Valuing Unitarian Universalist Communities

Congregationalism has been a hot topic in UU blogs recently. The discussion was set off by the news that the Unitarian Universalism Association (UUA) may withdraw funding for the organizations that serve youth and young adults on the continental level, in order to devote more resources to congregations. The UUA has also, as of last year, vastly reduced the number of UU organizations that it is in partnership with through the “Independent Affiliate” program, again with the goal of focusing on congregations instead.

Part of this conversation has focused on the question of whether one has to be a member of a congregation in order to be a Unitarian Universalist. UU blogger Philocrites recently wrote in his discussion of congregationalism that, “Some people identify ‘Unitarian Universalism’ with liberal religious congregationalism. By this view, one can’t ‘be’ a UU without being a member of a UU congregation, at least not fully.” In short, congregationalism poses the question: Do UU’s need to be members of UU congregations? (An answers it “yes”).

While many UU’s would emphatically answer “no!” I think there’s another set of questions we need to grapple with:

“Do UU’s need to be part of UU communities?”

There are different kinds of community. A community can be a UUA-recognized congregation, where members meet in person for worship and fellowship. But there are other communities for worship and relationship-building. UU seminarians who hold their own worship services (such as HUUMS at Harvard Divinity School) are a community. A group of UU college students who decide to form a UU student group together are also building a community. And employees or volunteer leaders of UU organizations may form communities together as well.And then there are cyber congregations, such as the Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Church of the Younger Fellowship (for young adults), and the UU Church of Second Life. And online communities, such as FUUSE (for youth and young adults).

Unlike other some other religious groups, Unitarian Universalists are not defined by adherence to a particular belief. There’s no one deity or truth that you must accept in order to become a Unitarian Universalist. Unitarian Universalism is a creedless faith.

This is where congregationalism is a handy organizing principle. It can be used to say simply, UU’s are people who belong to UU congregations. It offers a way of explaining and defining contemporary UUism: the commitment to supporting one another in a free and open search for truth and meaning is central to contemporary Unitarian Universalism. We can most fully live out this commitment by gathering together for worship and friendship.

I think UU’s can take this core idea — that we need to be in relationship with one another — and expand it to include different forms of community. The time has come to see the importance of investing in UU community-building. The emphasis of UU efforts should be on creating more opportunities for UU’s to be members of communities, rather than slicing and dicing what kind of communities and what kind of UU’s count. That doesn’t mean the UUA necessarily has to serve all kinds of communities, but rather that Unitarian Universalists as a whole should be focused on creating and strengthening communities where Unitarian Universalists (newcomers as well as longtime UU’s) worship and form relationships.

Right now there are many people who consider themselves UU’s — or who are interested in learning more about UUism — but are not participating in any UU community. There are UU’s who grew up UU and moved away from home, and not yet found a community that fits them. There are people who think they would enjoy being a UU, but the congregation near them doesn’t seem like a good fit. Rather than getting into the questions of congregations vs. other organizations, let’s focus on creating more opportunities for all folks who identify as UU and all folks who want to learn more about UUism to do so in communities of worship and friendship.