SWUUC Young Adult Ministry Leadership Intensives

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SWUUC Young Adult Ministry Leadership Intensives

• Outreach Workshop

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Outreach

• Attracting and Welcoming a New Generation of
• Unitarian Universalists

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Workshop Agenda

• Why Outreach Second?
• Targeted Outreach and Mailing
• Community Partnerships
• Technology
• Welcoming Practices
• Worship
• Questions

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Why Outreach Second?
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Outreach to Expand Young Adult Attendance in UU
Congregationsby Sean Briscoe

• Four Steps to reach Young Adults through targeted
  mailing

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Step One

• Call your local election office
• Ask for the Voter Registration for your county or
  counties if your church sits on the border of two
  or three different counties.
• You will need a member of your church skilled in
  the way of Microsoft Excel or Access.

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Step Two

• Sort out all the inactive voters.
• I.D. the birth date for each voter.
• You are looking for anyone born between
  1972-1990.
• Look for regular voters and target them first.

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Step Three

• In the voter history for each young adult you
  will see a D or an R.
• If seeking demographic efficiency in target
  group, sort out the R voters, there will be very
  few in this age range.
• As a statistical group, these (D) are the young
  adults most likely to embrace the Principles and
  Sources that represent our covenant with each
  other.

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Step Four

• Now you have a list of liberal-minded young
  people in your area.
• Mail to this universe of voters starting closest
  and then moving outward.
• Doing it in small parts will help you deal with
  an over flow of respondents.

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Campus Outreach Step One

• Follow the first three steps outlined previously.
  
• Step Two
• Identify the addresses of Universities, and all
  higher education groups. Begin to identify the
  students that are registered.

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Campus Outreach Step Two

• Identify the addresses of Universities, and all
  higher education groups. Begin to identify the
  students that are registered.
• 2008 election resulted in many students
  registered around universities across America.
  Targeting neighborhoods around schools would be a
  good strategy for campus outreach.

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Campus Outreach Step Three

• Invite the young adults to your church.
• Special event
• Service
• You might tailor this invitation to make specific
  reference to young adult activities, even if your
  congregation prefers to invite them more
  generally.

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Campus Outreach Step Four

• Once your congregation has some interested
  members or friends in the college population,
  offer to assist them in developing a Student
  Organization (SO) on the campus.

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Hints and Suggestions

• When you send the mailing out make sure that you
  pay postcard postage.
• Make sure to put your website address on your
  postcard.
• You should look into the use of a mailing house.
• They can presort and get you a reduced price on
  your postage and you will have an accurate launch
  date for your mailer.

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Playing the Numbers

• 5000 postcards
• 1 return
• 50 Young Adult Visitors
• Good membership retention would result in a huge
  YA group for any size congregation.

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Outreach to Expand Young Adult Attendance in UU
Congregations

• Thank You
• Any Questions?

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Community Partnerships
University Groups Community Events Other
Religious and Service Organizations
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Technology
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Church WebsitesDont Bury the Lead! Put relevant
visitor info on home page!A Few Examples of
Church Website Styles
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Online Podcasts and Video of Sermons/Services
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Example of simple, easy video creation tool
animoto.com.Click below for video created for
the San Marcos UU Fellowship in San Marcos,
TX. Animoto.com video for San Marcos UU
Fellowship
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General Website Creation is Becoming Easier and
Cheaper
Two Examples of Simple Web Creation Tools are
Wix.com Sauropol.com
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Created with Wix.com
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Created with Sauropol.com
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Social Media Tools
Twitter
Facebook
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• Message in a Box
• We are Media

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Welcoming Practices

• Greeters
• Best and Worst Practices
• YA Groups Welcome?
• What to Talk About?
• Stop Telling False Narratives
• Believe Whatever You Want
• Alternative to Religion
• Political Homogeneity
• Positive vs. Neg Understanding of UUism

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Worship as Outreach
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Relevant Positive - Engaging

• Why do people come to church?
• Community, Social Justice, Spirituality
• Good News Must Meet Bad News
• Central Event in Community Life and Key Entry
  Point
• Alternative Worship Styles
• Taize, Soulful Sundown, Etc
• Not All Alternatives Worship Styles Are Alike
• Should You Have a YA Worship Service?

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Summing Up Vital Behaviors

• Targeted Outreach and Mailing
• Community Partnerships
• Technology
• Welcoming Practices
• Worship

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Questions?