White roses blossom on the porch, a labradoodle called Ditto skitters around my feet, and all is well in San Jose, where I am the guest of the lovely Lisa, one of the organizers of Sunday Assembly Silicon Valley. What’s more, I pretty much had the morning off, which was odd as, for the past three weeks, we have just been on the go non-stop. For example, on Saturday, Pippa and I took four flights. Sorry the environment.
The plan was to take this time to write a post that just reflected on eleven months of the start of Sunday Assembly. 11 months when we went from the idea of starting an ‘a godless congregation’, to a crazy launch in London and amazing growth. 11 months, from worries that no one would turn up, to being at the forefront of a global movement to celebrate life. 11 months when the lives of Pippa and I have been turned upside down.
Sadly, there was not much time for reflection because, overnight, the launch of the Sunday Assembly in LA was picked up by USA Today, The Daily Mail and a host of other news publications. Suddenly we’re overwhelmed with requests for more information, and 20 people are signing up every hour who either want to launch their own, or attend.
So instead of reflecting on the past year, I will say ‘Hi!’ to our new friends, and look look forward to the next round of Assemblies starting in 2014. The 40 Dates and 40 Nights Roadshow ends on 15th December. By that stage the Sunday Assembly will be a network of 35 Assemblies, and, as an organization, we will have to learn how to help each one of them thrive.
Therefore the next round of Assemblies in the Northern Hemisphere will be launched in September time. It takes a long time to plan one well, and the Assemblies with the longest amount of time to plan and pull a team together have done best (the Brighton team took their time and launched with more than 200 souls).
10 months might seem a long way away but launching any time in late spring or summer is no good, as once the weather gets good people are less likely to come to a new Assembly. June, July and August will all be tough months and it will lose momentum.
What happens next? Once the roadshow finishes we will start putting local groups in touch with each other and let them get on with planning their very own Sunday Assembly.
What can you do to get involved now? Well, we might have mentioned our awesome crowdfunding campaign, or, alternatively, you could volunteer to help (we need lots of help), or you could make sure you’ve expressed interest in starting one. Just know that we will help you launch to you ASAP. As for reflections? Well, I am sure there will be time to reflect soon, but now is the season of doing.
