As a parent of a young child, “stickiness” is something I work to avoid…cleaning spilled juice, disposing of chewing gum, managing the inevitable mess after a bubble blowing session, and wiping endless runny noses. I am sure many of us can add to the long list of sticky situations we avoid in our personal and professional lives. But in community, well that’s a different story – in community, we should be constantly working towards stickiness. 

Congregational development literature indicates that growing, thriving communities intentionally focus on building stickiness, or more specifically, a sense of belonging held by the membership. In Sticky Church, Larry Osborne discusses how closing the back door of the community (i.e., retaining current members) is more important than opening the front door wider (i.e., allocating excessive resources on marketing efforts). Rather, Osborne suggests that communities build stickiness through offering small groups within the membership that enable people to connect more closely to one another and to the mission of the congregation.

There are actually a lot of benefits to being a sticky community. Some of these attributes we can see within WES today, and some are areas where we could still improve. Here is what the world looks like in a sticky community:

• People can connect quickly into the community
• It is easy to find out about groups and there are low barriers to entry
• People feel accountable to others
• Higher percentage of visitors become members
• Higher percentage of new members become lay leaders
• Members notice and check-in when others disengage

 Conversely, communities can be stuck, and stuck is not a place we want to be. Here is what it could look like for a congregation to be stuck:

• Reluctance to transfer lay leadership roles
• Unhealthy feelings of ownership leading to entitlement
• Community feels cliquish
• Driven by individual concerns
• Resistance to change
• Community cares most about long-term members
• Culture does not allow growth

The Board of Trustees has been thinking a lot about how to help WES be a community that is sticky, not stuck. This is important work because some of the growth that results from being a sticky community can lead to stuck-like feelings and actions within the community. Throughout this 2018 – 2019 board year, we have heard consistently from membership that there is a desire to increase individual and collective feelings of belonging to the community, aligning with the deep love and commitment that exists for WES. This was a major topic of discussion during the 2019 – 2020 Strategy Saturday, resulting in a dedicated stickiness Focus Goal for next year:

• Develop and begin implementing a plan for member stickiness (sense of belonging), including a focus on increasing member ownership of the community, and creating opportunities for connection and celebration, in order to inform and engage all WES members and nurture their wellbeing.

To inform how we should approach this Focus Goal next year, the Board held a community linkage session on April 30 to hear directly from WES members about what brought them to the community and what keeps them here. Members consistently shared that they felt most connected when they were personally welcomed in to the community, and when they were part of a team, affinity group, or deepening circle. Many people reported that it was helpful to receive individual invitations to groups, rather than having to navigate the inner working of a new community alone. Some longer-term members shared that they feel less connected to the community now as their friends and peers have moved on, and they are trying to understand their place in this changing environment. Linkage participants also indicated a desire to connect more across generations.

It seems like the question before us truly is – how can WES be a community new members want to join and put down roots, and a community that grows and adapts to the evolving needs of our congregation and the world around us, while not moving so far from where we have been that longer-term members feel disconnected? It is the perfect time to call this question now as WES commemorates our 75th anniversary. While we reflect on the vision of WES’ founders, and the contributions of all who have called WES home since 1944, let us also take time as a community to consider how we can become so sticky that all members feel deep belonging – to WES and to one another. That collective stickiness is what will enable us to continue working together to create a world where love and justice cross all borders.

Lauren Strange, President

2018 – 2019 Board of Trustees