When you’re a member of a vibrant congregation, you hope for a deep and radical welcome there. You want to be able to bring your whole self, and feel called to be your best self, accountable to the vision of beloved community the community shares. In these congregations, when actions, words, or...

Covenant as Landscape (6:36) Many people talk about “breaking a covenant” when conflict arises. But is it the covenant that’s broken or is it that relationships are bruised? Rev. Erica Baron invites us to think about the words as the map to the covenant, and the covenant is the landscape. The...

“Have you been to the bathroom yet?” It’s not the typical pre-workshop conversation my colleagues and I share as we set up projectors, easels, and workbooks for participants. My answer was no, so my colleague proceeded to describe what she found there. There was a beautiful painting in an...

Each Sunday I step into the pulpit and call to worship the congregation sitting in the sanctuary of our 1842 New England Meetinghouse. The sanctuary is simple and elegant. Tall windows line each side, reaching up two stories to the high ceiling, with four chandeliers. The clear panes bring...

Being in community can be challenging. But being in a faith community can give us the opportunity to explore our edges and test our assumptions.

The mental model of the "Social Discipline Window" can be helpful in understanding different patterns of how we might respond when someone is causing harm in our communities.

Right Relations Teams are lay leaders entrusted to help the congregation practice faithful communication and creative conflict based on values of mutuality and consent.

The following (from the Northlake UU Church in Kirkland, WA) is an example of a chater (or charge) for a Right Relationship Team (aka Healthy Congregation Team): Purposes: To facilitate the well-being of the _________ Community by fostering harmonious relations and mediating conflicts within the...

Support and accountability for different aspects of right relationship lie within different parts of the congregation. 

Our covenants articulate our intention, but how do we live into the practice? Right Relations Teams are lay leaders entrusted to help the congregation practice faithful communication and creative conflict based on values of mutuality and consent. 

What is a covenant? For most of my time as a leader in Unitarian Universalism, I have understood covenant to be the words we use to describe the agreements we make to each other. What I have learned over time is that the words are more like a map. They help us understand the covenant....

Resources to give you frameworks, starting points, tips and tools to help your congregation serve its mission in today's environment of virtual and in-person connection. 

Trying to figure out how to talk about wearing masks in church? Here are some examples!

This video is a portion of the Conversations with Leaders: Dual Platform Future for All Ages webinar that was offered in April. In this video, Nancy Combs-Morgan, Mid-America Congregational Life Staff talks about inclusive congregations and how that needs to be the focus as we plan for the future.

This video is a portion of the Conversations with Leaders: Dual Platform Future for All Ages webinar that was offered in April. In this video, Annie Scott, Pacific Western Staff talks about the role of religious educators in planning for moving forward....

This video is a portion of the Conversations with Leaders: Dual Platform Future for All Ages webinar that was offered in April. In this video, Wren Bellavance-Grace, New England Congregational Life Staff, talks about trauma and how it impacts our congregations and returning to religious education...

This video is a portion of the Conversations with Leaders: Dual Platform Future for All Ages webinar that was offered in April. In this video, Patricia Infante, CER Staff in Lifespan Faith Development talks about conflict and how change and conflict are connected in our congregations. As our...

In covenantal communities, we are called to relationships of mutuality. Sometimes this requires taking time to listen deeply to one another’s concerns and fears before making important, impactful decisions.

Hear insights from Congregational Life Staff and read insights from leaders about the challenges and possibilities of moving toward in person ministry that is inclusive for our whole community including children and youth.

Key principles for congregation planning for multi-platform operations based on the needs and risks in your community.

What does this Multi-Platform era mean for staff? Once again, expectations are changing. We offer some considerations to help you live into our values of equity and compassion so that staff can do their best work in these challenging times.

It's important to understand that our faith communities have gone through a traumatic experience, and that is having an impact on our physical and mental functioning. 

It is important for leaders to communicate with clarity, timeliness, and compassion, about the changes that are coming. 

Where are the greatest needs right now in your community, both among your membership and your surrounding community?

Three qualities of church that will be important in our next phase of how to be together are attention to mission, nimbleness, and inclusion.

Framing and insights from a gathering of congregational leaders from the Central East Region looking forward to what multi-platform church could be.

Once we can meet in person, our communities will need to help members and friends be more mindful about interpersonal interactions, especially around touch. The Our Whole Lives curriculum can give us us some guidance!

Which ministries do you want to prioritize to create multi-platform experiences? Here are some scenarios to help you figure that out!

Restorative Circles are a UU congregation tested way to restore relationships, build community and resolve conflict.

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

Living in a committed, covenantal community is a great way to avoid destructive conflict.

Covenant: A deep abiding promise, grounded in my deepest values, that I hold myself accountable to. Does your congregation suffer from constant, divisive conflict? Is your congregation looking to develop its first covenant to help members with healthier behavior?...

Covenant is the silk that joins Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations, communities, and individuals together in a web of interconnection. The practice of promising to walk together is the precious core of our creedless faith. “Covenant” is both a noun and a verb. It can be a written...

Establishing and maintaining Beloved Community depends on establishing and maintaining covenantal relationships. The covenant is our sacred promise of meaningful relationship, which we mutually develop

Guiding documents like bylaws, covenants, mission statements, vision statements and strategic plans are developed in consultation with the congregation as a whole so that there is a general sense of trust and ownership. The documents can then serve as guides for the board, minister, staff and lay...

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

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

What are our promises to each other, to our fellow congregants, to any Unitarian Universalist in the world? How do we show up for each other?...

This webinar was created for new and reforming Committees on Ministry.

The opportunity is great in our congregations for rumors, miscommunication, gossip and, of course, conflict. Examine the barriers to open communication processes and will explore ways in which lay and ministerial leaders can open up channels of communication and create transparent systems where...

Discover ways we can engage with one another even when we disagree through compassionate communication. This tool can be applied in any meeting or in 1-1 relationships.

Sometimes, living in a bubble can be a good thing. It can create a barrier between harmful things on the outside and precious things on the inside. In some ways, our congregational covenants operate in this way....

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

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...

What does it mean to be a member in a congregation? How much can we ask of members?  I believe that membership should signify a commitment to the congregation and it's mission as expressed by the Rev. Michael Piazza. ...

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....

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...

Being in covenant together is a lot like a dance. There is give and take. Occasionally you step on someone else’s feet or they step on yours.

How do Committees on Ministry function? Rev. Nancy Bowen shares an overview.

"Your actions are speaking so loudly, I can hardly hear what you are saying." This is a quote from a http://lp.citrixonline.com/102213-NA-G2W-MKT-WBR-SM?ID=70150000000ZOrx"… on the presence of leaders that I took recently. A leader's presence reflects their underlying values—it's how they wear...