to serve and to lead

from my report to the Board (of Countryside Church UU) last Wednesday:

"Julie and I offered, with the help of All Souls Lutheran Pastor Jenn Moland-Kovash, an interfaith service of remembrance and prayer for pregnancies that ended in loss, last Friday evening. Most of the attendees were *not* members of either church. I was struck by the service we provided to the community that night. We really helped people in need. We also promoted the spread of liberal religion, not by advertising, but by acting on our principles.

One of our (relatively) local neighbor congregations, the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Park Forest, Illinois, requires each committee to explicitly offer something to its wider community. This does increase public awareness, but it does so via concrete example. Perhaps most importantly, it reminds the members that vital congregations serve and lead the people around them..."

Growth comes not from advertisting, but from doing good works.