In a Q&A, Rev. Shige Sakurai, UUA Special Assistant for Equity, Belonging, and Change, shares how UUs are engaging in cultural transformation.

Your UUA leadership wants you and your congregation to meet this moment as democracy and basic freedoms are under threat, and offers these timely, curated resources.

Community Resilience Checklist Graphics are available for Unitarian Universalists and others to use in congregation and community settings, as well as on social media. These are part of a collection of resources available at the Community Resilience Hub.

A collection of resources gathered for Unitarian Universalists, UU congregations, and communities for guidance and support for the sacred work of making meaning in a time of instability and fear.

Open and honest communication is essential between the board and the minister. Here are some guidelines and practices to help navigate difficult conversations.

In UU congregations, conflict avoidance, a sense of urgency, and either/or thinking can make it difficult to engage conflicts well. We will learn to engage conflicts of various kinds in ways that lead toward Beloved Community.

Being able to name harmful behaviors is the first step in being able to respond to them.

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.

Our faith calls us to resist the temptation to weaponize words. This story shows how hard that can be.

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. 

A polarity is an interdependent pair of needs, values, or goals. Although the two poles seem to be in tension with each other, both are good and true, and they depend on each other over time. Neither can exist alone. Use Polarity Thinking to reframe competing needs as complementary.

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. 

Good communication habits and healthy boundaries between the laity and the minister make for a sustainable and resilient ministry!

This resource may be helpful in understanding and using different kinds of circles in your congregation, and the kind of practice and training that are needed for each.

Improve the quality of your process by taking time to create a shared understanding of all of the things that should be taken into consideration.

Difficult conversations are... well, difficult. And then church adds a whole other layer of complexity. What does our Unitarian Universalist theology tell us about conflict and difficult conversations?

Some ways to approach conflict in congregations grounded in our values and principles

There are very predictable outcomes from congregations where there has been boundary violations. These outcomes persist until intentionally challenged and changed—they continue well beyond the tenure of the misbehaving person, and even when the behavior may not be remembered.