Wooster OH Church Honored as UUA BreakThrough Congregation

The UUA’s Growth Team has chosen the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Wayne County (UUFWC, Wooster, OH) as a 2008 BreakThrough Congregation.

　This is the first continental BreakThrough Congregation from the Ohio-Meadville District. After receiving congratulatory phone calls from UUA President Bill Sinkford and other UUA staff, Rev. Elaine Strawn, UUFWC’s minister, commented: “It's rather like The Christmas Carol...except with angels rather than ghosts!”  UUFWC will be recognized at the 2008 General Assembly.

　UUFWC was chosen, in part, for its practice of radical hospitality and steady growth. In the past 10 years UUFWC has grown from 64 to over 150 members. Many have commented on their friendly web site and welcoming parking lot with large signs marking reserved places for Sunday Visitors. Visitors are welcomed by trained Greeters and families with children are taken on a tour of the religious education classes. The Membership Committee hosts a number of events designed to help long-term members and new folks get to know one another.

　The twenty-member choir serves as an ambassador to smaller UU congregations in the area and to community events such as the annual community Martin Luther King, Jr. service. Their Coffeehouse events and annual Madrigal Dinner are focused on outreach to the community. The congregation has been experimenting with different outreach methods to the local college campus student body.

　A visible sign of the congregation’s commitment to social justice is their new building (Oct. 2005) which meets LEEDs [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] highest standards. The congregation is the first church building in the United States to meet Gold Certified LEED environmental standards.

　The congregation has become a center for social justice work in the region. A number of regional social justice groups have had their start within UUFWC. The congregation does not shy away from controversy and has a history of publically standing up for its Unitarian Uninversalist values.

　The congregation also practices an expanding culture of generosity. The Board regularly presents budgets which challenge the congregation and its commitment to programming, outreach and maintaining a welcoming, hospitable congregational home. Since its founding in 1972, the UUFWC has consistently been a Fair Share congregation at both the district and UUA levels.

　The OMD is very proud of its first BreakThrough Congregation. Rev. Joan Van Becelaere, OMD District Executive, said “UUFWC may be the first BreakThrough Congregation in the OMD, but it will not be the last!”