What is “professional development?" Why is it essential? How do you choose and fund professional development activities and fit them into your schedule?

The congregational meeting was held right after the Sunday service to guarantee a quorum.  There were a couple of important issues to discuss, including passing a deficit budget to help fund a part time membership coordinator in service of their desire for growth. Standard...

These principles guide congregations in their social media use. The platform with the largest and most active Unitarian Universalist (UU) use is Facebook.

At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis, we had a problem: Not enough time together. This isn’t unique to us, many congregations struggle with this.

Questions to use when wrestling with purpose, identity and vision.

It happens more often than you think it should. The church seems to be vital, even growing, but the money in the collection plate doesn't keep up with the growth, or there seems to be a shortfall every month. There might be grumbling about how the new folks aren't pulling their weight financially.

Stories from UU Congregations showing growth, creativity and vitality in the program that ran from 2005-2019.

I remember my first church family camp, the Ohio Meadville Summer Institute. At the end of the morning worship, one of the planning committee members would go up to the podium and start singing: Announcements, Announcements, An-NOW-ounce-ments! A terrible death to die, a terrible death to die, A...

Use fewer words and design for skimming. Be sure your content supports your mission, helps your users find what they need, and encourages web visitors to become congregational visitors.

An accessible website doesn't exclude visitors due to their abilities or the method they choose to access the web. Accessible content helps people with disabilities and people with limited internet, old technology, or who speak a different language.

Is your congregation’s website effective, attractive, and accurate? Learn how to run simple tests to assess and improve your usability, accessibility, and search engine placement.

What kinds of messages and content will build a relationship with key audiences, inviting them to join in?

People are more likely to change their behavior if they see others doing it.

I've spent most of my summer working with different programs and events that help to grow lay leaders in our faith. I have had the blessing of encountering dozens of earnest, committed and evangelical lay leaders wanting to spread the good news of our liberal faith....

If we truly believe in the power of this faith to change lives, why is there anyone not wanting to grow and sing Unitarian Universalism from the highest mountains and the tallest peaks?

I had just finished leading a worship service as a guest preacher. This congregation had been experiencing a gentle decline in membership over the past decade. Several congregants came up to me afterward and exclaimed, "It was wonderful how the music, the readings and the children's story all...

Website hosting can be free or cheap, but it's worth making a budget item for hosting with well-reviewed customer service and technical support. Some hosting companies offer reduced rates to non-profit organizations. Registering your own domain name (websters email list, whose members are always...

Satellites, multi-site, yolked ministries and partnerships can explored by all types of congregations - tiny, large, urban, rural, clustered, or isolated. Might multi-site be right for you?

How do we design and support congregational systems that help us live into our mission and vision? Using guiding "ministry action statements," goal-setting, and assessment to keep its mission and vision vital and effective.

A wonderful exercise to elicit emerging ideas and to discover where the energy resides in a large group.

Once a congregation understands its mission, the next step is to discern how it wants to deepen and grow as a congregation. This workshop outlines processes for discerning aspirational values and ways to create and use a vision statement in devising a strategic plan and annual ministry goals.

Purpose-filled people are misson-driven. Workshop participants will explore discerning congregational core values, how to articulate them as mission, and how to make a mission "portable" to provide alignment for all of its ministries, strategies, and resource allocation.

Is rudeness a quality of Unitarian Universalism? How else to explain the lack of hospitality exhibited by many congregations toward unbidden guests? This workshop will explore the prevalence of rudeness in our society, how it is seeping through the walls of our congregations, and what we can do...

Proven methods to help both individuals and congregations promote UU values, UU social action, and UU identity online. Straightforward tips on video-making and sharing.

Proven methods to help both individuals and congregations promote Unitarian Universalist (UU) values, UU social action, and UU identity online.

Proven methods to help both individuals and congregations promote Unitarian Universalist (UU) values, UU social action, and UU identity online.

Every few years, we reconfigure the information architecture (IA)—the menus—of UUA.org to keep up with changes in our shared language and priorities. We rely heavily on user input (from surveys, constituent feedback, and data from Google Analytics) and testing (surveys, card sorting, and tree...

My father-in-law was a no-nonsense businessman who worked a 600 acre farm. Fiercely independent, he liked to play by his own rules.  When he bought a new piece of machinery, he would remove all of the pesky shields and other safety devices that slowed him down or got in the way during...

It's the season of Bridging Ceremonies. Bridging is the milestone launching youth in (young) adulthood. One of the most important things we can do for our youth is to support them into adulthood, to keep them connected to Unitarian Universalism, and continue to minister to them as they become...

Restorative Practices build community and can help set things right when the integrity of the community is challenged by harmful behaviors.

Once upon a time there was a congregation that wanted a mission statement. They appointed a committee that worked hard. They held cottage meetings, World Café conversations, and got a real sense of the identity of the congregation, who they were as a "whole"—or their "center." It became time to...

The recommended font is Helvetica Neue, a clear, crisp and accessible typeface. If that font is unavailable, the recommended font is Helvetica or Arial.

Customize your graphics with downloadable design elements.

UUA color palette values in Pantone; Red, Blue, and Green (RGB); Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK); and web codes (Hex). The UUA aims for color contrasts meeting the latest WCAG Level AAA, but requires Level AA.

We can blur the lines of our traditional congregational and geographical borders to share resources, work together and increase our presence and impact to each other and the communities we serve.

If we want people to hear our life-giving message, we need to learn to compete within these visual media.

I often use General Motors as an example of the top-down model of organization and leadership that is the opposite of what our congregations need to be nimble and vital (and I might add, attractive to Gen-Xers and Millennials). A story from Bloomberg "GM Recalls Stalled in 10 Years of Committee...

Setting up a website is one of the most important outreach strategies. Here are some tips about what to include first!

Try to copy the text of your PDF file and paste it into a Word document. If it looks just like you see it in your PDF file, the document is accessible.

There is a quote that guides me in my work: “We create the path by walking.” How many of us knew exactly who or what we wanted to be when we “grew up?” Instead, many of us made choices that led us in a certain direction. As we started down a particular path, our choices helped us to discern...

The new year offers a new opportunity to take stock of how your congregation is serving its mission. Invite your leadership team to take stock of your current program offerings. Is the program bringing in new life in the form of new participants?...

This year, please try this. An empty chair, any empty place with the spirit of invitation swirling in and out of the open spaces throughout the circle.

All congregation sizes based on certified membership at the time the stories were shared.

Shifting from a humanist fellowship to a more spiritual and inclusive community helped them reach the goal of owning their own building.

Making welcoming part of everyone's responsibility, and putting energy into small group ministry helped this congregation achieve sustained growth.

They chose to give up a historic building they dearly loved in order to build a new, larger home as their gift to the future.

A multiracial congregation offers a liberal sanctuary in a conservative area.

This congregation thrives because "This congregation says 'yes!' "Newcomers feel warmly welcomed, there are lots of activities aimed at getting people together, people feel their talents are appreciated.

They moved beyond their former mentality of scarcity and invest in new facilities, programs, and personnel, and…we needed to become a fair compensation congregation.

A church where people grow spiritually, and then out of that give to the larger world.