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More Than Numbers More Than Numbers

More Than Numbers - PowerPoint Presentation

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More Than Numbers - PPT Presentation

Making amp Deepening Member Connections and Congregational Vitality 4 Types of Growth Numerical Maturational Organic Incarnational from Congregational Growth in Unitarian Universalism New Congregation amp Growth Resources UUA 2005 drawn from Loren B Meads ID: 576417

service people amp congregation people service congregation amp org uua worship minutes life religious members education congregational growth information

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Slide1

More Than Numbers

Making & Deepening Member Connections and Congregational VitalitySlide2

4 Types of Growth

Numerical

Maturational

Organic

Incarnational

(from “Congregational Growth in Unitarian Universalism”, New Congregation & Growth Resources, UUA, 2005, drawn from Loren B. Mead’s

More Than Numbers: The Way Churches Grow

, Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 1993)Slide3

Repel Fewer Visitors

Look with Fresh Eyes – what might be making people feel …

Confused

Awkward or unwelcome

Really turned offSlide4

Friendliness!

“The single most important factor in determining whether visitors return to a church is how ‘friendly’ they find the congregation.

“‘Friendliness’ is determined in the 10 minutes after the worship service ends,

and is measured in how many people reach out to say hello, not in the depth of the contact.”

Dr. Charles

Arn

, presenter from: Nine Surprising (Or not so Surprising) Patterns in Growing Churches,

CmWD

Conference on ChurchSlide5

3 Minutes, 10 Feet, 2 People

The first 3-5 minutes a newcomer is in the building

AND the first 3-5 minutes

after

the service (coffee hour/social time)

If you are within 10 feet, say Hi!

See someone alone? Select a nearby seat and/or approach to say Hi! (Always at least 2 people).

Adapted from United Methodist Communications 2010 Welcoming Ministry Training Manual & Planning Handbook pg. 282“Welcoming Tips”

OR: The Rule of the Two Tens

10 minutes before & after a service are the KEY

(from Congregational Growth in Unitarian Universalism, 2005).Slide6

Facilities

Main entrance

Restrooms, wheelchair ramps

Greeters at

each

entrance on Sundays

Encourage long-time members to leave empty seats on the aisles – easier for newcomer to slip into aisle than climb to a middle seat

If parking limited, reserved “first time guests” parking space in choice location

Examine RE rooms – Safe? Clean? Inviting?Slide7

Worship Services & other Programs

Avoid Acronyms (in Order of Service, Newsletters, Emails, when spoken in the service, etc.)

Evaluate service

from

newcomers’

eyes. Members often put up with situations that make visitors feel uncomfortable.

Announcements & Joys/Sorrows – length, contentSlide8

No Service!

No services during summer

Services at different times than posted on website, signs, etc.

Service held in different locationSlide9

Categories & Beyond

Recognizing our immediate assumptions

then moving past them

to pay attention to a newcomer’s individuality.

Learning about his/her/their interests

What brought

them

here today?

(

ie: what are they seeking, not what we think

they are seeking or what we

need

from them)Slide10

Young Adults

One person’s experience…

Other things to consider

?Slide11

Intercultural Individuals

For both newcomers and membersSlide12

Accessibility

http://www.uua.org/accessibility/congregations

Make sure greeters, ushers, & worship associates, know how to direct people to large print hymnals, hearing assistance, accessible rest rooms, etc.

Don’t assume someone wants help. DO ask how you can be helpful.Slide13

Audit

Do an

audit

of your space and programs, including Religious Education programs and worship. Ask yourselves questions like these and then develop a plan to make needed changes:

Whose pictures are on the walls? The bulletin boards?

The website? What

are the messages?

In choosing stories for worship and sharing in other settings, who are the characters? What do they do? Who describes their experience?

What celebrations are part of your congregational life? What do you learn about the "other"? How does this learning affect your life and the life of your congregation?Slide14

What are the themes and values of the curricula you use? Whose values are they? What is implicit in them?

Explore the environments for Religious Education programming. Look at every thing in each room, in each space. What messages do the spaces convey?

What kind of diversity is present in your congregation? At worship? In the Religious Education program? Age? Race? Ethnicity? Gender? Family configuration? Sexual orientation? How is this diversity represented in the life of the congregation? In Religious Education? On committees? In Adult Religious Education? In decision making?

What place does the diversity of your larger community have in the life of your congregation? How do you approach your responsibilities for justice? Out of entitlement? With a sense of accountability? Accountable to whom and how?Slide15

After the Welcome

How to help people GET and STAY engaged. Slide16

Engagement

Offer Information (

eg

. “chats,” classes, info potlucks)– help people know what it means to be a UU and to be a member of a congregation.

Then, after informed and ready to jump in, aim for 20% new member participation in congregational roles, tasks, etc.Slide17

Process

Tracking

Evaluating

RecognitionSlide18

Tracking

Do you know how many first time “shoppers” actually come back?

Do you know how many stay for awhile, seem to like it, but then drift off?

Do you know how many people join, but then leave after just a few years?

How many join and stay?Slide19

Data Collection

Database

Other tracking techniquesSlide20

Using Membership Data (handout)

From UUA.org

https://www.uua.org/documents/congservices/congscount/processdiagram/pdf)Slide21

Evaluation of Existing Process

See

UUA.org

for Welcoming Congregation, Accessibility, Young Adult, etc. information on evaluating your processes

Gather a group of people who have recently joined – ask them about their experience. (Create some specific questions to help get the conversation started).

(One place I attended offered a special breakfast before a service. Of course childcare was offered too).

Look over your newcomer/member data – what patterns do you see? What might this indicate?Slide22

Some congregations have found…

Need for more “early seeker” information

Need for more formalized, in-depth information about membership, so people don’t join without full understanding of expectations

Once involved, need for more ease in moving from one activity to another, not getting “stuck.” Easily viewable path to something new.

Need for checking in with people at various stages,

eg

. when kids “age out” of RE, when someone decides

they can’t or don’t want to do ___ any more. A new way to make connections.

If a congregation is growing or changing quickly, need for more opportunities for longer-term members to feel connected to this dynamic.Slide23

Rituals

Welcoming New Members

Honoring Milestones

Recognizing Contributions

Saying GoodbyeSlide24

Resources

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations:

uua.org

UU Association of Membership Professionals:

uuamp.org

HandoutsSlide25
Slide26