When a congregation on the east coast had to decide whether to sell its former parsonage, a beloved old building that needed lots of work, the process began painfully. An emotional congregational meeting ensued when members were asked to vote, without being given the skills to negotiate strong...

People complain about someone to a third person. Resistance to change, turf wars. Rampant gossip, secret meetings. Calls for resignations. Email and telephone cliques that exclude some people. Abrupt changes in support of and participation in congregational life. Committee on Ministry is...

Try as we might, conflict is a part of life in many of our congregations. A group may not like the direction the church is going. Someone feels left out. There is too much spirituality on Sunday morning. Or not enough. The minister or religious educator is going down the wrong path....

Q. We had an awkward situation recently when our church sold a piece of furniture that a member had donated. The member felt we should have kept it. We felt that once it was donated it was the congregation’s to do with as it wished. Do other congregations have policies covering donated items? A.

Q: We have a major financial donor in our small congregation. When she’s happy, her pledge is increased by a significant amount and the church receives special gifts. When she’s dissatisfied, her pledge is reduced and favors are withdrawn. Our benefactor has recently expressed her disapproval of...

When a man who had just joined a West Coast congregation volunteered to take care of the grounds, the overworked folks in the congregation were thrilled. But when he hacked off all the branches of several small trees, they had second thoughts. More alarms sounded when he forcefully criticized the...

Use caution when discussing congregational issues on email, reminds Rev. Bob Hill, district executive for the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA's) Southwest District. "Email is wonderful," Hill says....

When the congregation of the First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Duluth, MN (190 members), made the decision this past winter to begin raising money for a new church building, it seemed like the time might also be right to consider changing the name that would go up on the new building.

Asking the right questions is a key part of learning how well your congregation functions. The new book, Churchworks: A Well-Body Book for Congregations, by Rev. Anne Heller, district executive of the Pacific Northwest District, includes checklists for committees and boards of trustees. Here are...

We've all been there. The service is about to start and the moderator asks the dreaded question: Are there any announcements? Yes, it seems there are, and they go on forever. How best to handle them?...

Q. We're concerned about all the ways that members are getting asked for money at church. There are the musicians that bring tapes, Girl/Boy Scouts/school fundraisers, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the collection plate, the service auction, regular/capital pledges, a church used book...

How many of these vignettes sound like your congregation? At your last annual meeting, twenty-seven of your 181 adult members showed up. The budget and a proposal to hire a part-time bookkeeper couldn't be considered for lack of a quorum....