Association Sunday Set for October 14
September 15, 2007
All congregations are invited to be a part of Association Sunday, scheduled for October 14th. Association Sunday is an effort to raise $1 million that will go to support a national Unitarian Universalist (UU) marketing campaign, to support congregations in calling ministers of color, and for grants to congregations for their own growth and outreach projects. Association Sunday is part of the ongoing Now is the Time fundraising campaign, which has a goal of $20 million in cash and $30 million in deferred giving. Association Sundays are being planned as annual events for the next four to five years.Rev. Stephan Papa, special assistant to the president for Congregational Giving and Growth Funding, says, “We are asking congregations to think of this as helping the movement grow. We have the same number of members today as we did at the time of the consolidation of the Unitarians and Universalists in 1961. If we want Unitarian Universalism to be there in the future we have to make it happen. The larger we are, the more people will listen to us."
He notes that UU congregations support many local charities throughout the year with special collections. “Unitarian Universalism is also worth our support. We are the only ones who will do it. It’s a way of sharing our faith with others and of being a part of something bigger than our own congregations.
Rev. Jim Eller, minister of All Souls UU Church in Kansas City, MO, supports the campaign. Noting that Kansas City-area congregations were part of the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA) initial media campaign in 2003, he says: "Association Sunday is a chance to give to growth. When we invest in growth and open ourselves to new people, new and exciting things begin to happen and spiritual and numeric growth often follows. Intention and planning does create positive change."
Eller says All Souls in Kansas City, as well as the Shawnee Mission UU Church and the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence, KS, benefited from being test sites for the new UU marketing campaign. "In the process we discovered how to become better at welcoming guests and new members. We discovered that reaching out does work." All three congregations are growing rapidly.
Find Association Sunday resources, including sermons, readings, music, opening and closing words, and a list of frequently asked questions online. For more information call Papa at (610) 902-3090. Association Sunday can be held on other Sundays if October 14 is unavailable.
For more information contact interconnections @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
