Dear
Friends and
Colleagues,
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A special invitation to DA
Friday!
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We hope all
members of our UUMA
Chapter and the
PCD
Board of Directors will join us for our
traditional DA
Friday gathering,
on April
25, 2008, at the
Fremont Marriott. This annual time together is an
important vehicle for aligning the leadership of the
Pacific Central District, for strengthening our
relationships with one another, listening to and
learning from one another, all in the service of our
individual ministries and our collective
responsibilities to the larger
movement.
We have something very special
in mind for this year's conversation, built around a
just-released DVD, and are pleased to announce that both
the Reverend Robert
Latham and
the Reverend Victoria
Safford will be on hand to help us.
In
the fall of 2007 the UUA's Growth Team brought together
a dozen ministers from some of the fastest growing
congregations around the country. Many might have
been on that list; here are the ones who were able to
attend:
·
Ken
Beldon,
Wellsprings - within its first 18 months of existence,
this congregation had an average Sunday attendance of
over 100. In Ken's 7 years at the River of Grass
congregation, they grew from 30 to 160
members.
·
Thom
Belote, Shawnee
Mission - this congregation grew by 50% over the past
five years to 300 members.
·
Helen
Carroll, San Luis
Obispo - since 2001, their membership has increased by
30% to 240 members.
·
John
Crestwell, Davies
Memorial - in addition to an overall growth increase of
50% since 2001, this congregation has gone from having 8
people of color to nearly 100 people of color over a
five year period.
·
Kendra
Ford, First UU
Society of Exeter - since 2001 they have grown from 150
to 200 members
·
Rob
Hardies, All
Souls Unitarian - the congregation has gone from 350 to
nearly 700 members since 2001.
·
Liz
Lerner, Silver
Springs - they have grown from 200 to 375 members since
2000.
·
Peter
Morales,
Jefferson Unitarian - their membership has nearly
doubled in size since 1999, to 760
members.
·
Christine
Robertson, First
Unitarian Church of Albuquerque - they went from 500 to
650 members since 2000.
·
Victoria
Safford, White
Bear UU Church - since 1999, their membership has
increased from 265 to 620.
·
Michael
Schuler, First
Unitarian Society of Madison - since 1988, they have
grown from 500 to 1,400, and have spun off the James
Reeb congregation of 125 members.
·
Marilyn
Sewell, First
Unitarian Church of Portland - this congregation is
2-1/2 times larger than it was in 1992, with more than
1,000 adults attending worship on some
Sundays.
Alice Mann, senior consultant with the
Alban Institute, known for her books on church size
theory, facilitated their conversation, and the whole thing was
filmed. This DVD shows some very
provocative parts of that conversation. At times
the group seemed to have much in common in regard to how
their congregations worked and what was working so well
for them; at other times, what was true in one
congregation was not so true some place
else.
The
group talked about what brings people to their
congregations, how they define their roles as ministers,
the connection between spiritual growth and numeric
growth, the nuts and bolts of growth work, what helps
and what gets in the way. The most energizing
parts of the conversation happened not so much when they
were talking about growth, as when they were talking
about faith. And leadership. And
ministry.
And being in love.
Much of
what they say are things many of us have heard and said
before; others parts are surprising, revealing,
controversial; still other parts are things you'll want
your own lay leaders to hear and
discuss.
And each of our congregations
will be receiving a copy of this DVD! Let's come
together and watch it together, and let's talk about
what it means to our congregations, to our ministries,
and to the leadership of our district.
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Sincerely,
Barbara
Hamilton-Holway,
Bill Hamilton-Holway,
Cilla
Raughley
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When:
Where:
How Much:
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10:00 - 4:00, Friday, April 25,
2008
Fremont Marriott, room to be announced
$35,
to help cover some of the costs of continental breakfast, lunch, and
afternoon treats
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Please register before the
deadline for our food order, by Monday, April 21. Just send
your RSVP to cilla@pcd-uua.org, and bring a check to the
event. Thanks!
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