Smooth and efficient meetings require planning, structure, transparency and practice!  It takes a lot of practice to be a good facilitator. Even more importantly, good facilitators don't go it alone--they ask other leaders to take on different roles to keep the meeting on schedule and on topic.

Congregational budget-makers frequently divide into two camps that approach the task in different ways. The first camp is likely to include children of the Great Depression, experts in finance, elementary school teachers, and persons anxious about their own money situation....

In every worship service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, you’ll hear diverse voices, sources, and viewpoints. The congregation is committed to being a multicultural community, and honors that commitment in every service in a measurable, noticeable way: at least one worship...

“Everything around us and within us is made up of energy particles that are woven together into a universal tapestry. Since everything is connected, there is an intimate relationship between the atomic space around and within me, and the atomic space around and within you — regardless of where...

Renaissance Module Ministry with Youth Blue Boat Blog by the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries Competencies for Ministry to and With Youth a collaboration between Congregational Life and the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries (2016) Yo… Ministry Advising: A Complete Guide by the...

Read the curriculum before you begin the program, focusing especially on the materials lists. Take note of activities that require extra preparation, and plan ahead so you will have the necessary materials in time. Some of the workshops require advanced preparation and/or coordination between the...

There are many leadership development events throughout UUA regions including Leadership Development Cons and Youth Leadership Schools. Bringing the Web to Life is not intended to compete with or replace these programs, rather it is meant to complement immersion experiences. In addition, because...

Eight of the nine workshops have the same basic structure. Each hour-long workshop begins with a chalice lighting and check in and concludes with a Taking it Home handout, which is a review of the session and an invitation to participants to practice the things they’ve learned throughout the week...

Religious educators working towards Religious Education (RE) Certification or just interested in a focused training to learn best practices in RE leadership are invited to register for the “Curriculum” Renaissance Module which will be offered March 1-3, at Northlake Unitarian Universalist...

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Attitudes toward older people have varied—and continue to vary—across time and cultures. In some times and places, elders have enjoyed positive acceptance and embrace; in others, the reception has been negative. Traditional Near Eastern and Asian cultures revered their elders. The ancient Greeks...

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During budgeting and pledging time, there are often questions about the UUA Annual Program Fund (APF). Here are some talking points!

Ministerial compensation is quite confusing. What do congregations and clergy need to know about clergy taxes?

These earthquake lights were observed minutes before the 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan, China in 2008. Photo is from a video posted on YouTube.

The photograph of ball lightning is reproduced from the HypeScience website. The 1886 illustration of ball lightning, “Globe of Fire Descending into a Room,” is public domain from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

From the Climate Kids pages of the website of the Southeast Regional Climate Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; used with permission.

Excerpts from Gil Bailie’s discussion of the Miracle of Fish and Loaves, in Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads (New York: Crossroad, 1995). …Jesus seems to have found the popular appetite for miracles exasperating. At times he fled from crowds looking for a miracle worker, and he...

“The Story of the Loaves and the Fishes,” adapted by Patti Walzer, M.Ed. Narrator: Wherever Jesus went, thousands of followers would come to hear him teach and to be healed of sickness. He and his disciples decided to escape awhile so that they could rest together undisturbed by the crowds of...