Skip to main content

Growing Unitarian congregations 2013

More analysis from the Annual Report.

2010 was the first Annual Report to list quota membership numbers, so it's now possible to use this baseline to see what congregations are shrinking (most of them) and which are growing (some of them).

Keeping in mind that quota numbers are a poor reflection of the reality of congregations, I still think it's valuable to do a bit of analysis. Three years is also too short a time. Five would be better. Also an increase of 1 or 2 is probably within the margin or error for this kind of thing. But with all this in mind we can see the growth in the following congregations, comparing 2010 and 2013.

Congregation
Increase in members
Change
London Islington and Newington Green           
22
From 70 to 92
London Golders Green
14
From 41 to 54
Birmingham Hollywood  
11
From 48 to 59
Bangor*
8
From 0 to 8
Edinburgh
8
From 60 to 68
Leicester
7
From 26 to 33
Richmond
7
From 35 to 42
Brighton
5
From 38 to 45
Hastings
5
From 18 to 23
Sevenoaks
4
From 20 to 24
Wirral
4
From 20 to 24
Ipswich
3
From 45 to 48
Bath
2
From 5 to 7
Billingshurst
2
From 7 to 9
Denton
2
From 5 to 7
Doncaster
2
From 16 to 18
Kidderminster
2
From 31 to 33
Oldham
2
From 10 to 12
Oxford
2
From 37 to 39
Wakefield
2
From 17 to 19
Bridgwater
1
From 5 to 6
Ditchling
1
From 19 to 20
Mansfield
1
From 50 to 51
Plymouth
1
From 24 to 25
Scarborough
1
From 6 to 7
Southampton
1
From 17 to 18
Southend-on-Sea
1
From 3 to 4
Tenterden
1
From 8 to 9
Wolverhampton
1
From 3 to 4


*Bangor is a new congregation that was started in this period. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What does it mean to be non-creedal?

Steve Caldwell says "The problem here isn't humanism vs. theism for theist Unitarian Universalists -- it's the non-creedal nature of Unitarian Universalism" This is a good point. We need to think much more deeply about what it means to be a non-creedal religion. The first thing I want to say is that there is more than one possible understanding of non-creedalism. The Disciples of Christ are a non-creedal church, they say here : " Freedom of belief. Disciples are called together around one essential of faith: belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persons are free to follow their consciences guided by the Bible, the Holy Spirit study and prayer, and are expected to extend that freedom to others." Quakers are also non-creedal and say here : Quakers have no set creed or dogma - that means we do not have any declared statements which you have to believe to be a Quaker. There are, however, some commonly held views which unite us. One accepted view is that th...

LOST and theology: who are the good guys?

***Spoiler alert*** I'm continuing some theological/philosophical reflections while re-watching the series LOST. One of the recurring themes in LOST is the idea of the "good guys" and the "bad guys." We start the series assuming the survivors (who are the main characters) are the "good guys" and the mysterious "Others" are definitely bad guys. But at the end of series 2 one of the main characters asks the Others, "Who are  you people?" and they answer, in an extremely disturbing way, "We're the good guys." The series develops with a number of different factions appearing, "the people from the freighter" "the DHARMA initiative" as well as divisions among the original survivors. The question remains among all these complicated happenings "who really are the good guys?" I think one of the most significant lines in the series is an episode when Hurley is having a conversation with ...

What is Radical Christianity?

Radical Christianity is about encountering the God of love . It is first and foremost rooted in the discovery of a universal and unconditional source of love at the heart of reality and within each person. God is the name we give to this source of love. It is possible to have a direct and real personal encounter with this God through spiritual practice. We encounter God, and are nourished by God, through the regular practice of prayer, or contemplation.  Radical Christianity is about following a man called Jesus . It is rooted in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet living under occupation of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. It understands that's Jesus' message was the message of liberation. His message was that when we truly encounter God, and let God's love flow through us, we begin to be liberated from the powers of empire and violence and encounter the  "realm of God" - an alternative spiritual and social reality rooted in love rather th...