When your congregation is developing or revisiting "guiding documents" for leaders that are endorsed by the congregation as a whole (e.g....

One of the most important keys to congregational health and vitality--along with a clear purpose--is a cohesive leadership team.

Replenishing their well of being is essential to a minister's ability to serve faithfully and authentically.

Scammers like to strike when people are anxious. Be sure to take a breath, then remind yourself, YOUR MINISTER WILL NEVER ASK YOU TO BUY GIFT CARDS!

Because hospitality is important to human relationships, learning how to host in online spaces is essential. People come with different levels of experience and comfort. Here are some tips to help host an online space that can help host an online space that can help build connections.

Many congregations record or stream their in-person services so that people can participate even if they can't be there in person. Some use low tech video with one person in front of the camera in order to record and/or stream the sermon and similar Sunday service elements.​ Others have cameras...

All systems need feedback loops and organizations like congregations are no different. Your Leadership Development program will be more responsive if you develop assessments and other tools to help you learn and adjust as needed. Things you might include in your assessments: How is the...

Practicing radical hospitality opens up possibilities for interaction with different people, allowing for diverse experiences and an expanded creative interchange.  And it’s about meeting people where they are.  It’s about learning together.  We are all works in progress. 

Giving to the annual operating fund is the “monthly expenses” pocket, giving to the capital campaign is the “home renovations” pocket. What other pockets of giving do we see in congregations?

Unitarian Unviersalists often look to the Seven Principles as a guide for ethical discernment, but there is another source that should inform decisions, especially for leaders in our congregations: The Five Smooth Stones of Liberalism as imagined by Unitarian theologian and ethicist James Luther...

What are typical job descriptions for the officers on a congregational board? Here is summary of typical roles and responsibilities....

Boards have the fiduciary responsibility to make sure the overall finances of the congregation are in order and the budget is on track. But the line-item spreadsheets given to board often have too much detail and don't give related information that helps the board make sense of the information.

Occasionally, during a conflict or crisis, a board may need some time for candid peer-to-peer discussion.

Congregational boards are intended to provide collective discernment;rather than be a forum for competing interests or agendas. Faithful boards arein alignment with and accountable to the mission and vision of the congregation.

The flow of information in an organization is a bit like the flow of water after a rain. Ideally, the information is shared evenly, and the members are able to absorb it like loamy soil. But information that triggers anxiety can be like a heavy rain. Without established channels, information will create its own channels, possible eroding trust or creating other damage.Here are some practices to create healthy communication channels.

Organizations, like all systems, seek equilibrium. If a congregation is thrown out of balance by the prospect of change, most members will seek to restore order and sameness. This is natural and should not be a reason to judge one another. Healthy organizations have developed the ability to be receptive to change and resistance--to lean into the disruption to their equilibrium. This is where a congregation becomes a community of learning.

"Deferred Maintenance" and "Building Reserves" are terms that are often tossed around when talking about the budget, but what do they mean?

We often claim that budgets are moral documents, and that congregational budgets should reflect our values. But line item budgets that include "office supplies, utilities, salary" and other such descriptions don't show how these line items serve the mission of the congregation. How might...

Leaders must learn to model how to de-center the culture of the congregation from White identity and culture.

There have been many processes and methods that are based on the notion that there is collective wisdom that can be gleaned from the whole.