Networking
The purpose of networking on a campus and in a community is to foster...Relationships
(Who we Are), which are built on trust, encouragement and unity.
This results in...
Strategy
(What We Do) including the sharing of resources, cooperative training, combined events.Take the Lead
A movement needs passionate leadership—one or more people with a vision to fulfill.
Clarify Your Vision
This begins and continues with reflection. Ask small group to make their plan clear for reaching your community. Then write it down in a mission statement as a starting place for your network.
Build a Team
Establish a core group of others who “own” a similar vision. Continue reflecting. Get to know one another personally, allowing barriers to break down and trust to grow. Your relationships will be increasingly personal as you encourage work and worship together.
Perspective
A Network's momentum ebbs and flows—don't be surprised when it happens to you! Networks that last realize they are in a spiritual struggle, keep their focus on the target, work through obstacles and adapt to change. They reinvent themselves as necessary to continue reaching out to every student in every school in their community.
Who
School Admissions Office—contact them and ask specifically if you can receive the list (if they maintain one) of students who indicated Unitarian Universalism (UUism) as their religious preference. This information often comes from testing, optional feedback forms and admission applications. Sometimes they will only give this information to an authorized member of a congregation. If Unitarian Universalism is not an option, sometimes you can request and receive all the unmarked, atheist, agnostic, pagan and “other” religious preference cards.
University Campus Ministry or Chaplains Office—connect with this Office in order to make your campus organizing known and to potentially register your campus group so others may know about it. These programs can generally offer you specific and useful information about how to get affiliation as a student group, may have start up funding available, and you can tap their network of people to contact. Best of all is the personal referrals a college chaplain may do to your UU campus ministry as well as the word-of-mouth outreach they may provide.
Campus Handbook and Student Activities—Schools generally publish a list of all the groups that exist and contact information. Get your group listed and consider using the church as your general point of contact for things like this, which may not be updated regularly.
Current and Former UU Students—Do your best to contact these people to ask if they know of other students who may be interested in a campus ministry. You may also learn a lot about the history and challenges of other attempts at UU campus ministry. With UU groups waxing and waning, sometimes there are interested people with a lot of energy may be excited and interested in committing to the new campus ministry efforts. Here is a list of people who may know current and former UU students that you can email, phone or ask in person:
- Congregation Minister
- Congregation DRE
- UUA District Office
- Youth Advisor
- Known former students
- Parents of students or former students (ask the Director of Religious Education)
Remember that word of mouth referrals are usually the strongest kind, because they are already coming with some knowledge about Unitarian Universalism and an active interest in exploring the faith and your group. Referrals can come from all kinds of people, not just other UU's but other campus ministers and non-UU friends with knowledge of Unitarian Universalism. We often hear, “I've heard of Unitarian Universalism but never knew how to get involved”, “never had the time before”, or “didn't know there was a religious community like you! ”.
District/Regional Youth-Adult and Young Adult Committee—ask about youth and young adults at your school or in your metropolitan area. Sometimes you may find people who are not enrolled at your school but at another school or are on a temporary leave from school but still have an interested in a campus aged UU ministry. Ask for the list of young adults in ConnectUU from the Young Adult Committee Chair or Database Coordinator.
Continue reading in the next chapter: Every School Plan—Outreach >
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
