Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Lessons from Breakthrough Congregations

2012 Metro NY District2012 Metro NY DistrictAnnual MeetingAnnual Meeting

May 4-5, 2012May 4-5, 2012

Mark Bernstein, CERG Regional Growth Consultant

Facts on Growth 2010

• Measured change in attendance between 2005 and 2010

• Analyzed responses from 11,077 congregations of all faith traditions in the United States

• www.faithcommunitiestoday.org

“The clear message…is that in today’s world growth and decline are primarily dependent upon a congregation’s internal culture, program and leadership, and therefore a congregation’s own ability to change and adapt.”

David Roozen, Director of Hartford Seminary’s Hartford Institute for Religion Research

Major Findings

• Congregations located in downtown or central city area are more likely to experience growth

• Congregations started since 1992 are most likely to grow

• Growth in predominantly white congregations is less likely

• Growth is correlated with a clear mission and purpose

• Joyful worship services and worship services that include children are associated with greater growth in the congregation

Major Findings

• Congregations whose members are heavily involved in recruiting new people have a definite growth advantage, as do congregations that use multiple methods to make follow-up contacts with visitors, that regularly invest in special events or programs to attract people from the community, and whose senior clergy spent priority time in evangelism and recruitment.

• Having congregational programs of all kinds is related to growth, especially young adult activities, parenting or marriage enrichment activities and prayer or meditation groups.

Major Findings

• Congregations with strong leaders, especially leaders 35-39 years old, are most likely to be in growing congregations.

• Congregations that say they are willing to change to meet new challenges tend to be growing congregations.

• Congregations with little or no conflict are most likely to grow.

• Congregations that saw themselves as not that different from other congregations in their area tended to decline in growth

The Breakthrough Congregation Initiative is an effort to identify those congregations that have

achieved significant and sustained numerical growth

Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Seattle Washington 173

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Beaufort, South Carolina 88

Unitarian Universalist Church of Peoria, Illinois 350

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, Virginia 600+

Unitarian Universalist Church of Summit, New Jersey 300

Unitarian Church of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania400+

Unitarian Univeralist Church at First Parish, Sherborn, Massachusetts

First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, Iowa

Factor # 1

A Welcoming Culture that Permeated the

Entire Congregation

Factor #2Factor # 2

Faced a crossroad And

Took Bold

Action

Factor # 3

Created a Clear and Compelling Mission…and aligned their activities with that mission

• Embracing Freedom…Loving Inclusively…Growing Spiritually…Healing Our World

• To transform ourselves, our community, and the world through acts of love and justice

• We invite people into a respectful, authentic and joyful religious communitythat nurtures meaningful connections, pursues justice, and inspires service

• To grow, to connect and to serve

Factor # 4

An Emphasis on

Factor # 5Strong and Inspired Ministerial Leadership

Factor # 6

Focus on Children’s Religious Education and Programming

Turnaround churches almost all agree: They knew what they needed to do before they did it.

Churches that truly want to grow do so.

Churches that want to serve do so.

Churches that want to climb out of financial hardship do it.

For every declining church you can name, there is a growing one just like it in most ways. The key difference?

Declining churches expect their answer to come from the outside; growing churches take responsibility for their own solutions.

The hard reality is that our own health, vitality and future rest squarely with us—no one else will guarantee them for us . . . and what worked for one church is highly unlikely to work for us.

We need a customized plan of learning, worship, giving and serving that fits us—that honors the unique gifts, skills, knowledge, talents, passions and experiences of our particular fellowship—and will generate an attractive energy that allows us to get excited enough about who we are and what we do that we want to tell and invite the world.

Rev. Dan Dick, Director of Connectional Ministries for the Wisconsin Annual Conference.