Congregational growth is about many things—not just numbers. Five ways that congregations grow are:
- numerical—the number of people attending worship and programs, or number of members
- maturational—the spiritual maturity of each member
- organic—a congregation's ability to maintain its health and engage the world
- incarnational—making real and living our values in the world
- associational - joint efforts with other UUA congregations, other communities of faith, and the wider community *
Each of these areas relates to the others: as our congregations grow in health, maturity, and outward-focused values, we support our growth in numbers. As our membership resources make clear, people are motivated to join congregations that lead meaningful worship and programs and offer many ways to engage.
A Guide to Welcoming and Integrating Newcomers
By UUA Congregational Life
Practices and tools to provide radical hospitality.
Help people learn about your congregation and how to become more involved with a clear information about the meaning and process of membership.
Stories from other congregations can be inspirational when thinking about your own growth and vitality.
Multisite involves multiple congregations or covenanted communities sharing staff, programming, and mission to have greater impact and reach.
Unitarian Universalist communities can take many forms. Here is an overview of what is possible when starting a new UU community.
You will need at least 30 adult members to start a new UU congregation. Here is how!
Covenanting communities are Unitarian Universalist (UU) groups that claim a UU identity but they look and feel different from a traditional congregation.