In churches with fewer than 30 members, keep your policies simple and practical.

Your directory or online membership database is a powerful connection tool for your members and friends. But it also has the potential to be misused or abused.

Safety policies help to prevent interpersonal harm as well as safeguards for your assets such as money and building.

While the requirements for membership are in your bylaws, you also need policies ithat define participation, financial support, etc.

Policies and procedures are a way of telling future boards “this is our best thinking and guidance on this subject.” 

Bylaws guide the congregation’s board in governing by articulating board structure and key fiduciary committees and processes for key decision-making.

Ideally, policies guiding the minister, staff, and ministry teams come out of mutual conversations to create clarity around roles, responsibilities, and accountability. Ministry policies should feel collaborative and serve to guide ongoing programs and future decisions.

Safety policies are especially important to have in place before you need them, so they can be thoughtful without the anxiety of a current safety situation.

Honoring a retired minister or religious educator with emerit/a/us status requires a congregational vote.

The title Minister Emeritus / Emerita is granted to honor a minister's long and meritorious service to a particular congregation.

​​​​​​​Because our UU faith is grounded in values that call us to care about one another, we want to consider the vulnerable among us when making decisions.

Here are some key questions for your congregational leadership as you look at programming that meets the needs of those meeting in person and those meeting on-line.

Congregations need to follow copyright laws and ensure their leaders and staff are aware of these laws. The issues surrounding copyright and worship are complex and often confusing. You will also want to review the resource Copyright Issues Related to Worship. Sample Policy Any use of copyrighted...

The board, as "trustees," have specific responsibilities to the congregation that should be articulated in fiduciary policies. Along with the governance policies that guide the board's work , the board also needs to set policies around safety, finance, capital assets, and personnel.

Governance policies augment the bylaws by giving more detail and guidance. Policies defining board member roles and conduct, meetings for both the board and congregation.

Bylaws changes require approval by the congregation in a meeting of the whole. Like any significant change, changes to bylaws should be communicated as clearly as possible with lots of opportunity for questions and comments.

A congregation's web presence is often its first chance to make a good impression. Design policies that balance accountability,creativity, and engagement.

Congregations and other Unitarian Universalist (UU) organizations should adopt a permissions policy for photos and video. Here is a sample.

Even with the wide sharing of photos and video on social social media, congregations still need policies that enable them to follow copyright law, protect the vulnerable and follow the core value of consent....

In most cases, a communications vehicle that represents a congregation should be owned and operated by the congregation as a whole, and be used to further the mission and values of the congregation. Along those lines, here are some specific areas that might be helpful for congregations to consider...

Personnel Committees operate like Human Resources departments in that they don't hire, manage or supervise staff. Instead they advise on best practices.

A congregation has to organize to make its big decisions in its best and deepest frame of mind: that’s governance. It needs to organize to focus limited resources on its most important goals: that’s ministry.

If you are proposing bylaws for a new congregation, you may wish to include a provision dealing with their initial adoption.

The Bylaws of the UUA require that to be affiliated with the UUA all congregations must have a dissolution clause in their bylaws.

Congregations should include bylaws provisions that enable the congregation to terminate the covenantal relationship when the trust and confidence in the minister has been compromised or eroded.

Very few things that a congregation does affect it as greatly, or are as important, as the choice of a minister. Wonderful ministerial-congregational matches provide new life and purpose to an institution and help lead both parties well into the future....

Defining the role of the minister is one of the most unique aspects of congregational bylaws. Ministry is a covenantal relationship between called minister and congregation; the details are organic and evolving and are best left to letters of agreement and board policy....

The only committees that need to be articulated in the bylaws are committees that are accountable to the congregation as a whole. These are usually limited to nominating committees, sometimes endowment committees, and the Settled Minister Search Committee, which is actually an ad hoc task force...

Transparency and communication are essential for board meetings. Determine quorum, voting provisions and how to communicate decisions.

The governing board is the fiduciary agent for the congregation, operating as a single unit in service of the congregation's mission. It may have a different name (e.g. board of directors, board of trustees, board of governors, steering committee, parish committee, etc.) but the basic role of...

How meetings are conducted--quorum, voting percentages, and model of group deliberation--reflects your theology, expectations of membership, and commitment to welcome and inclusion. Quorum The quorum (percentage of membership required to conduct business at a meeting) required at congregational...

A decision by vote in a congregational meeting is the highest expression of the congregation's authority. UU congregations generally reserve only major decisions for the membershipas a whole

Bylaws should include two different provisions for removing people from membership. One is for people who have drifted away. The other is for removing a member for cause.

Some congregations want more flexibility in how they approach membership. For the purpose of the bylaws, it's important to clarify who has voting rights.

The minimum requirements for congregational membership should be included in the bylaws. Specific details about these requirements can be articulated in policies and updated as needed.

Spelling out membership in the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in a congregation's bylaws clearly defines the congregation as a Unitarian Universalist congregation.

The purpose provision of the bylaws distinguishes the congregation from other institutions in the community and sets out the basic parameters for all the activity of the congregation.

Choosing or changing the name of the congregation is an important decision, for it will help shape the congregation's vision and image. Following are some considerations. What Kind of Community? Many descriptive words can describe a religious group that gathers together....

Bylaws exist to support and enhance the functioning of the congregation. Good bylaws provide good process. Bylaws are important in laying the groundwork for any organization. Although written in language to satisfy legal requirements, bylaws also encapsulate the vision, hopes, and dreams of the...

All bylaws need to be amended from time to time. Ideas and thoughts change, and new situations arise that need to be addressed in the bylaws. Bylaws should include provisions on how they can be amended.

Whether you are a new congregation, you are merging two or more congregations, or you are making changes an existing congregation; forming a bylaws task force is an important first step....

The Bylaws provide the formal structure of your congregation and allow for maintaining and changing that structure. Bylaws hold the highest level of authority of congregational guiding documents. Some state laws require that congregations have a constitution, charter, articles of incorporation or...

What are the basic documents that every board member should have at their fingertips? Here is a handy list to construct your own board manual.

Congregational boards are entrusted with many of the operational and sometimes programmatic decisions....

Congregational Governing Boards have different structures, cultures, assumptions, and responsibilities in different congregations.  The size and structure of a governing board is dependent upon the roles and responsibilities of the board itself. Here are a series of factors that you can consider as you determine the size of your congregation's board.

Larry Ladd shares his wisdom from years of consulting with not-for-profit boards.

When you understand the purpose of governance and what it needs to be effective, your work as a board becomes much clearer. 

Congregations are legal entities required to comply with all sorts of legal requirements. While religious institutions might be exempt from a FEW legal requirements, churches are NOT exempt from most. This includes many requirements stemming from being an employer. This post pertains to the UU...

This video discusses the various policies and procedures congregations need to consider when creating and managing a website.

No matter the size of your congregation, policies can help to build institutional memory and structure, but can have the flexibility to be changed when needed.