Report from the UU Commission on Appraisal

(Excerpt from the concluding chapter of their book)

A deeper and broader understanding of the meaning of membership is vital to our growth.

In 1997, the Commission decided to study membership because the topic was important to our movement. Now, at the completion of our study, we are even more convinced of the significance this issue has for our liberal religious movement. We believe that a deeper and broader understanding of the meaning of membership is vital to our growth. The individual personal spiritual growth of each person who identifies with Unitarian Universalism and the growth of our congregations depend on deepening the theological understandings of membership and expanding the perspectives that are represented in our congregations.

The challenges and opportunities abound.

A key concept underlying this report is our understanding of membership as a process. The theological perspective that grounds our work begins with St. Paul’s classic metaphor of the relationship of the various “members” of the body and goes on to incorporate contemporary insights and ideas from many sources, liberation and process theology in particular. We chose our title, Belonging, near the end of our work, but it is central to Paul’s original metaphor: Each organ of the body belongs to a whole that would not be whole without it. We find our wholeness in relationship, in community with others, people both like and unlike ourselves. Individually we are changed, transformed by our relationship with others; at the same time the community as a whole is changed by the presence and participation of each individual. Both individually and collectively we are in a constant state of change, of transformation.

The process of membership

Transformation is the fundamental purpose of and reason for a religion of seriousness and depth. What we have called the process of membership is such a process, leading from superficial levels of identity and affiliation to deeper levels of commitment, to true membership.

We suggest three categories to outline this progression: identification, affiliation, and membership. The first is primarily self-identification: those who label themselves Unitarian Universalist but make no observable demonstration of their commitment—what someone has called “UUs without showing it.” Affiliation implies some level of connection or participation in a congregation and/or other organizational involvement—for example, in youth programs, summer camps, or special interest groups. Membership suggests minimally an overt commitment, demonstrated by fulfilling stated institutional requirements, which is, however, only the beginning of a process of deepening participation and commitment, a process that may be lifelong. Again, our fundamental thesis is that membership is a process.

In this light we are asking our congregations to reconsider the meaning of membership and their practices relative to welcoming and incorporating new members. In our view all who participate in the life of a congregation are effectively members in some sense, whether or not they have signed the book or otherwise formalized their relationship. Practical considerations such as reporting requirements and denominational annual fund appeals based on Fair Share giving encourage a precision of definition that may be organizationally necessary but is essentially false. A congregation, any true community, is in an almost constant state of redefinition, based upon the complexities of the relationships and inter-relationships of which it is composed. At a given point in time the most influential member of a given congregation may not be technically a member at all but an individual whose behavior positively or negatively focuses the energy and direction of the whole.

Congregations, in other words, are also always involved in a process of transformation. They are different communities virtually every Sunday, affected by the changing needs and aspirations of their changing constituencies, those who are in the truest sense their members. A congregation that takes itself seriously, that takes its work seriously, will have a clear understanding of what its central purposes are, of what it is calling its members to.