Hello dear readers.
According to the Religion News Service, the UUA is going to be doing some advertising during the bowl games.
I know that many of you dear readers probably like the UUA ad campaign; I think it's a waste of time and money. And I especially think that this one is a real waste of time.
For those of you who are football fans like I am, you know that the people who get the most attention are the people who hold up the John 3:16 signs. Unfortunately for us, we don't have a Bible verse that most of us agree on enough to hold it up on a sign at a football game.
Study after study have shown (and continue to show) that the best way to get people to come to church is through personal invitation. And yet, many UUs don't have the courage to invite someone they know to come to church with them. Growth does not come through osmosis friends. A church must work at it. How many UU churches have something like "Family and Friends Day"? Or any concerted outreach that doesn't involve advertising?
I want to hear stories. Let's talk about the ups and downs of church growth.
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My church has "Bring a Friend Sunday." Not only do members bring new people, but we've found that new people often come on their own, encouraged by the idea that this particular service will be especially geared to them.
In terms of "church growth" at the national level, the "ups and downs" are available in these official UUA statistics. It seems that, although there have been some moderate "ups and downs", U*U church membership has been pretty much stagnant ever since the UUA was formed in 1961. Of course this means that, as a percentage of the overall population, the U*U religious community is steadily dwindling. With an aging demographic it is not really all that surprising that the UUA is now getting "evangelical" and engaging in a national marketing campaign.
This map showing U*Us as a percentage of the population of each US county lends a whole new meaning to the idea that the U*U religious community is overwhelmingly white. . . ;-)
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