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“I want and need more opportunities for engagement.” That’s probably what everyone means, but it’s more polite to talk about the system, its needs and its health. Especially when that system is a congregation.
That’s why from the very beginning Lee and I been focused on making more opportunities for engagement, events like Beverages and Banter, kayaking, quarterly dinners, Chalica celebrations, picnics, and yesterday’s beach outing on Narragansett Bay.
At first it was just Lee, her son Sylvan, and me, but over the course of a
couple of hours, people trickled into the group and the water as we played,
talked and enjoyed the setting sun.
Of course we talked about how to have even more opportunities for
engagement. Things like movies, plays, restaurant outings, camping, you name it. We even went so far as to talk about intentional communities for UUs, housing that ranges from tiny house compounds to upscale co-housing projects.
It made me think of a social group for gay men that I belonged to in my
twenties. When I joined, we were about 150 in number with 30-35 events
per year. All of the events on our published calendar were “official,” overseen by our Events coordinator (affectionately nicknamed Julie McCoy) and our Events Committee. When I became president, we numbered 350, and by the end of my term our calendar boasted 300-350 events per year, most of them “unofficial,” meaning regular members said “I will be hosting an X event, and will be opening it up to all of our membership.”
The average club member went from partaking in 20-ish events per year to
engaging in 50+ events per year. That’s a big difference. A difference that
created lasting relationships, deeper connections to individuals and
communities, and deeper identification with this particular group of guys.
We could do that here.
What would it look like to have an events calendar BURSTING with events? Not just our events, but events out in the community that we engage in together?
Could we do it? I think so.
In Peace,
Rev Denis
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