Unitarian*Universalism aka The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™ Is Tinier, Declinier, And Quite Possibly Fringier Than Ever
But don't take my word for it U*Us. . .
Take the word of Donald E. Skinner's article titled 'UUA membership declines for second year' on the UU World magazine blog.
Here are some pertinent quotes from the article -
UUA President Peter Morales, in a report to be presented to the UUA Board of Trustees in April, calls the membership and religious education declines “troubling.” He wrote, “The modest growth we have enjoyed for a generation has stopped. The number of children in our religious education programs is declining. Where our faith was once strongest it is now in steady decline.”
Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA’s vice president for Ministries and Congregational Support. . . called the RE decline “the most depressing of all numbers. If we don’t have more young people our future doesn’t look too bright.”
I agree with Rev. Harlan Limpert that the steady and quite significant decline of Religious Education enrolements, which has been going on for about a decade now, is "the most depressing of all numbers" in more ways than one. Unitarian*Universalists need to ask themselves why parents are choosing not to enrol their young children in U*U RE programs and why some U*U teens are dropping out of U*U RE of their own accord.
UUA President Peter Morales presents a "Five Step Program" (as it were) to counter the downward trend of UUA membership statistics. The unwritten subtext of President Morales' proclamation that Unitarian*Universalists "must change if we are to create the congregations and movement we seek" is that The U*U Movement, in its present form, is NOT what U*Us (or perhaps more importantly non-U*Us) actually seek. I of course agree with President Morales that Unitarian*Universalism must change if U*Uism wants to create the congregations and movement that people seek, although we may differ somewhat about exactly *how* The U*U Movement must change in order to grow. Still I expect that we hold much more in common on that point than we differ on it. I still maintain that a major and quite crucial way that the U*U Movement needs to change in order to attract a significant number of new members is that it absolutely must start taking God seriously and become more genuinely welcoming to God believing people than it currently is.
I obviously agree that a "focus on improving ministerial quality and diversity" is quite necessary considering the current apparent dearth of ministerial quality and diversity in The U*U Movement. I am not saying that ALL U*U ministers are "less than excellent" but God knows that there are some rather problematic U*U ministers and the UUA and MFC have done little or nothing to deal responsibly with "less than excellent" U*U clergy in my experience and observation. I will be holding President Morales to his word by continuing to demand that he and the UUA finally get around to acually DOING something about the unacceptable behavior of some of the "less than excellent" U*U ministers I have the misfortune to know. . .
Take the word of Donald E. Skinner's article titled 'UUA membership declines for second year' on the UU World magazine blog.
Here are some pertinent quotes from the article -
UUA President Peter Morales, in a report to be presented to the UUA Board of Trustees in April, calls the membership and religious education declines “troubling.” He wrote, “The modest growth we have enjoyed for a generation has stopped. The number of children in our religious education programs is declining. Where our faith was once strongest it is now in steady decline.”
Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA’s vice president for Ministries and Congregational Support. . . called the RE decline “the most depressing of all numbers. If we don’t have more young people our future doesn’t look too bright.”
I agree with Rev. Harlan Limpert that the steady and quite significant decline of Religious Education enrolements, which has been going on for about a decade now, is "the most depressing of all numbers" in more ways than one. Unitarian*Universalists need to ask themselves why parents are choosing not to enrol their young children in U*U RE programs and why some U*U teens are dropping out of U*U RE of their own accord.
UUA President Peter Morales presents a "Five Step Program" (as it were) to counter the downward trend of UUA membership statistics. The unwritten subtext of President Morales' proclamation that Unitarian*Universalists "must change if we are to create the congregations and movement we seek" is that The U*U Movement, in its present form, is NOT what U*Us (or perhaps more importantly non-U*Us) actually seek. I of course agree with President Morales that Unitarian*Universalism must change if U*Uism wants to create the congregations and movement that people seek, although we may differ somewhat about exactly *how* The U*U Movement must change in order to grow. Still I expect that we hold much more in common on that point than we differ on it. I still maintain that a major and quite crucial way that the U*U Movement needs to change in order to attract a significant number of new members is that it absolutely must start taking God seriously and become more genuinely welcoming to God believing people than it currently is.
I obviously agree that a "focus on improving ministerial quality and diversity" is quite necessary considering the current apparent dearth of ministerial quality and diversity in The U*U Movement. I am not saying that ALL U*U ministers are "less than excellent" but God knows that there are some rather problematic U*U ministers and the UUA and MFC have done little or nothing to deal responsibly with "less than excellent" U*U clergy in my experience and observation. I will be holding President Morales to his word by continuing to demand that he and the UUA finally get around to acually DOING something about the unacceptable behavior of some of the "less than excellent" U*U ministers I have the misfortune to know. . .
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