The theme of this year’s UUA General Assembly (GA) was “Meet the Moment.” As I attended GA as East Shore’s Board President, I wondered what this would be about. I was expecting something social justice oriented, but it turned out to be much bigger than that.
Leaders suggested that our Unitarian Universalist (UU) communities are our strongholds against the current political environment – they are our superpower, since we are not subject to regulations or the withdrawal of federal grants. However, the tide is coming in and all UU communities are going to have to make changes and take some risks to be ready for the societal winds that are buffeting us.
“Meet the Moment” is a renewed focus on shared strategic planning – recognizing that UUs are living in a time of tremendous change of many kinds, and that we need to be prepared. “Meet the moment” steps are to build a shared analysis of the situation we find ourselves in, then do some strategy planning and experimentation, followed by assessment and evaluation to see what works.
They suggest three key questions that we can ask ourselves at many different levels:
- What is the moment we are in right now?
- What are the urgent needs and important opportunities we face?
- What do our shared values call us to do in this moment?
One answer to the first question was at the UUA level, they showed that the metrics of membership, participation and generosity across the UUA, at the local, regional and national level, are all showing a steady downward trend. However, there are some congregations who are packing the house. How can we learn from them, and identify changes that might work in our own congregation, so that we are ready for the changes that are coming?
I was pleased to see that some of the changes suggested for congregations are in areas where we’ve already put in a lot of work, such as updating our bylaws and policies to make us more nimble and open to change, and recruiting youth to be on the board, so that we hear the voices of potential future leaders of our congregation. However, while we have built a strong foundation, those changes are not sufficient by themselves. We need to shift our focus to the programs we offer and how those programs can draw new people in.
In the breakout sessions, we each chose from a list of Meet the Moment themes to explore. I chose to participate in the session exploring Multigenerational Worship, recognizing that successfully engaging children and youth is a way to ensure a sustainable future. We talked about what this means in practice, what we are noticing about the engagement of children and youth during our worship services, and why this is an important conversation to be having right now, as children, youth and parents face very different challenges from in the past. We discussed the value of equity – how to create a compelling worship experience to meet the needs of all participants in worship, from the youngest to the eldest, and how to move away from the feeling that worship is a performance to be perfected, and towards a sacredly unique time we are creating together, where everyone receives something that they need.
Meeting the moment is a particularly important theme for us at East Shore right now, as we consider how best to integrate families while the Education Building is under construction in order to comply with state regulations. In the coming months, you can expect a season of experimentation. We encourage you to approach changes with curiosity, give new ideas a try, and let staff know the needs you have to be able to embrace the changes.
I found the framework of “Meet the Moment” inspiring as we, as a community, continue to develop our collective vision for the future. It was reaffirming to be among other congregational leaders asking important questions as we face both challenges and opportunities. I think we can use this framework of meeting the moment to look more deeply into the moment we find ourselves in here at East Shore and what our shared values call us to do to enable us to grow and thrive.
Learn more about the UUA’s Meet the Moment program. A 5 minute video on that webpage reflects on the future of UUism.
Amanda Strombom, Board President and UUA GA delegate.