Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge culture
This is a very unique church. I know. I know. Everyone says their church is unique. But in this case it’s true. This church is very kind to each other. They genuinely seem to like each other. They are generous and trusting almost to a fault.
They defer to ministerial authority too much. They trust the staff too much. In fact, if you come here, you will probably never get good constructive feedback on a sermon again. They continuously compliment my sermons regardless of their objective quality. Every sermon is met with so much unfettered positivity I’ve stopped being able to tell what is quality feedback anymore.
The church does not have any particular theological leanings or expectations – although the vocal, usually humanistic, minority certainly do. When they surveyed the congregation in my 2012 Assistant Minister hiring, more than 60% of the congregation selected almost all of the theological leanings options: Ethical Christian, Secular Humanist, Buddhist, etc.
Musically they are unusual by UU standards. They tend to love the old white New England hymns and the southern black spirituals. They are more comfortable with Now on Land and Sea Descending, Shall We Gather at the River, and Down By the Riverside than they are with Meditation on Breathing, Come Sing a Song With Me or Woyaya.
They also expect dynamic and varied music in worship. For most of the previous Senior Minister’s tenure the most well attended service (other than Christmas Eve) was the Labor Day Jazz Service. They also expect a gospel service, blues service and more recently a brass band service annually. They rarely demand classical music, although it is appreciated when played.
The church never had a major split or breakthrough year. Instead the congregation grew slowly over time. This means that there are elements of family sized, pastoral sized, and program sized church at play at the exact same time.
When I was in search back in 2011 I saw the second minister job come open. I was worried that I was so desperate to get back to Louisiana that I was overlooking huge red flags. I called a colleague of mine who was familiar with the church. She said “stop worrying so much. This is a rock star church. Just apply.” For the most part, that has proven to be true.
There are a number of strange quirks about this congregation, but overall they are a loving group of people who truly like church and genuinely trust their ministers and leadership.
They defer to ministerial authority too much. They trust the staff too much. In fact, if you come here, you will probably never get good constructive feedback on a sermon again. They continuously compliment my sermons regardless of their objective quality. Every sermon is met with so much unfettered positivity I’ve stopped being able to tell what is quality feedback anymore.
The church does not have any particular theological leanings or expectations – although the vocal, usually humanistic, minority certainly do. When they surveyed the congregation in my 2012 Assistant Minister hiring, more than 60% of the congregation selected almost all of the theological leanings options: Ethical Christian, Secular Humanist, Buddhist, etc.
Musically they are unusual by UU standards. They tend to love the old white New England hymns and the southern black spirituals. They are more comfortable with Now on Land and Sea Descending, Shall We Gather at the River, and Down By the Riverside than they are with Meditation on Breathing, Come Sing a Song With Me or Woyaya.
They also expect dynamic and varied music in worship. For most of the previous Senior Minister’s tenure the most well attended service (other than Christmas Eve) was the Labor Day Jazz Service. They also expect a gospel service, blues service and more recently a brass band service annually. They rarely demand classical music, although it is appreciated when played.
The church never had a major split or breakthrough year. Instead the congregation grew slowly over time. This means that there are elements of family sized, pastoral sized, and program sized church at play at the exact same time.
When I was in search back in 2011 I saw the second minister job come open. I was worried that I was so desperate to get back to Louisiana that I was overlooking huge red flags. I called a colleague of mine who was familiar with the church. She said “stop worrying so much. This is a rock star church. Just apply.” For the most part, that has proven to be true.
There are a number of strange quirks about this congregation, but overall they are a loving group of people who truly like church and genuinely trust their ministers and leadership.