Those of us who are Unitarian Universalist ministers working in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island received an interesting and provocative email message from the executive committee of our local ministers group. They asked: If we were to have 5% membership growth in district congregations in the next year, how do you envision us using our district resources to be most effective? (For those of you who aren’t Unitarian Universalists, the “district” is our middle judicatory body.) I wasn’t quite sure how I would answer that question. An advertising campaign? Training sessions on how to welcome newcomers? What would really help us reach that goal of a 5% increase? I would be really curious to know what my readers think.
Yet Another Unitarian Universalist, vol.1
Volume one contains entries from 2005-2010.
Invest in music as a support to great worship…
worship, worship, worship
That’s what’s working here, more than all the ads – more than all the training. People come back for the experience of worship.
And all our fancy tracking seems to indicate that they are still (as always) most brought in by family and friends. Who, no doubt, are talking about worship.
The question sounds to me more like, “Are the District’s resources capable of sustaining a 5% increase of people in our churches?” rather than “How can the District facilitate a 5% growth in our churches?” but I may be reading it wrong.
As the first, Ms. M hits it on the head. Create fantastic worship, and support for the theological and personal growth of the members, and they’ll talk more about church outside of church and be more likely to bring friends and family in.
The only marketing campaigns that I think are really effective are the ones by individual congregations highlighting what is happening in their communities. Milwaukee recently did a sermon series on “The Big Questions” and sent postcards to all of the households in their surrounding zipcodes and it sounds like it was very effective. But it would not have been if the services did not live up to the hype.