In the latest article in the UUWorld the UUA board met and they are restructuring thier current board structure. Which may or may not be a good thing. I don't really know. What I do know is that the UUA (and really most large organizations who have members out in the field) are completely out of touch with what is happening in most of their churches.
I won't try to talk about all the churches I have been involved in, but will focus on the really obvious lack of understanding within my own fellowship, a lay led fellowship in rural Arkansas.
The UUA has a board who's president wants to focus on three things: Growing congregations who are ready to "Take the Leap" to being bigger, how they communicate, and "empowering congregations at the local level". Let's take each one of these and see how I think they fit in our local, rural, fellowship with only lay leadership.
- Focusing on growth. The UUA, for as long as I have been an adult, has been focused on growth and each year they have seemed to shrink. I don't think focusing on growth grows anything. In fact, I think that it alienates the churches that aren't prepared to "take the leap." What about all of the small congregations and fellowships that meet Sunday after Sunday? Do they not have value? Or is it really just about numbers? If the UUA would focus on the work, message, and people they have nationwide rather then the amorphous people out there who might want to join us we might actually grow. Just do good work. Our little fellowship has 8 people who are anxious to join this year. That is growth. Not at the scale that the UUA would care about, but for our small congregation it means we are doing something right - we are consistent and we are doing good work. That equals growth and it has very little to do with the UUA being involved at any level.
- Communication. From books to tweets is what they are going to focus on. It seems to me that it isn't how, but what they communicate. The messages that come from the UUA Board tend to be clear as mud. Nothing that relates to smaller congregations. Ever. Again the focus is on the larger or potentially larger churches. Perhaps if they worried less about how they were communicating and worked to listen they might hear something that is rustling out there. Maybe.
- Empowerment. They are really excited about the Standing on the Side of Love campaign. And when large groups get together and where any kind of similar t-shirt it is empowering - think Giants, Rally for Sanity, etc. but is that really empowerment. I would suggest that they have a forum, or group that could hear what communities are struggling with and give real solutions on how to deal with it. In our community we have 4 weekends that are focused on GLBT tourism - this brings out all of the folks who are against that kind of thing. Shouting fests, strange folks dragging large crosses, and men holding signs about divorce can be found along with drag queens, happy lesbian couples, and families enjoying the town. If we could get the support of our district to come to our town and stage a moment for respect and love that would be amazing - but how do you even go about communicating that need? There isn't a direct line to the districts or the UUA. There isn't any way to let them know what is happening in our communities (I guess it goes back to listening.) So, the idea is nice, but if there isn't an actual way to connect it is meaningless.
Each year there are comments from fellowship members about why we pay the district and the UUA anything - and every year one or two of us defends it. Our reason, because we believe in the ideals despite the fact that we are not served very well by the larger whole.
These are, of course, only my observations - but I think with all of this talk about the UUA board changes this might be a ripe time for them to hear from all over the US. How many of the board are under 50? How many of them are from rural areas? How many of them do not hold degrees of higher ed? How many of them are from smaller congregations? Just a few of my questions.
This is totally a UU (Unitarian Universalist) geek thing - I'll wrench my hands around some personal drama tomorrow for those who care more about that.