Monday, November 22, 2004

Early Returns

by RevThom

As of this afternoon, five congregations have certified at the UUA on-line certification web-site. Between them, these five congregations have reported a membership increase of 8 members. Doing the math, that's a growth-rate of 1.8%. But, as we learned on election-night, the numbers don't mean much with < 1% of the "precincts" reporting. We'll have to wait until late January to get a clear sense of what the numbers will say.

The ultimate Early Bird Award goes to the UU Congregation of Santa Rosa, California who certified their membership less than 48 hours after the system went on-line. Talk about responsive leaders!

While I roll out this column and wait for the data to roll in, I'll ask my readers (assuming somebody is reading this) some methodological questions:

  • Is membership a good measure of anything really worth measuring?

  • If you are a leader in your UU congregation, what system do you use to figure out what your membership is?

  • What statistic would you be interested in having congregations measure?

I've got my own answers. What are your thoughts?

Posted by RevThom, November 22, 2004 05:36 PM
Comments:

Phil on the Prairie says:

November 23, 2004 03:46 PM | Permalink for this comment

Rather than membership, I'd really like to see the number of pledging households (both members and friends), and the make up of those households: singles, couples, families w/children, empty nesters, etc. That would give us some much more useful figures for planning programs and pastoral ministry. Counting individual adults (and children enrolled in RE) is suited for a religion that wants to appeal mainly to individuals...we need to start appealing to entire family units, no matter what their configuration.