Important Ministerial functions

This Fellowship is clear that it wants a minister who will preach, while at the same time acknowledging that ministers fulfill many functions. Although preaching has a clear majority, most members also  say three other functions are important: building community within the congregation, personal interaction, and promoting UU principles.

This Fellowship wants a minister who can help us get along with each other. This clear message was shouted out by 97% saying that building community within the congregation would be a very important or somewhat important function of the minister.

Several other functions are also important to many members. These include personal counseling, social justice leadership, community outreach, and religious exploration (RE) for adults as well as children.

The function ranked as least important for the minister: committee work/participation. It’s not that members don’t want the minister involved in day to day affairs. They do, although more as an inspiration, guiding light, and team builder, than as an administrator or commitee member.

Survey question: How unimportant or important are the following ministerial functions?

Should UUFSD grow in numbers, and if so, why?

Most of the fellowship support growth in numbers, either as a way to welcome more UUs, or to have a bigger local impact.

There were a wide variety of other ideas mentioned about reasons for growth in numbers:

• To attract more like-minded people
  • “To provide a spiritual home for people who didn’t realize they are UUs “
• Diversity
  • “Right now it is very upper middle class white”
• Financial
  • “To become more financially stable”

UUFSD members are a mix of the newly-joined and founders

The UUFSD Fellowship is composed of both a freshly growing influx of members, as well as the time-seasoned founders who were here at the beginning.

The newest 10% of the Fellowship have been members for one year or less.

The newest 25% of the Fellowship have been members for 4 or fewer years.

Half of the Fellowship have been members for 8 years or less, and half have been members for more than 8 years.

25% of the Fellowship have been members for 15 years or more.

10% of the Fellowship have been members for 24 or more years.

How large should UUFSD grow in numbers?

Growth is an ongoing of topic for discussion at UUFSD, as at many other UU Fellowships.

We asked Fellowship members to tell us the optimal size of the Fellowship. There are approximately 230 members, half of whom attend on any given Sunday.

Half of the Fellowship said 350 members would be optimal, a 53% growth above today’s level. The most ambitious 25% of the members said 400 or more, and the least growth-oriented 25% of the members said 300 would be optimal.