Are numbers really important?

According to the latest data the UUA is losing members and fastest among the children. We are a small denomination to begin with and getting smaller. Is this observation important? What does it mean?

Was Jesus concerned about numbers? Was Buddha? Were any of the saints who started monasteries, convents, orders?

Perhaps we have been sucked into a capitalist marketing mentality where we are more concerned with attracting customers than we are nurturing the faith and spiritual lives of those we covenant with.

The Unitarian Universalism is very important for the world but it is not for everyone in our materialistic culture. In fact, I am coming to the conclusion that it is for the very few. Most of the population are not mature enough to appreciate the UU approach to life. Most of the United States is off shopping, watching TV,  playing video games, and "networking" on their computers.

Unitarian Universalism needs to further develop its story about itself so that it can more articulately and meaningfully share it with the world. For example: what is the UU way of doing things? What is the UU way of life as compared to the "secular" world? How does the UU faith contribute to the life well lived? There are not good answers to these questions. We have difficulty even sharing our personal stories about these questions with others in our faith.

It may be that if we are survive as a religion we will have to forget about numbers and focus on our faith applying it quietly in our daily lives so that they become the evidence to the world that the UU Way of Life has something of value to share with the world.