Emerging Congregations
An Emerging Congregation has not yet been accepted into the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) for membership. It may be new and growing toward full service or not yet ready to become a UUA member congregation. Once a group has received the Emerging Congregation status for our website, they are listed along with our member congregations and get the benefit of reaching people who may be new to or visiting the area where they are located, as well as attracting people from the town and surrounding area who may be looking for a liberal religious community. The designation indicates a commitment to grow and eventually become a full member congregation of the UUA.
The first step in the process for a group to be listed as an Emerging Congregation on the UUA website is to contact the District Executive in your district. The mission of the UUA Districts is to serve as a resource for local congregations and to help extend Unitarian Universalist influence in the larger community. Building a relationship with the district staff will give you access to important resources focused on growing Unitarian Universalist in your town and region. The District Executive is the person that makes the request with the UUA headquarters office to add a group as an Emerging Congregation on the UUA website. In addition to the District Executive's recommendation, the following information (sent to the DE and the email address listed at the end of this page) is required:
- Name of emerging congregation
- Mailing address
- Meeting address
- Phone contact
- Email address
- Website address (if there is one)
To list a group as emerging, the group should have either a meeting address or working website or both. It's best if visitors have a way to quickly find out where the new group meets especially if the group meets in different places rather than the same location for services. A website is the best way to list that information. Contact phone number/s and email address/es for the group must be working and checked frequently. It is acceptable to list personal contact information if there is no group-specific phone number or email address yet.
After the Emerging Congregation has grown, a minimum of 30 members is required for Congregational Membership in the UUA.
For more information contact congservices @ uua.org.
Last updated on Wednesday, April 30, 2008.
