I’ve have loved to have gone to all the workshops, but alas, I have yet to learn how to be in two places at once, and no doubt if I did, people would want me to be in three places at once. Therefore, I located myself in the Unitarian Transformers workshop. Rev. Mark Hutchinson introduced the session, then we heard about three Transformers initiatives.

I was especially interested to hear Rev. Laura Dobson speak about the Transformers online offering, not least because I do wonder if, as a movement, we have an opportunity to become more of an online church, or perhaps an online spiritual movement? Is anyone else in the UK offering ‘spiritual but not religious’ online gatherings led by people with professional training in hosting, ministry and worship leading? If people, especially but not exclusively young people, are increasingly living their lives online, shouldn’t we be more assertively pushing ourselves in there? Perhaps the Unitarian Mission Van of the future is a smartphone.

Rosemary Webb gave an excellent summary of the Transformers’ work with children and young people, inspired by the story of the starfish-thrower, then Rev. Mark Hutchinson spoke about some of their congregation work. He began by commenting that “at the start, we spent a lot of time having conversations that don’t go anywhere”, and that some things started, did well for a bit, and then ended. Again, is there a learning point here?

Rev. Stephanie Bisby spoke about the ongoing Transformers and congregational work at Doncaster Unitarian and Free Christian Church, including their work in the town’s night-time economy and providing safe space, and working with Love Music Hate Racism. Whatever Unitarianism looks like in future, it most likely won’t look like it did in the past. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end, to quote both Dougald Hine and Semisonic.