As communities of faith, we have an important role to play in preventing and responding to pandemics and other significant disease outbreaks. From emergency operations planning to adapting worship on Sunday mornings, you can slow the spread of illness while continuing to meet the needs of your congregants and community during a challenging time.
UUA Guidance on Reopening in Person
UU congregations are essential, but must remain virtual until COVID-19 is widely agreed to be under control. UUA Guidance on Gathering In-Person When COVID-19 Subsides contains questions for congregations to consider as you decide when and how it might be safe to hold some programs in person.
Leading Sunday Services Electronically
With technology and creativity, we can continue gathering virtually even when in-person gatherings are ill-advised. It is our strong UUA recommendation to not gather in person, and we advise everyone to heed their local health departments' recommendations.
- Adapting Sunday morning for virtual worship
- Worship resources for the COVID-19 pandemic
Caring for All
Ministering to Children, Youth, and Families
- Multigenerational Ministry in an Age of Physical Distancing
- Parenting During a Pandemic
- The robust Lay Spiritual Care Training for non-ordained leaders includes a module on Children and Youth.
Pastoral Care Resources
- Pastoral care and support networks during pandemics
- A robust Lay Spiritual Care Training for non-ordained leaders.
Adapting Small Group Ministries and Affinity Groups for Adults
- Technical guidance for adapting small group meetings to be online
Holding Memorial Services When Gatherings are Restricted
- A guide to planning online memorial services offers guidance on videoconference gatherings as well as preparation for multiple in-person celebrations of life when gatherings are able to resume.
Finances and Operations
Employment
- Congregations as employers during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Self-care and staff care during the COVID-19 pandemic
Stewardship
- Stewardship during virtual Sundays
- Collecting the offering electronically
- Facing financial stewardship challenges (including pledge drives that have been disrupted)
Business Meetings
- Insights on the legality of holding official meetings online during a pandemic
- Technical guidance for online virtual voting in all-member congregational meetings being conducted virtually
Developing and Activating an Emergency Operations Plan
Emergency operations describe the ways we would change our day-to-day, week-to-week functioning during a community crisis. See our Emergency Operations Plans for Pandemics.
Engage With Our Growing Library of Resources
A time of pandemic is indeed a time that reminds us of the Interconnected Web of All Existence. Whatever we can do to nurture the health of the web in such a critical time is a true way to live out our Principles.
- The UUA's Leadership Resource Library has multiple guides, frameworks, and collections of crowd-sourced wisdom on how congregations can approach ministry in a time of pandemic.
- Find all #COVID-19 tagged resources on UUA.org
