Would you know what to do if your congregation’s Sunday morning service was disrupted by people who despised your beliefs? It happened July 20 to the congregation at First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of New Orleans. In the middle of a service—during a period of meditation—activists from…

As recently as five or ten years ago, visitors to our congregations showed up full of questions—and brought with them some apprehensions about what Unitarian Universalism might be. Times have changed. Thanks to the Internet and social media, today’s Sunday guests have a pretty good idea of what…

Over the years congregations have employed various methods to handle complaints from congregants. Many congregations direct complainants to a Ministerial Relations Committee, a Committee on Ministry, or, if a complaint involves a staff member, to speak to that person directly. The Rev. Dr. Daniel…

Many Unitarian Universalist congregations rent space in their buildings. Doing so not only helps out the community but gives the congregation some added income. Rentals—whether for weddings, meetings, rehearsals, concerts, Tai Chi sessions, or conferences—also allow the community to get…

Congregations traditionally promote and encourage Unitarian Universalist values through sermons, religious education, and social justice work. Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul, Minn., is taking its values to a new level—applying them to the companies that it buys products from. Unity Church…

When the offering plate comes around on Sunday morning at First Universalist Church of Denver, Colo., many nonprofit groups in the community feel the earth move just a little. This is the third year that the congregation has given its entire offering—every Sunday—to local groups or to support…

Is it possible to imagine that an armed intruder could show up on Sunday morning at one of our congregations, inflamed about our inclusiveness or a particular justice stance we’ve taken in the community, and proceed to do us harm? It happened in 2008 at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist…

A fundraising campaign that began in 1993 at the First Unitarian Society of Wilmington, DE, now the First Unitarian Church, was supposed to be all about raising money for a new building project. But along the way the campaign came to be about more than just First Unitarian….

It is, of course, every congregation’s desire to have most of its members actively engaged in personal growth, in deepening their spiritual development and working to improve the larger community and the world. There’s a lot of all of that going on at First Unitarian Church in Dallas, which has…

If you’re fortunate, you’ll never arrive at your meetinghouse to find your rainbow flag or marriage equality banner ripped, defaced with swastikas, burned, or simply stolen. But what if you do? How should you respond? Late one Saturday afternoon in 2001, at First Parish of Sudbury, Mass., a…