Hospitality & Belonging

Uncommon Denomination Materials Order 100-500 blank postcards: Congregational Services has a limited supply of postcards at the low cost of $15 per 100-card pack (of a single image). You may arrange for printing of the reverse blank side from your local area printer OR print your message and contact information directly from your office printer. Use the Postcards Order Form. Uncommon Denomination Home Overview   • Hospitality & Belonging Tier 1  • Where To Begin  • Resources Tier 2  • Where To Begin  • Resources Tier 3  • Where To Begin  • Resources Marketing 101 for Congregations  • PowerPoint  (3.8 MB)  • PDF  (2.9 MB) Imagine a Religion... NEW resources NEW Web Banners! Issue Advertisements Marketing Outreach Presentation GA '06  • PowerPoint  (15.7 MB)  • PDF  (5 MB) St. Louis Media Campaign Summary Overview of UUA Marketing Outreach 1999-2005 Report on UUA Marketing Outreach 1999-2005 (prepared April 2006) Kansas City Media Campaign Reports Uncommon Denomination - Updates on Use Houston Media Campaign North Texas/Fort Worth Media Campaign Frequently Asked Questions Legal Information Further Resources Contact Us

Welcoming requires attention, intentionality and practice!

"We had greeters at the doors, a welcome table for visitors, nametags, packets we mailed to people and lots of activities for adults and children. Extroverts can pretty easily find their way into our community. But when we heard from two different visitors that no one talked to them when they came, we realized we weren't as friendly as we thought. It's no comfort to know, from visiting other UU churches, that we're not alone in finding this a challenge."

NEW RESOURCE – The Membership Journey  (55 pages)
A guide to various aspects of membership growth and for enriching the lives of all members for all sizes and ages of congregations. This guide also suggests approaches to moving toward being an anti-racist/anti-oppressive/multicultural congregation.

NEW RESOURCE – Religious Hospitality: A Spiritual Practice for Congregations
by Peter Morales. A pamphlet for congregational leaders, members and friends about the spiritual practice of offering hospitality from deep within ourselves.

Sharon Blevins, media campaign test coordinator for All Souls Unitarian Church in Kansas City spoke to the UUA General Assembly in June 2003. She observed, “Before the campaign, we were asked about our welcoming and new member integration processes. We confidently said 'yes' to everything on the checklist. But we've since learned that welcoming takes intentionality and practice. We learned to be intentional and honest in our assessment of how well guests really are welcomed and new members included. The Congregational Assessment process [which users of this program are being asked to complete before going further into the program] encourages both. We learned to be more intentional, careful and consistent when it comes to numbers. The numbers we gathered are all about being welcoming and know more about who is coming to our congregations."

The experience of "The Uncommon Denomination" program field test in Kansas City has provided helpful information and guides our progression through the resources below, which will help your congregation to grow in vitality and reach -- both to members and to newcomers. Here you will find these forms:

• Tracking Monthly Attendance
• Tracking Special Event Attendance

We've also learned to be more intentional about how we welcome guests to our congregations, and to help them teach us how to do it better still. Here are some resources that can help:

• Conducting Guest Interviews
• Talking to Guests
• Article: "Sunday Super Greeters Keep Visitors Engaged, Returning " from InterConnections
  
  Other ideas and how-to's:
• Information on how to "Invite a Friend by Email" from Netsults, and on-line magazine.
• All Souls Unitarian Church , Tulsa OK Visitors and Newcomers Information
  

We've learned the importance of having clear information about the path to membership and how newcomers start that journey.

Here are some resources:

• Thoughts on "Focusing on Member Talents & Gifts"
• Volunteer Coordination and New Member Integration from Jefferson Unitarian Church (Golden, Colorado)
• Jefferson Unitarian Church's (Golden, Colorado) "Path to Membership Class" information
• "All the documents needed by a Membership Committee" from InterConnections
• Southwest Unitarian Universalist Confernce: Newsletters on Small Group Ministry from the Rev. Bob Hill

Addtionally, the UUA Bookstore offers a number of useful resources:

• New Member Gift Set
• Welcome to UUism Pamphlet
• Articulating Our Faith
• Our Chosen Faith (English and Spanish language editions available)
• Letting Go: Transforming Congregations for Ministry
• The Complete Guide to Small Group Ministry by the Rev. Bob Hill

After reviewing these materials, please visit the media elements for Tier 1 use of The Uncommon Denomination program which are available for your use for the first time! Tier 1 focuses on "in-reach" for the congregation, on building stronger UU identity and awareness with the use of graphics and messages used in the media resources. These in-reach resources can be part of developing a strong relationship among all parts of the congregation. And that in turn strengthens our outreach to those outside our doors, in our neighborhoods, towns and cities.

The Tier 1 resources for this program offer many options that do not cost a lot of money. In fact, they may offer designs for resources that your congregation is already using. They include bumper stickers, T-shirt designs, lapel pin and name tag designs, order of service covers, stationery, and more. We hope you enjoy these resources, and that they help your congregation reach out -- and in -- to deepen our UU message of faith and love!

Remember: for questions and concerns email uncommondenomination@uua.org !

Unitarian Universalist Association
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