A Unitarian Universalist Association Board report summary, by Moderator Jim Key, for the Octobor 2013 meeting, came out yesterday.
It includes this interesting paragraph:
The Board welcomed Original Blessing, a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Brooklyn, New York. We also learned that there are 55 emerging Unitarian Universalist communities across the country, which are finding new ways to express and live out our faith. Three of these innovative efforts were briefly presented to give us a sense of the range of possibilities.
First, congratulations to Original Blessing.
Next, without seeing the presentation, I have to wonder if there’s a known and structural reason emerging congregations never get past “emerging.” And is this a problem? It may not be.
And lastly, I wonder what the three “innovative efforts” were, and what made them noteworthy. But it seems misguided to leave our congregational development ethos and program in such an under-resourced and ad hoc state.
If I take your point, you caution that these so-called “emerging congregations” are like those little tree shoots I just finished pulling up in the leaves that are settling into compost. These stalks are still strong — in November in Vermont — and the leaves have the green which at this time of year can only be the folly and optimism of youth. Sure enough: there are only the tiniest roots, anchored only on a thin sheet of decaying verdure, and inching its way downward through empty air pockets in search of solid soil.
There’s a lesson here. Roots matter. Likewise matters the gardener, who comes along and adds a little verdure for nourishment at the top, while the root’s little toes continue the search for solid ground.