Working on a staff team can be complicated, especially in a Unitarian Universalist congregation where different groups and individuals have varying levels of authority and power.

Are you a newly elected Congregational Board member? Are you wanting to refresh your Board skills? Does your board need to rethink how to be a board in a virtual environment? Then this is your webinar!

Build your experience in having deep conversation in a virtual format utilizing Circle Process. If you are leading any kind of virtual group discussion, this webinar is for you! Presented by Nancy Combs-Morgan and Phil Lund

Rob Molla, UUA Director of Human Resources presents this series. This webinar covers employee manuals, evaluations and assessments, supervisory feedback, performance improvement plans, bias and cultural awareness, and Rob’s rules.

We go over the basics of how to have a congregational meeting on Zoom, including registration options, polling options, and security controls.

we hear from leaders of how they are adapting; review virtual offerings, and discuss updates for online youth safety guidelines

Explore both practices of how to care for one another in times of crisis and challenge, but also how the care itself must change because of these times. For Religious Professionals, Lay-Leaders, and Congregation Members who are involved in the congregation’s ministries of caring.

Just because we're social distancing doesn't mean we can't have fun! This webinar gives you all the information you need to host a Virtual Game Night for your congregation. Topics include: using Zoom video conferencing features like polling and break out rooms and the best games to play online.

This webinar is designed for small congregations that are new to using the Zoom meeting platform for virtual worship and other church activities. Together we go over the basics of Zoom and look through the contents of the "Guide to Streaming Sunday Services, Meetings, and Classes" webpage at...

SLIDES from the presentation (https://www.midamericauua.net/documents/webinars/182-human-resources-10…;) Jan Gartner, UUA Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager presents. Whether you have staff who supervise staff, or are a small congregation where members must fill this role, come to learn...

According to the Pew Research Center, "Today around seven-in-ten Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves." For users of almost all ages, Facebook remains the most popular platform. Now more than ever, it’s important

While our congregations are not meeting in person, many of us are wondering how to continue to collect funds. One way is digital giving, whether that is through text or app. We explore four possible sources for digital giving currently used by UU congregations, how they work, fee structure,...

Recently we have heard people say “we will have to cancel our covenant groups.” Not so! Small groups of all kinds can still meet online. Covenant groups can continue, as can a variety of new congregational online groups – art groups, game groups, story groups. Watch to explore how your...

Rob Molla, UUA Director of Human Resources presents this series. Whether you have staff who supervise staff, or are a small congregation where members must fill this role, come to learn basics of positive human resource practice.

SLIDES from the presentation (https://www.midamericauua.net/documents/webinars/182-human-resources-10…;) Jan Gartner, UUA Compensation and Staffing Practices Manager presents this webinar. Whether you have staff who supervise staff, or are a small congregation where members must fill this role,...

Covenant centered classrooms; organizing a churchwide faith development program; and information about our professional association, the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA).

How faith development leaders in smaller UU congregations and communities build a vision of covenant centered experiences and multigenerational opportunities for spiritual deepening.

Webinar video: Many of us are at our carrying capacity for stress; we feel overwhelmed by the crises and events facing us. This ritual will help to heal us, to strengthen our resilience and find shared hope for our living planet.

We live in anxious times, and this anxiety spills into our workplaces, homes, neighborhoods, and congregations. How can we productively work with anxiety? How can we prepare ourselves and our congregations for anxious challenges that may arise?

Rev. Erika Hewitt guides participants through a basic understanding of pastoral skills needed to respond to a death and loss; and the liturgical work of creating and leading memorial services.

Webinar video: Mark Bernstein discusses Sinek's ideas and principles and relates them to our work in congregational life.

Safe Congregations: Where to Begin

Webinar video: What difference does a strategy of “abundance” create in a giving campaign and how can we use lessons from “asset-mapping” and "appreciative inquiry" to create excitement and joyful community discernment about what makes your congregation special.

A Canvass Conversation with Reverend Christina Leone-Tracy, Senior Minister at Fox Valley UU Fellowship in Appleton, Wisconsin. Last year, the congregation put a new emphasis on giving as a spiritual practice and had a "reverse offering" with excellent results. ...

Question our assumptions, include everyone, and choose how we decide.

To welcome newcomers, we must increase the relational capacity of our ministry.

What a congregation can, and should do, to prepare themselves for disasters.

Explore how you can improve the function of your Committee on Ministry. IDEA 1: C.O.M. is an AGENT OF THE ENTIRE CONGREGATION

Have you ever wondered how to create a covenant for a group, committee, or between two people?

"Green burial" is becoming more and more popular in America as people who have lived a life of environmental awareness and activism

Learn how to avoid some common mistakes so you can make the most of your covenant.

Draw from wisdom of non-faith-based organizing and activism, and examine how these tools can be powerfully and relevantly translated into the congregational context

How do our UU congregations move from charity approach to social justice to solidarity approach? What does that mean, anyway?

From a young age, our children and youth are learning what being a Unitarian Universalist means—not just in theory, but in practice. In this webinar, we will talk with experts in the field of religious education and faith development about how justice-making can be a primary pedagogical tool and...

