We have a lot in common.

I am a Unitarian Universalist (imauu) and so are you. There are nearly 200,000 of us spread across the United States in cities, small towns and rural areas. Our sexual orientation, age, background, education, work lives and home lives may differ, but the values of those of us who call ourselves Unitarian Universalist remain the same: justice, compassion, diversity and community. Our goal is to put these values to work in our local congregation and community. 

Focused as we are on our own churches we can sometimes forget that Unitarians all over the country are doing the same things we are doing. But we don’t collaborate. We work in isolation. We don’t leverage each other’s experience and expertise. This failure to socialize lessons learned and best practices among Unitarian laity (especial lay leaders) continues to be very costly resulting in redundancy, wasted time and inconsistent quality.

As Unitarians, we choose our own gods, not our own problems. A church is a church is a church.

Shared identity. Common challenges.
What problems are you facing in your congregation right this moment?  Whatever it might be–finance, programing, scandals, clergy issues, youth, membership care–there is nothing you are facing right now in your congregation that hasn’t already been faced by people in other Unitarian congregations. In fact, it is likely that many of our churches are currently facing the same challenges right now. Shared identity means common challenges. Too often we find ourselves reinventing the wheel, or starting from scratch on new initiatives or problems which have already been successfully addressed by others. 

Unitarian clergy have their own networks where they find support and share solutions and best practices. Unitarian lay people like you and me need the same kind of opportunity to connect with others who are walking the same path. We don’t have to do it alone. 

Isn’t it time to fix this? Let’s work together to empower all lay people, all churches.