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Lake Shore Unitarian Society Overview The Lake Shore Unitarian Society is a group with a proud past, devoted long-time members, and a well established tradition--and, at the same time, we're a group that's deliberately and enthusiastically striving to evolve our congregation to meet the needs of a new generation. Our church was formed in 1963 by several member families from the Unitarian Church of Evanston. Begun as a small, lay-led group, we have followed a path that has kept us a small-to-moderately sized congregation (85 to 100 adult members) ever since. Our comfortable size, together with a strong base of active church leaders, has allowed us to develop a now generation-long heritage that centers around two elements. The first is the sort of robust, open religious discussion associated with Unitarian-Universalism. The second is the type of caring, involved sense of fellowship associated with community-oriented religious groups. In recent years the aging of LSUS' founding generation has prompted a concerted effort to begin a process of congregational renewal. The most visible and significant sign of this commitment has been the reestablishment of our religious education program. Begun in the fall of 1998, the Sunday morning program now includes comprehensive classes for preschool through high school aged students. Other evidence of LSUS' increasing commitment to revitalization have been demonstrated through: *the successful transfer of most of the congregation's governance to its younger, "baby-boom" members between 1998 and 2003; *the reestablishment of its Social Action committee (1999); *the reestablishment of its annual weekend retreat at Lake Geneva (2001); *extensive advertising and other outreach efforts to attract new members (1998-2003); *expansion of our Religious Education Director's position from 10 to 20 hrs. per week, with the expectation that the position become full-time within a few years (2001). *reintroduction of Adult Religious Education programming (2002) *reintroduction of "Boston Bound" trip to Unitarian-Universalist historical sites for middle-school youth (2003)
Today's Lake Shore Unitarian Society Currently
LSUS has 95 adult members, including more than 35 who have joined in the
past three years, together with 40 children. (The congregation hopes to
grow by an additional 10 or so adult members in the next two years.)
Future Plans Lake Shore is unlikely to stray from its combined commitments to Unitarian Universalism together with close association among its church members. We would rather be an active, thriving moderately sized congregation with 100-125 adult members than a more impersonal, large congregation of several hundred or more members. The congregation is committed to growth and we hope to add 20 or so new adult members in the next three to four years, and fully expect to continue our growth thereafter. Our church will thus undoubtedly continue to evolve as new members join and new perspectives and potentials develop. |
Lake
Shore Unitarian Society,
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