Comments for Vital Congregations

Comment on Posts by Annette Marquis

Annette Marquis — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 02:10:19 +0000

Herb, I’m glad to hear that you are still meeting. Please give me a call at the TJD office and we can talk about how you might be better supported.

Comment on Posts by Herb Stevens

Herb Stevens — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:53:39 +0000

Annette,
We are an Emerging Congregation and have been meeting for almost 4 years in Lenoir, N.C. We meet weekly and have very vibrant, lay-led services every Sunday. Our congregation has grown to about 30 members with an average of 20 attending each week. We follow a UU Order of Service and contribute money and service to several local charitible organizations. Our congergation is very pleased with our small, active church, but I am presenting a service in two weeks to point out why we should look toward becoming an full fledged Affiliate with the UUA. Can you give me your reasons why we need to become an Affiliate and broaden our sphear of influence?
We have not gotten much encouragement from either the district office or any other sister congregation.

Comment on The Thomas Jefferson Question by John Mattox

John Mattox — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:50:32 +0000

Here is a suggestion intended to stimulate discussion – I have not researched this issue thoroughly. How about renaming our district after Martin Luther King?

Comment on Building Multi-Racial, Multi-Cultural Congregations by James Armstrong

James Armstrong — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:13:30 +0000

I am new to Richmond, Virginia, practicing at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond and I have been searching for a sense of the ways congregations in this district address race and ethnicity.

Annette Marquis posted her presentation on this site exactly one year ago, and since then no one has posted any comments concerning her presentation. I thought she was thought provoking and challenging, and I remain interested in reactions to these documents from others who have practiced in this district and would like to share their experiences and thoughts.

Have congregations taken up the challenges raised here? Do any have outcomes they wish to share – what things they have tried, what things have evoked responses – positive or negative – from people of color, from white people and from congregational members?

Comment on Marketing for Congregations by Mark Smith

Mark Smith — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:23:51 +0000

oops, didn’t finish and this wordpress component doesn’t seem to allow “editing”.

My daughter is really engrossed in Facebook, as are many of her friends. Perhaps a way to reach our HS youth would be to setup a more organized Facebook (perhaps also Mypace) presence? We have one parent who is doing so, but it isn’t actually an organized and coordinated activity.

Thanks again, hope some others actually see this and comment.

Cheers de Mark
Mark Smith C3H IT Services Architect

Comment on Marketing for Congregations by Mark Smith

Mark Smith — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:21:16 +0000

Annette,
Great use of (we)blog technology here. But where and how are our member congregations using technology to “combine their voices” and really gather as an extended community online?

We have some success using Wikis (see our web site c3huu.org) within our congregation, after modest success with LISTSERVs to enhance committee communications. Some of the UUA LISTSERVs are quite active, but the bulk of our members don’t use LISTSERVs.

My 15yr old daughter is aghast that we don’t use Facebook (or MySpace before that)

Comment on The Thomas Jefferson Question by Ann Deupree

Ann Deupree — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:27:41 +0000

I’ve been a member of 4 churches in the TJ District and continue to belong to one of them. I’ve never heard a discussion where the name of our district was held up as so special that anyone in the group would be devastated by a change. I know I wouldn’t, especially if it gives pain to some of our members and potential members. A new name that would continue to have the same initials of TJD doesn’t seem like a good solution to me either, when it would always remind us of the original name.
I’d be fine with a new name that indicates our location, like SouthEast District. Why cling to a name that has seriously tragic connotations. We can continue to honor the many gifts that came from Thomas Jefferson without holding him up as a banner for our large district.

Comment on The Thomas Jefferson Question by Susan Holahan

Susan Holahan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:26:49 +0000

Happy with the “Toward Justice District” or something similar that reuses “TJD.”

Comment on Becoming Unitarian Universalist by Shirley McGuire

Shirley McGuire — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:04:02 +0000

One way we’ve found to help new people connect is, after they’ve been coming for a while, asking if they’d make coffee every once in a while. We have specific instructions for making coffee and someone to help them. This has been very successful in helping them connect with the congregation. We also ask them to help with greeting. Of course we always make a point to speak to them during our meet and greet part of the service and speaking with them during coffee hour.
We’d like to introduce some other small tasks so we can meet their interests in case they are not interested in either of the above tasks. Do you have intentional ways in your congregation to help newer people connect? If so can you share them with us? Thank You. Shirley McGuire, President Westside UU Church, Knoxville, TN.

Comment on The Thomas Jefferson Question by Shari R Barr

Shari R Barr — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:14:58 +0000

Thanks, Annette, for your testimony. I’d like to see the TJ District become known as the Toward Justice District. May it be so!