Welcome to the Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation

One of the ways I keep up with the news and with my faith is via weblogs. These are typically personal
websites where people post their thoughts.

A visit to http://www.philocrites.com which is a blog maintained by one of the editors of UU World
had an intriguing post. The post linked to a piece which said UU's are "following Apple's pre-iPod strategy: an elite [niche] market. What we need is a UU iPod strategy." Then this questions was asked, "What would your "iPod strategy" for UUism look like?"

I first thought about PC's, of which Apple makes the Macintosh and it's offshoots. What can't you do on a PC? Taxes, music, games, video and more. It's builders want it to everything to everyone.

The IPOD is a much more limited device. It plays music. You have the ability to play the music in order
or randomly but essentially you have a palm sized music player than can hold 100's of songs. It doesn't
offer a spreadsheet, a camera or other computer like features.

It occurred to me that Unitarian Universalism and HUUC are a lot like the computer. We want to be everything
to everyone. We don't want to say no. We want to say yes first and then think of the financial and personnel needs later.

This leads to my IPOD strategy for UUism and HUUC. We need to become an IPOD not a personal computer.
Since we are small in numbers, we can't achieve all of the worthy goals we set. Rather we need to find our version of just playing music and bring our money and talents to this.

I think when Andy Fink talks of finding a niche in the community be it domestic violence, gay and lesbian issues, etc. he is onto something.

We spread ourselves so wide we lack focus or discipline. Nor do we have a consistent message.

My IPOD strategy is this: We need to focus on a defined number of items, & have a consistent message in regards to them.

At HUUC I think our new vision and mission statements give us a good start on both an IPOD strategy and a message.

The vision and mission statements should be used as a primary source of guidance for all aspects of the congregation. Whether it's deciding to take on a project, in how we raise funds, who we hire or on the
level of personal involvement decisions should be made in accordance with our mission and vision.

Once decisions have been made we can then craft a message to help focus attention on our IPOD version of UUISM.

A well known messaging strategy is the three point message. In this you 1st describe the problem or issue, then describe the solution or what you want to change and then talk about an action that can be take or who can take an action.

For instance: HUUC recognizes that there are a number of people in Muskegon who go hungry. We want to change this by serving them hot sit down meals at Supper House. We ask that you come walk with us, & provide friendship and a hot meal to the needy by serving on the 3rd Friday of each month at Supper House.

Or, we all know how important the education of children is, both in school and in other areas. Knowing this part of HUUC's mission is to provide religious education that address spiritual, and intellectual issues.
Why not come walk with us and see the opportunities at HUUC's re open house?

This format of gaining guidance from the Vision and Mission and then putting forth a consistent message can help us decide who we are and let others know who we are.

In closing: HUUC is prone to stretching itself too thin which lessens our effectiveness . HUUC can avoid this by using our Vision and Mission statement as a guide and then by communicating our decisions clearly. HUUC members should learn our Vision and Mission statements and practice communicating a consistent message about HUUC and UUism.