Any time someone enters online or in-person congregational space, there are several opportunities for multiple connection points from which a long-term relationship can continue and grow.

Our mandate as Unitarian Universalists is to build Beloved Community in our congregations, and learning to draw our circles of welcome wider and wider is a growth opportunity for our churches.

5 Questions You Should Always Ask Veterans, 1 Question You Should Never Ask Veterans, and 15 Facts that promote greater understanding of our Veterans.

Think about the different needs of both the in-person and online participant when meeting in small groups.

Think about the different needs of both the in-person and online participant for Worship, Concerts, Theater, Poetry Readings, etc.

A selection of items to include in your visitor's packets.

How wide and warm is our welcome? Here are some assessment questions to help find areas needing improvement.

Practices and tools to provide radical hospitality.

When we talk about the need to become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable at a basic level we are talking about hospitality. How do we learn new practices of hospitality for our congregations and our ministries? How is the idea of recognizing past wrongs an extension of this hospitality?

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.

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. 

How might we see the impact of our hospitality with “fresh eyes?”

What if we hosted church like we would host an Ice Cream Sundae Party?

Opening our doors to people of all abilities is the less talked about test of inclusion in our congregations. This webinar discusses “disability etiquette” and explores the many ways in which our congregations can be more accessible and more welcoming to people with a variety of disabilities.

 Leaders understand that what they might want may not be what others want, and they are open to learning and understanding how the world is different for other people; they understand, too, that those who have been historically marginalized have places in our congregations, and our congregations need to expand their understanding of who is welcome in order to open wide the doors to those who find value in Unitarian Universalism.

Small congregations offer intimacy and inclusion, but can sometimes feel exclusive to newcomers. How might you bridge that divide?

Become more informed about and more comfortable with neuro-diversity (autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc) so that we can more fully live into a practice of radical welcome. With Linette Lowe(2015).

It is by building relationships and diverse community that we can transform ourselves and the world.

One congregation's way of re-imagining Joys and Concerns.

Following recent political changes and the social turmoil it has precipitated, UU Churches are experiencing an influx of first-time visitors and returning old friends. On social media, people are looking for community and are being pointed to our congregations. Gone are the days when a liberals...