Q. We had an awkward situation recently when our church sold a piece of furniture that a member had donated. The member felt we should have kept it. We felt that once it was donated it was the congregation’s to do with as it wished. Do other congregations have policies covering donated items? A.

Those of us who are leaders in our congregations are sometimes puzzled by those who sit on the sidelines. Why, we wonder, did we get involved and why do those folks choose not to? Here are stories of a few people who chose to get involved….

Q. One of the things we struggle with as a congregation is cultivating enough leaders. Our current leaders are getting burned out and there aren’t enough new ones coming up to replace them. We’re getting frustrated. A. Try the following ways, says Eunice Benton, district executive for the…

The annual stewardship drive is a lot of fun at Arlington Street Church (ASC), Boston (301 members). For starters there’s the gold spray-painted “ark of the covenant” that is carried down front on Covenant Renewal Sunday. There’s a celebratory mood, with lots of music and a rousing sermon by…

If you dropped into a meeting of the executive team at Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, MN (787 members), you might wonder who was in charge. The team is composed of the two co-ministers, the Revs. Janne and Rob Eller-Isaacs; director of resource development Louise Wolfgramm; and director of…

Many congregations earn extra income by renting their facilities to outside groups. But is there a point at which such income might jeopardize a congregation’s tax exempt status? And what about renting to for-profit groups? The Rev. Ralph Mero, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA’s)…

After a member of East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue, WA, had a heart attack at a church meeting and subsequently died, the congregation bought two automatic external defibrillators. One is kept outside the sanctuary, the other in the education building….

Q. We’re considering a capital campaign. I understand most campaigns collect the money over three years, but what is the rationale for that length? Why not five, for instance? And how should we involve the people who join the congregation toward the end of the campaign or afterward?…

Does any congregation ever have enough volunteers? Most of us struggle with that. It can be one of the most frustrating parts of being a lay leader. But there are ways to make finding and keeping volunteers less of a problem. Start by asking them the right way: face-to-face….

Every congregation would like to have a substantial endowment fund. But many never get there. We hate to ask for the money. We’re afraid we won’t know how to manage it well. Or that there might be disagreements about how to use it. There are good reasons to overcome those obstacles, says Marcy…