When the board of trustees of First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of San Diego, CA (656 members), was simultaneously struggling with some complex issues around a transition in ministry plus the renovation of its meetinghouse, the board found it helpful to take time for the same simple ritual…

Should ministers know how much their parishioners contribute financially? It’s a question that can cause anxiety on both sides. InterConnections recently invited ministers to discuss this topic….

Q: We have a major financial donor in our small congregation. When she’s happy, her pledge is increased by a significant amount and the church receives special gifts. When she’s dissatisfied, her pledge is reduced and favors are withdrawn. Our benefactor has recently expressed her disapproval of…

Being welcoming to visitors is the easy part. When someone visits your congregation it’s not a stretch of the imagination to greet them warmly at the door, give them a packet of information, talk with them at coffee hour, and invite them back again. But if they do come back again—and again, then…

When four Kansas City-area Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations were invited in the summer of 2002 to be part of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA’s) proposed media test to begin the following January, they jumped at the opportunity. They saw the campaign’s proposed radio and…

Some candles are better for you, says the Accessibility Committeee of the Unitarian Universalist Society: East Manchester, CT. In a recent newsletter it offered these tips: Choose beeswax or soy wax candles over paraffin, which is a petroleum waste product and produces smoke and soot….

The question comes up often on Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) email lists: “We’re thinking about advertising on our National Public Radio station. People who listen to NPR…

The Committee on Ministry may be the most misunderstood committee that a congregation has. Is it an advocate for the minister—a kind of ministerial cheerleading squad? Or does it represent the congregation’s interests? Beyond that, does it just respond to crises or is it supposed to meet…

There are people for whom going to church is akin to visiting a hazardous chemical site. The experience can induce severe allergic reactions. These people suffer from what is sometimes called multiple environmental sensitivities. For these folks someone’s perfume, the chemicals used to clean the…

There was a time when visitors to Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, were afraid to take a red visitor’s cup, says Pat Emery, the church’s volunteer coordinator. “I think it was about ten years ago when one of us overheard one visitor tell another, ‘Don’t take the red cup,…