Watch and Pray notes the new website of the intentional large-church start in Tarrant County (Ft. Worth area), Texas called Pathways Church He says: “I am curious to see how it all flies? I’ll be conservative, and at this time predict a middlin’ success. Maybe a membership of 300, which would be good, but not… Continue reading Pathways Church pool
Category: Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarians and Universalists outside the UUA
Earlier, I mentioned the possibility of a Universalist church outside the UUA. As it happens, there are several, though not nearly as many (who opted out of joining the UUA) as there once were. Some died; some became Community Churches and lost their Universalist identity. One of the survivors — Universalist and Christian, and dear… Continue reading Unitarians and Universalists outside the UUA
Polity quandries and the UUA Bylaws
Disclosure #1: In my hypothetical church planting exercises, I believe that UUA membership would be desirable, but not essential, to the welfare of the church. Disclosure #2: Rules — in this case the UUA bylaws — are not made to be broken, but imagination must be applied to them, so as the negative parts of… Continue reading Polity quandries and the UUA Bylaws
Some telling statistics from the UUA
God bless restless energy and the technology to re-format some information the UUA has on its website. I stuffed the last UUA congregational certification numbers the membership numbers congregations use in making an annual report for GA, plus the latest available membership numbers for the churches that didn’t certify, minus the Canadian congregations that have… Continue reading Some telling statistics from the UUA
Unitarians of Hazard
No evidence of Tom Wopat, not Universalist (but Unitarian), and ambiguously Christian, but interesting all the same. A little more detail would be nice. Link: World Brotherhood Church, Hazard, Kentucky. 2008 April 24. The link is dead, and the site has been down since at least 2006. 2009 August 14 Here’s a snapshop from the… Continue reading Unitarians of Hazard
Chicago, the home of “jazz killers” and . . .
Apart from changing planes at O’Hare, I’ve never been to Chicago: never have been to the Art Institute, never have ridden the El, and never have visited much less attended a certain double-initialed Unitarian Universalist-related seminary. Last night, in a new members’ orientation, I told a U of Chicago grad-soon to be new member that… Continue reading Chicago, the home of “jazz killers” and . . .
The Elephant and the Emperor
Sean from Across, Beyond, Through asked the following in the comments of the entry, “Is being many harder than being one?”: Just checking here–your position is that Unitarianism and Universalism were intentionally changed in order to be more palatable? To each other? To society at large? I think that there was an embarrasment about the… Continue reading The Elephant and the Emperor
I lift mine eyes to “Rocky Top Tennessee”
Utah-born and bred Philocrites recalls how the Mormon anthem “Come, Come Ye Saints” moved him to tears when sung at King’s Chapel, Boston. The closest experience I have had to this was at the Opening Ceremony at Nashville 2000 GA. Mind you, I think Opening Ceremony has been a disorganized rah-rah shambles and needs to… Continue reading I lift mine eyes to “Rocky Top Tennessee”
UU customs and growth
Do UU customs undercut new church growth? That’s a big question, so I hope my readers will excuse me thinking out loud. (I reserve the right to retract any statement later.) First, I’m not talking about a resistance to evangelism, real or imagined, but systems that discourage new churches from growing to their full potential.… Continue reading UU customs and growth
What to profess?
I never thought so many people would take an interest in this humble blog. Thank you. Some of the well-wishing inquiries came with the question, “how do I get one of my own?” I’m not using any web-logging software; just this CSS (thanks, free-of-charge, to Firda Beka at bookofstyles.org [site defunct], modified a bit). In… Continue reading What to profess?