3014 Pathways to Growth

Speaker: The Rev. Anthony David

Sponsor: Southwest District

Prepared for UUA.org by: Bill Lewis, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

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Two years ago in Boston, the Congregational Services Work Group presented a workshop on "Growing Our Faith." In that workshop, one of the exciting new projects announced was the launch of Pathways Church.

The concept for Pathways was that it would start large to become large. It was to be located on new land in northwest Fort Worth, TX, an area undergoing rapid development which did not have a Unitarian Universalist congregation. With the active support of the ten existing congregations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Pathways Church had a full-time administrator, a full-time minister and a board, half of whom were "on loan" from the existing churches. These core people were to work through home-based, or house church, meetings toward an opening Sunday with at least 300 persons in attendance. That opening was planned for the Fall of 2004, or some fifteen months after the 2003 General Assembly.

One year into the project, the ordained and lay leaders of Pathways realized that their model simply wasn't working. The problem was a lack of cohesion and vision. With a number of groups meeting separately, energy and vision were being formed and pulled in that many directions. A central vision, goals and commitments not only weren't emerging, they did not seem to be discernible in the separate pieces.

Faced with that reality, the ordained and lay leaders of Pathways made a very bold decision and threw the model out – without a new plan in place and with only three months remaining until the planned opening day. This led to a period of soul-searching, followed by a period of intense planning. The leaders emerged with a new plan – to start small and slow in order to become a large church.

The leadership at Pathways developed 'Congregational DNA' to guide the church's life and growth. This central document contains the congregation's mission statement, core convictions and core values. As with biological DNA, this template defines who they are and what they are becoming.

With their vision and direction in place, and with the loyal members who had joined over the past 15 months, Pathways Church opened as planned in the Fall of 2004. Worship, religious education and outreach were all in place. Today, nine months later, they are ready to launch a second worship service.

Pathways Church is a thriving, growing work-in-progress. The congregation is actively "building a spiritual community that changes lives." Even beyond its immediate area, the lessons learned at Pathways Church can help guide future start-up and revitalization efforts throughout the Unitarian Universalist Association.

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The Reverend Anthony David is the senior minister of Pathways UU Church, Fort Worth, TX .

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