Talk with lay leadership and the minister to discover the answers to these questions. This discovery process will give you a starting point for understanding the structure of your congregation and making it transparent for newcomers....

The idea of congregational self-governance developed on this continent because the Puritans who arrived from Europe wanted to have responsibility for their own churches, not to have bishops dictate their practices....

Imagine being in church on a Sunday morning when a group of children are about to present a musical. They have learned songs and lines and rehearsed and are ready to go. Excitement fills the air. Suddenly, all the celebratory spirit comes to a crashing halt as a stranger opens fire in the sanctuary.

Personalize and adapt this letter to fit your context. To determine the length of time each participant will have to speak, assume that twenty minutes of the panel's time will be presentation. For example, if you have 5 panelists, each will have 4 minutes. Dear Panelist, Thank you for agreeing to...

Personalize the letter by filling in the brackets in the text below. To determine the length of time each participant may speak, assume that 20 minutes of the panel's time will be presentation and divide the available time among the panelists....

Ask how many participants have experience with guided meditation. Tell them you will lead them through a meditation with questions. If some participants are unfamiliar with guided meditation, explain that you will offer words, images and questions for them to contemplate in silence....

Provide these answers during large-group discussion after small groups complete the matching exercise in Activity 2. Dates are provided for use with Alternate Activity 1. A. William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) ix....

BIBLE Both Unitarianism and Universalism grew out of Christianity. Early Unitarians and Universalists took the Bible seriously, though rarely literally. While we continue to see it as a rich resource of stories and wisdom, most Unitarian Universalists do not see the Bible as authoritative on its...

Print out the incomplete sentences, enlarged to at least 16-point type. Cut the pages into strips, with one incomplete sentence on each strip. Select sentences most appropriate to your congregation. Fold strips of paper and put them in a small basket or bowl. Provide a few more than the number of...

Originally written anonymously by a gay high-school student and adapted for this exercise. Mattering My father asked if I am gay I asked, Does it matter? He said, No not really I said, Yes. He said get out of my life. I guess it mattered. My friend asked why I talk about race so much?...

The success of any OWL program depends on the qualified and caring persons who are selected and trained to be Our Whole Lives facilitators.

Our Whole Lives (OWL) Training helps prepare facilitators by developing the comfort, knowledge, and teaching skills necessary for leading a given level of OWL.

Follow this Order of Service as you lead the opening of Workshop 11, Faith and Celebration. Welcome Chalice Lighting Principles Guided Meditation Reading Welcome Welcome everyone and explain that this workshop is a celebration of participants' hard work and effort over the past weeks....

Copy these questions onto a newsprint sheet for use during Alternate Activity 2, Personal Mini-Altars. Who am I? What are my strengths? What are my roles? What are my important values? What are my ethics? How do I want to relate to the world? How do I want to relate to individuals?...

Copy these points onto a newsprint page for use during Activity 4, Tender Points. To know me is to know my tender points, the sensitive and the sacred, and how they influence my life. To be my friend is to accept and respect all of those points as an integral part of my being....

Follow this Order of Service as you lead the opening of Workshop 10, Love. Welcome Chalice Lighting Principles Guided Meditation Reading Welcome Welcome participants. Explain that this workshop is devoted to the concept of love....

One of the most challenging aspects of a committed relationship is the need to manage change, whether that change is perceived as positive, negative, or neutral. In a simple sense, change means that things are no longer and may never again be the same....

Offer these words on love from the Reverend Carter Heyward, a feminist and lesbian woman who was among the first women ordained as an Episcopal priest. Love, like truth and beauty, is concrete. Love is not fundamentally a sweet feeling; not, at heart, a matter of sentiment, attachment, or being...

Follow this Order of Service as you lead the opening of Workshop 9, Commitment. Welcome Chalice Lighting Principle Guided Meditation Reading Welcome Welcome participants. Explain that this workshop is devoted to the concept of commitment....

Follow this Order of Service as you lead the opening of Workshop 8, Collaboration. Welcome Chalice Lighting Principle Guided Meditation Reading Welcome Welcome participants. Explain that this workshop is devoted to the concept of collaboration....