Some tiny churches used to be bigger than they are now. Perhaps you have a building that used to fill up on Sunday morning, but now has more empty seats. Perhaps you used to do things you can no longer do, because you have less volunteer energy, or a smaller budget. Sometimes it helps to just say it out loud “we used to be bigger, and now we are getting smaller.” Sometimes that is the elephant in the room everyone is trying not to mention.

Nothing in nature grows forever. No plant is in flower all the time. That’s a challenging truth about life, and an important part of our spiritual journey. Understanding that shows we are maturing in spiritual wisdom. You and others in your congregation might have feelings about this- you might feel sad, frustrated, angry, powerless. Perhaps you’ve tried and tried to grow, or perhaps you have your hands full just worshiping together.

The key thing to keep in mind is the purpose of your congregation. Our purpose is not actually to be large, or even to keep a favorite church program going. The purpose of your congregation is to keep your faith and your values alive in the world. For me, the MOST core value is universal love, so when my leadership team gathers, or we gather for worship, I ask myself “are we embodying universal love when we are together?” and as long as we are giving and receiving that radically welcoming love when we gather, as long as a visitor coming on Sunday morning can feel that in the way we are together, we are still doing important work in the world.

Of course, this can be challenging. We are human, and if living our values was easy we wouldn’t need our congregations. Living our UU values is good work, it’s important work. Be sure to take time whenever you gather to notice and name how you are living your UU values, and where you would like to challenge your community to live them out more fully. As long as you are doing this you are growing, even if your numbers are getting smaller.

If our numbers really are getting smaller, we will probably have to let things go. It takes wisdom and careful discernment to let go of the right things at the right time. You need your UU values now more than ever to make those decisions. A congregation who is getting smaller but growing in wisdom, kindness and compassion is doing some of the most important work our faith calls us to do.