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UUCA
Puts Emphasis on Welcoming and Integration
Early in services at the UU
Church of Annapolis, Md., visitors are invited to stand. Then at
the very end of the service everyone is asked to turn and greet neighbors.
"We just started this," says Susan Eckert, the congregation's
full-time membership services coordinator for six years. "What
we're hoping is that people will have noticed the new people who stood
earlier and then at the end of the service they'll turn and talk to
them and maybe invite them to coffee hour."
The congregation has tried other ways to improve welcoming practices.
It participated in the Joseph Priestley District's Anonymous Visitor
Program in recent years and found it helpful in raising awareness of
the need to be welcoming. In the program, someone from a congregation
visits another congregation anonymously and then reports on the welcome
he or she received.
Eckert's workweek includes Sunday mornings. "I know most everyone's
face," she says, "so I try to be aware of new people and either
talk to them or make sure that someone else does. Members of the congregation
are pretty good about doing that." The membership committee is
being reformed after a period of dormancy, she says, and should help
with greeting visitors.
The church gets five to eight new visitors a week. Six times a year
visitors are invited to a Saturday morning orientation to Unitarian
Universalism and the church. It includes history, theology, how to join,
and what membership entails. The church is considering a more in-depth
multi-session course on Unitarian Universalism, says Eckert, reserving
the Saturday morning program for those who want a quick overview.
Members are asked to subscribe to six responsibilities of membership:
1) attend church regularly, 2) work on spiritual development, 3) serve
on a task group, 4) pledge at a responsible level, 5) be involved in
service to others, and 6) connect to the wider UU movement.
"For the past several years," Eckert adds, "there has
been an annual lay/shared ministry Sunday at UUCA where the message
is on the importance of getting involved and giving back to the faith
community. Parents with children in the RE program are expected to help
out in some way."
Integrating new members is one of Eckert's responsibilities. They fill
out a gifts and talents survey, and she notifies the appropriate committee
chairs. The congregation's connection points include eight covenant
groups, five spiritual practice groups, a Green Sanctuary program, a
book discussion group, a drumming circle, adult education courses, young
adult circles, and an outdoor club. On Sundays there is a "caring
table" in the narthex where people can write and mail cards to
those whose names were spoken during the service.
Eckert's wishlist for the church includes added parking and a larger
social hour room to make it easier to talk with visitors.
Sunday morning coffee preparers are paid $10 an hour; when the congregation
decided to use ceramic mugs rather than disposable cups it became difficult
to find volunteers to wash dishes. The church sells fair trade coffee
and chocolate to pay some of the expense.
The Rev. Amber Beland joined the congregation a year ago as assistant
minister for lifespan faith development. The congregation offers basic
and advanced curricula. The primary level includes New UU, Evensong,
Our UU Story (history), and a spiritual practice course. The advanced
level of courses provides places for partici-pants to explore and deepen
their spirituality. Courses include Articulating Your Faith, and Building
Your Own Theology.
"The idea," says Beland, "is that some would take the
beginning courses, then the deeper ones, and then would have an opportunity
to join a small group and work with a spiritual advisor. We're working
on that third step."
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