How Unitarians make it happen

If you haven't heard of Unitarians before, you may be wondering whether it's new, or a cult, or foreign, or what.  A look at the theology link on Wikipedia and the BBC website will add to what is available on the UK Unitarians website history page.  What this blog and this post are about is how Unitarians in Ringwood would fit into the national scene for Unitarians in UK.

There are known to be thousands of Unitarians in Britain.  Some are members of congregations with church buildings, pastors and considerable funds.  Some are members of fellowships without premises or pastors (and not much money at all).  Some Unitarians are not able to meet in person with other Unitarians, owing to where they live, but instead belong to a virtual community called the National Unitarian Fellowship, connecting with other members by post and of course online.
There's a national community of communities called the General Assembly of Unitarians and Free Christians (known as GA), and generally its members are either congregations or fellowships.  This is as a result of history, but it is still seen as a healthy way of joining together: instead of an impersonal assembly of separate people (one Unitarian, one vote) it is an assembly of the communities within which individual Unitarians have a home (one congregation, a number of votes).  It is still felt that the most important unit in Unitarian culture is the local congregation or fellowship that you can meet face to face, that you can worship with, that you can form quite personal dialogue with, that will directly support you, and where your direct support of others is treasured.

Regionally, congregations and fellowships associate together in districts, for sharing ideas and providing support.  Ringwood falls within the district of the Southern Unitarian Association, along with Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth and Newport IoW (among others).

There are also societies that cut across all the districts.  These tend to be special interest groups, such as the Unitarian Musical Society, the Unitarian Christian Association, the Unitarian Association for Lay Ministry, the Unitarian Earth Spirit Network (many others).  All the societies welcome anyone as members, and many Unitarians belong to several societies as well as to their congregation.  If the congregations are the warp of the Unitarian fabric, then the societies are the weft.

So if we were to start up a fellowship in Ringwood, we would be part of this national scene, and would find support from other communities in the SUA district.  There would also be an open invitation to cross over into the district of the Western Union of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches because the nearest Unitarian community to the west is Bridport, within the Western Union.