Beyond Congregations 2

The link to the Morales article under discussion:  Beyond Congregations

President Peter is right, of course.  Lots more people identify themselves as UU than are members of our congregations.  Only a third of Baby Boomers are active in a church, about half of the same measure among the generation before them.  Participation falls off a cliff in the generations younger than the Boomers.  New forms of organization are going to be required; our present congregations will have to be our base camps for explorations into the wider world.

This would be a dire situation if Liberal Religion did not have a meaning and a message that can help lots of people grow into the people that they want to be. But we do.

In a world where most people are defined by others, either through discrimination and stereotyping, or through aggressive acculturation, Unitarian Universalism and Liberal Religion calls people to self-definition and self-determination.  We also call people to open-mindedness, which I think is a spiritual aspiration for a large number of people.

We have the message; there are numerous methods for developing these attributes.  The modality we offer -- religious community in a congregation -- no longer works.