Choose members who are well respected and trusted based on their spiritual maturity and deep listening skills. Conflict transformation requires vulnerability, which requires trust.

The need for our congregations to effectively engage with people online has never been greater! In this free five-session series, Peter Bowden shares video-based strategies to support online visitors, increase engagement with weekly worship themes, and amplify advocacy and witness efforts.

People of faith who long for a transformed world are called to claim their Spiritual Leadership. Our souls need it. Our congregations need it. Our world needs it.

Volunteer considerations and strategies that will help to create a culture of generosity in your congregation or organization and therefore, sustainability.

Unitarian Unviersalists often look to the Seven Principles as a guide for ethical discernment, but there is another source that should inform decisions, especially for leaders in our congregations: The Five Smooth Stones of Liberalism as imagined by Unitarian theologian and ethicist James Luther...

S-H-I-F-T is a way to remember the basics of emotional systems (Self-Differientation, Homeostasis, Identified patient, emotional Familiy field, and Triagulation) and how they operatin in congregations.

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

Congregations become "smarter" as systems as they develop feedback loops that enable the system to learn from its past successes and challenges. Here is a tool that you can use to improve your ministry as well as the experience of your volunteers.

Our living tradition calls us to be lifelong learners, and this is especially true for our leaders. There are many skills and sensibilities that today's leaders need to help our congregations be ready for the 21st century. The UUA has many training resources to assist you!

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

Embodying Unitarian Universalist (UU) "DNA"—one of the recommended leadership development competencies— includes: Developing and embodying faithfulness to core UU values and theology. Knowing UU history and traditions. Core Values Integrity in our faith. Practices Covenantal relationships within...

Being Spiritually Grounded—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—includes: A clear, positive understanding and personal practice of one’s own faith in our liberal religious tradition. Being able to “translate” and not be reactive to the language, beliefs or practices...

Emotional Intelligence—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—includes: Forbearance, e.g. having self-control, especially when provoked. Presence and functioning, i.e. a high level of self-awareness with an alignment between the body and the mind. Knowing and taking...

Change Skills—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—include: Understanding the difference between unhealthy and creative conflict. Being knowledgeable about change theories and strategies. Understanding the difference between technical and adaptive challenges. Core Values We...

Communication Skills—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—include: Understanding different styles of giving and receiving information. Being able to communicate across different communication styles. Understanding differences in communication across cultures Developing the...

Conflict Skills are part of the recommended leadership development competencies. Conflict Skills include: Understanding the difference between unhealthy and creative conflict. Being able to diffuse unhealthy conflict. Being able to be present to and engage in healthy conflict....

Skills to Grow Other Leaders—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—include: A generosity of spirit and collegiality in identifying and mentoring potential leaders. A commitment to shared ministry. Identifying and developing training experiences. Supporting the development...

Generational Sensibility—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—includes: Understanding that along with life-stage differences, there may be differences in generations based on the societal shifts they experience during their different life stages. Understanding that...

Multicultural Sensibility—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—includes: Understanding how race and privilege operate in our lives and institutions. Actively working to dismantle racism, especially in our institutions and systems. Understanding how culture affects beliefs,...

Contextual Sensibility—one of the recommended leadership development competencies—include: Understanding what is happening in the world around us. Understanding how changes in society and demographics impacting our congregations, e.g. in today’s world each congregation has to make a case for...

Systems Sensibility may be the most important of the recommended leadership development competencies—it includes: The ability to understand that we are all interconnected and interrelated. Understanding that a change in one part can have an effect on the other parts, even if we can’t see direct...

Leadership development in our congregations should be an extension of faith development. But our congregational leaders need more than technical training, they need a combination of skills, sensibilities and internal qualities to enable them to be both effective and faithful....

Learn how the human brain is impacted by anxiety in organizations like congregations.

CAR Care Leads to Trust Based on https://books.google.com/books?id=s3n-LlLkGIcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v… Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman When assessing trustworthiness in yourself and others, there are four major qualities to look out for: Competence ability to perform a task or get a job done.

What is the difference between a technical challenge and an adaptive challenge? Rev. David Pyle gives a helpful example.

Serving on a congregational board can be both rewarding and stressful. Some stress is natural, but certain kinds of stress can lead to burn-out.

Leaders must learn to model how to de-center the culture of the congregation from White identity and culture.

First, be sure you have prepared well for the meeting. Setting up the Space Plan to have one or two people arrive early to prepare for the meeting. Their duties should include the following: Chairs should be set up in a way that is comfortable....

If meetings are to be truly meaningful and transformational, it is crucial to involve participants fully.  Read eleven ways to maximize participation.

Learn how triangulated communication increases unhealthy conflict in congregations, and how to avoid and untangle triangulated conversations. Pacific Western Region (2016).

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 ...

Congregational polity is not fundamentally about autonomy or protecting individuals from spiritual coercion. This understanding repels healthy people, weakens connections among churches, and perpetuates widespread suspicion about leadership....

As we re-imagine how to do the work of a congregation, we need to take into account that younger folks (and by "younger" I mean people under 50) are wary of making commitments without fully understanding the implications.  These people want to feel like they are making  a contribution that...

Let me share a fable of two congregations. ...

In dealing with adapt… challenges (e.g. changing demographics or attitudes toward religious institutions) congregational leaders can learn some wisdom from the old folktale about the 7 Blind Men and the Elephant. Each of the men could feel a part of the creature, and each came up with his own...

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...

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...