UU roll call! - Page 2

[JenniO11]

I'm so excited to see that this thread is active!  I've also recently started attending a UU church and am seeing a lot of the same issues mentioned above - an older congregation.  DP and I are among the youngest adult attendees, and most of the others in our age range don't seem to attend regularly.  I think UU is a great fit for me so I'm really interested in becoming involved.  My family was not religious at all and I'd only ever been to church as a child on Sunday mornings after sleepovers with church-going friends - and I really, really dislike a lot of things about mainstream Christianity.  

One thing we're having trouble with is getting involved beyond going to services.  We really enjoy the services and it makes me feel so peaceful and centered and connected to the world, but I'm also really looking for a sense of community.  Does anyone have any advice on how to get involved as a new, younger attendee?  I'm not a member yet, and I know I'll need to join before I can really get involved, but is there anything I can do to start meeting people?  My congregation seems pretty friendly, but they're mostly quite a bit older and their social groups seem pretty sealed off.

[revolting]

Does your congregation offer small group ministries?
 

[mammal_mama]

Yes, we have a lot of small group ministries in our church and I joined one soon after becoming a member. It's great getting to sit and talk in depth with these people about all that we're learning in life and getting to know people on a deeper level.

Edited by mammal_mama - 7/19/12 at 3:15am

[DeerMother]

Originally Posted by JenniO11 

I'm so excited to see that this thread is active!  I've also recently started attending a UU church and am seeing a lot of the same issues mentioned above - an older congregation.  DP and I are among the youngest adult attendees, and most of the others in our age range don't seem to attend regularly.  I think UU is a great fit for me so I'm really interested in becoming involved.  My family was not religious at all and I'd only ever been to church as a child on Sunday mornings after sleepovers with church-going friends - and I really, really dislike a lot of things about mainstream Christianity.  

One thing we're having trouble with is getting involved beyond going to services.  We really enjoy the services and it makes me feel so peaceful and centered and connected to the world, but I'm also really looking for a sense of community.  Does anyone have any advice on how to get involved as a new, younger attendee?  I'm not a member yet, and I know I'll need to join before I can really get involved, but is there anything I can do to start meeting people?  My congregation seems pretty friendly, but they're mostly quite a bit older and their social groups seem pretty sealed off.

Would your church be open to starting a new program? Even something as simple as a potluck so the RE parents could meet. I'm single and asked for a solo parent group the second time I visited. Our RE director really wants the program to grow and to meet the needs of the attnedees. Tonight is the first meeting. In our new member class, they stressed that this was OUR church. If there was something we needed, wanted to change, wanted to work on, we needed to take some sort of action to make it a reality. I've also found intergenerational friends in the sewing/knitting group, by attending work days.

As I've got to know the other families, I find that we are all fairly low income. We've never talked about finances, but I know that several of us use food stamps and/or other government aid.

[prairiewolf21]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama 

It's definitely true that the UU church doesn't tell anyone what to believe -- but there are a couple of beliefs that might indicate UU is not the right fit for a person. I think that if you believe anyone is going to hell for not believing what you believe, or if you have a problem with people who are actively involved in church life living out their gender identity and/or sexuality in ways that deviate from what the Christian Right approves of, then you would not be very happy in a UU congregation.

However, it also seems unlikely that such a person would be going to a UU church in the first place.

Lol, that stuff doesn't bother me, I feel if someone is gay/bi/whatever that's their right, I have no problem with it :D. And I think there are many many ways to worship, everyone has their own path. I know I'm christian...but that about it. I'm really trying to find my spiritual path, I've tried many things and nothing fits. Mainly because I have a strong Christian back ground but i don't belive in what the churches say. I don't think hell is fire and brimstone, but more the denial of being near the divine. I'm really trying to find where my thoughts and beliefs fit, and find like minded people. I feel alone a lot of the time spiritualy speaking. I guess I'm afraid of being caught up in a cult, I've been really trying to do my research.

[JenniO11]

Originally Posted by revolting 

Does your congregation offer small group ministries?
 

It does - is that a good place to start?  DeerMother, I like the idea of starting a new program too.  It's really hard to get started sometimes - I still feel nervous about being "new".  DP said last week that as service ended, I was ready to leave so quickly you would think the place was on fire.  I guess maybe we need to start introducing ourselves to the other younger couples.

 

Prairiewolf - from your post, it sounds like UU might be something for you to explore.  I also did a TON of research before even attending a single service, though from a different angle. I'm very wary of religion and of church, having grown up without religion in my life and seing so much of the damage they cause to individuals and groups, and politically/ethically/philosophically I feel so far away from almost all mainstream Christian thought.  Nothing about my time at the UU church has made me (or my hardline Atheist DP) feel pressured or uncomfortable, so I hope you can feel the same.

 

Being on the lower-income side in a UU congregation can be a challenge.  It definitely seems like the group is generally higher-income, and I think that does have a lot to do with education levels - especially where I live, the COL is so high that most people are higher-income, and education levels are high as well.  Though the tithe isn't required, and is in fact pretty reasonable compared to other denominations, it still is a bit embarrassing when I others around me dropping in checks each week while DP and I scrape together some small bills we have on hand.  Budgeting is big in our house and the offering has yet to find it's way into our official budget.  But I don't think it's really a problem - the co-chair of the New Member Committee even told us that she can't afford to give as much as she should, and it's not a big deal as long as she's doing what she can.

 

Also, if I'm using incorrect terms or phrases or whatever, I apologize, and please correct me - I'm still getting used to even having these words in my life!  

[PhillyMama]

JenniO, I definitely agree that a Small Group would be a great way to get involved and connected, while building your spirituality.  That's how I started in my church and am still involved in a small group 3 years later - it's been so fulfilling.

From that involvement, I met people and developed connections and that led to becoming more involved and being asked to serve in other ways.

As for the financial giving, we were really concerned about that before we joined our church - the suggested share donation was strongly encouraged and we weren't able to do that so held off on joining.  BUT, the people pushing the suggested share (or specific tithe amount) were not the norm in the congregation and once we spoke to other people we realized that it would be OK to give what we could - what matters is that we felt OK with what we were giving.  It made a huge difference in how we saw the church and how we felt we belonged there to hear that the suggested share wasn't a requirement.  Phew!

You're in SF?  We were there in June - what a special place!  I miss it (and we were only there 5 days)!

Prairie, have you visited the Church of the Larger Fellowship website?   http://clf.uua.org/

They are a great way to experience UU services without having to drive 4 hours :)  

All good things :)