Twenty two committed Unitarian Universalists have gathered in Orlando, Florida to brainstorm how we might extend the reach of Unitarian Universalism in this new age.
We are laypeople and ministers from all regions of the US; we range in age from early twenties to late sixties, we are black, latino, white, differently abled, of various gender identities and sexual orientations. And we are called to spread the reach of the message of liberal religion.
All of us are hyper-aware of the new technologies that enable us to think in a new way about connecting. From the beginning we committed to having this conversation in a way that is transparent through different kinds of media. And in our opening conversation we realized that we still struggle with what it means to learn in public. As we developed our covenant for this time we were looking for a way to reflect deeply and creatively without worrying about who was watching and whether they might misinterpret our brainstorming.
At the same time we wanted to model real and true transparency and trust that our conversation partners beyond will see this in this experimental light. The covenant we came up with expresses this struggle. You can check it on the Blue Boat Blog.
Some of the challenges around this are just technical (just technical!) What media do we use to share the conversation? To share it on Facebook is quickly overwhelming. Twitter creates a nice feed but not everyone is on twitter. Etc., etc.
More of the challenges are around deep cultural shifts. Who can speak on behalf of whom? Who are the deciders of new initiatives? Who is responsible for carrying a vision forward? Right now we are spending some time envisioning what our movement would feel like, look like, be manifest in 5 years if we were a vital faith for the future. I can’t wait to hear what comes of this conversation!
