote to the community. Religious education for younger children, young adult programs, outreach on environmental issues, a folk music coffeehouse, and connecting with the elderly are a few examples of areas in which a congregation can identify itself and be known in the community. Go with your desires and strengths, and do what you do well without being defensive about the things you are not able to do.
Are you visible in the community?
A strong public presence and public witness is perhaps
the best advertising that a congregation can have.
Being a voice to represent groups chronically
underrepresented in the traditional leadership of a
community can get a congregation on the radar for
historically marginalized people and groups.
3. Think and behave as if you were a little larger than you are. Many congregations decline in membership because when growth occurs, they continue thinking and behaving as if they were smaller. The reverse can also be true. When we act as if we are larger, we become larger. Thinking and behaving as if we are larger reduces the resistance to moving in that direction.
4. Be serious about developing specific objectives to accomplish in the next three years. Most small congregations under two hundred members should have no more than two or three objectives, including outreach to specific underrepresented populations. Each objective should be specific enough that everyone will know when it has been reached, yet general enough to be adapted to new knowledge or changing conditions. Once the objectives have been agreed on, the committees responsible for maintaining the congregation can establish specific goals for their own areas to help meet the objectives. Opportunities for organizing task forces that require limited time commitment can be used to assimilate newcomers in one or more networks in the congregation.
5. Develop an intentional plan for greeting and following up with visitors. Few people return to a congregation after visiting once if they have not had an initial relationship with one or more individuals. Telling everyone in the congregation to be attentive to visitors rarely works. Instead, assign and train two or three individuals to undertake this responsibility. Personal follow-up after a visit is equally important. Letters are passive and impersonal; the human voice or outstretched hand is far warmer and relational. ***
6. Provide child care for all important meetings. Each family’s being responsible for its own child care was once the norm, but young families today expect the congregation to offer this service. Congregations that wish to attract younger families need to meet these basic expectations.
7. Create an organized process for welcoming new members and helping them become a part of the community. Adapt a time line for incorporating each new member into the life of the church, beginning with the first orientation meeting. The new-member ceremony in a Sunday service should convey the message that new members are important. Ask newcomers and new members to give impressions of their experiences with the congregation and to suggest changes that might make the congregation more attractive for other newcomers. The tendency is to share the congregation's story with newcomers, but most newcomers want to know what is planned for the future rather than hear about the past.
8. Develop a specific set of expectations for membership. The baby boomer and later generations want to know what is expected of them. Generalizations do not arouse commitment, especially in the area of financial contributions. More Unitarian Universalist congregations today clearly state that a specific percentage of income is a minimum expectation. A few congregations talk seriously about 5 percent of a member’s annual income instead of gearing the canvass to members who say they “can't afford it" and not expecting too much. When the expectation is higher, so is the response.
9. Pay attention to your facilities as your congregation grows. A crowded room at coffee hour will repel those who feel uncomfortable in crowds, and after a while the congregation will be made up only of people who enjoy crowds! So, too, only children who are able to handle large Sunday school classes will return. If your congregation can't expand its facilities, you need to have two services and two religious education sessions.
10. Remember that quality is more important than any other ingredient in a growing congregation. Congregations that attempt to do too much usually end up doing nothing well. Burnout creates sloppiness, and the atmosphere feels "down." Everything should be done well if you are a congregation that wants to grow. Rehearsals for Sunday services, sound systems and working lights, facilities that are well maintained and positive looking, and newsletters that are crisp and attractive are important. Small matters that are overlooked or assumed to be unimportant can become the turnoff that your recent visitor remembers.