Newcomers to First Unitarian Church of Dallas arrive at our doors seeking a path. The Unitarian Universalist tendency to tell people they can believe whatever they want and get involved in whatever they want is both overwhelming and insufficient....

The 1970's heart-throb boy band The Osmonds provided a disservice with their ear-worm hit song "One Bad Apple." They sang, ...

One piece of my job is working with new Unitarian Universalist emerging ministries. There are many ways of becoming a Unitarian Universalist group, including becoming one of the newly formed http://growinguu.blogs.uua.org/files/2015/05/Covenanting-Communities-Fa… Communities. See It is an honor...

Inspired by Full-Week Faith, created by Karen Bellavance Grace through the Fahs Collaborative, First Parish Church of Groton decided to hold a Blessing of the Backpacks. Here are some nuts & bolts, in case you don’t want to reinvent the wheel: Don’t Do It the Night Before School Starts: We...

As Unitarian Universalists, we have a traditionally operated under a model of church that doesn’t acknowledge the kept track of one aspect of involvement in church life, “membership”, which typically means signing a congregation’s membership book and making an annual pledge. But in reality,...

If we’re going to do effective outreach online, we need some insight into the experience of the large and slightly mysterious pool of people we call prospective visitors. Who are they? What do they want? And how do we design our websites for their positive UX?

Belonging to and being a part of a community is an important aspect of congregational life. Many of our members think of their congregations as a second home and think of the other members as part of their extended family. The relationships that we create and nurture by sharing the details of our...

The key to successful outreach amid the changing religious landscape, particularly with the unaffiliated or Spiritual But Not Religious sets, will likely be to speak to why people would want to show up in the first place, not just what can keep them there year after year.

Social media is a great outreach tool for today's congregations, but congregational leaders need to be savvy about how to balance the open-source nature of today's interactive internet with the need to articulate a consistent message in alignment with your congregation's mission and vision...

Sacred Path created a ritual of commitment for the beginning of the "church year."

Let’s get new people immersed in Unitarian Universalism! But how do we know what will delight them? What they’ll find meaningful?

Because our congregations run on money, it's tempting to bring--along with it--assumptions about how money operates in other parts of our lives.  We go to work and we get a paycheck.  We pay the electric bill and the power company keeps our lights on. We pay at the first window...

We have many important entry-points for prospective Unitarian Universalists. Our literal front doors can be as important as our website.

Self-differentiated Leaders know who they are well enough that they also know where they stand, and what they will and will not do; they understand the necessity of boundaries, and work within the congregation to ensure that healthy boundaries are in place and are supported; they can be clear in ...

Ministerial compensation is quite confusing. What do congregations and clergy need to know about clergy taxes?

A guide for fellow white anti-racism activists who are overwhelmed by stories about racist violence.

Recommended articles, videos, and blog posts for people interested in exploring multisite ministry.

An option for neighboring congregations who are struggling to maintain full-time staff, and/or can eliminate duplication of administrative work.

An option for congregations who are excited about entrepreneurial and other emerging forms of ministry but as a supporter or partner, not an innovator.

An option for congregations struggling to keep ministers because they can only offer part-time positions, or they want a team of ministers.