This is the 6th in a series of webinars on social justice created in partnership between Minnesota UU Social Justice Advocacy and the MidAmerica Region. Learn how to help your congregation be both resilient and grounded in your social justice work.

First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis recently started an electronic giving program and share with us what they are learning. Presented by Allan Callander, Former Finance Director at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. Host: Rev. Sharon Dittmar

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 processes, tasks and outcomes will not necessarily be the same next week as they were, and they remain agile in approaching situations and answers to questions and issues that arise in their work with congregations; they know that they have to be continually learning and asking “is this the best way to get what we want to achieve at this time?”

Leaders are not only financially generous (although they are that indeed!) but they have and encourage a generous spirit and appreciation of the world; they are quick to inspire others, to give of themselves as well as their time, talent and treasure, and are working to find ways to be a “permission giving” organization that empowers others to move forward with ideas that help fulfill the congregation’s mission.

Leaders understand that it’s not just about skills, but it’s about being able to learn (often together) what’s necessary in congregational life; they understand the difference between technical and adaptive challenges, and find themselves at ease in the discomfort of adaptive work, understanding that no one knows the answers, but that together a way can be found.

Leaders know that so much of congregational life is about being present to and with one another; they don’t have all the answers, but they know how to be with others through the journey of their lives, and the journey of shared congregational life.

Leaders know how to work and play well with others; they understand it’s not about who is right, but how people can work together to ensure the best possible outcome in both task completion and relationship building/sustaining.

Leaders don’t need to be the hub through which everything flows, and they know how to help people come together for specific (and general) purposes; they can connect people to ideas, to each other, and to a greater whole.

Leaders are networked in a couple of ways — first, they are aware of how community can be created, sustained, and nurtured through the use of technology; they realize that today on-line connection serves to deepen what a congregation can offer; second, they are not afraid of technology, and know how to learn through electronic means, and are able to find what they need, or find the person who knows, what they need moving forward.

 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.

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 who they are, without requiring others to join them in that same place, but instead to be true to their own self.

Leaders know where their buttons are, and know how to manage their own anxiety; they recognize that anxiety serves little purpose in moving a congregation forward, and instead can lessen that anxiety and help the congregation focus on the issues involved, rather than the anxiety and fear that uncertainty can create; they are comfortable in and with ambiguity.

Leaders know how to read people emotionally, and how to help people feel safe enough to not be driven unconsciously by emotions. Leaders help people understand how to appropriately express emotions and to use them as forces to move the congregation forward, rather than trapping them in the past.

Leaders are aware, or becoming aware, that much in their world is based on cultural assumptions of the dominant groups, rather than simply “the way things are;” they understand that congregations must work to determine how they will be—that commonality in values is either created, discovered, or negotiated, and they are learning skills to be able to work more competently across any of the differences that make a difference.

Leaders understand what they believe or don’t believe and are aware of their need for connection to something larger than themselves; they are aware that they need to connect with a deeper core that gives them balance, intuition, and commitment.

Leaders know why they are active, and how they are seeking to make a difference in the world; they understand that congregational life is not about making people “happy,” but by knowing how the congregation is called to serve their community, and are then faithful to that calling

The MidAmerica program staff have been discussing the changing state of leadership, congregational life, and our world. We’ve realized that as we move further into the 21st century, our work has to shift. No longer can we simply teach particular skills based on the tools we know about. Rather we...

Questions for Discussion How might having specific goals change the experience of serving on the board? What three goals would help you feel like your congregation has accomplished something significant this year?

Many congregations start the church year with a retreat for the Board of Trustees (including the Minister). Ideally, this retreat is held Friday evening through Saturday afternoon, at a site away from the place you usually meet. Perhaps you could go to someone's lake cabin or a local retreat center,...

I have a love-hate relationship with surveys, especially surveys used as a part of congregational planning. Frankly, used in this context they can often do more harm than good. When used as one among a number of ways of collecting data, they can get great and comparatively easy way to add peripheral vision to face-to-face methods of gathering response. Here Ian Evison offers a few guidelines for using surveys well.

With unfortunate regularity, we hear heart-breaking stories of how honest and important debates in congregational life descend into nasty fights. Often, those in congregations where this happens express bewilderment that a fight could erupt. I too am bewildered, but my bewilderment is different....

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).

An opportunity for new presidents to learn the basics, share some resources, and network with those moving into the role. Featuring Amy L. Nelson, former president of the UU Congregation of Rochester, MN. (May, 2015)...

Learn from Rev. Julie Taylor, a member of the UU Trauma Response Ministry, and Rev. Lisa Presley, MidAmerica Staff person and responder, as they discuss what a congregation can, and should do, to prepare themselves for disasters, whether natural or human caused.

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 ...

Many of our most committed leaders have sat in congregational board meetings and said to themselves “there must be a better way to do this work”! Many new people have volunteered to do simple task and found themselves frustrated amidst lack of clarity. In this workshop we will discuss not any...