General Assembly 2014 Event #311 Satellites, multi-site, yolked ministries and partnerships can explored by all types of congregations - tiny, large, urban, rural, clustered, or isolated. Might multi-site be right for you?

Satellites, multi-site, yolked ministries and partnerships can explored by all types of congregations - tiny, large, urban, rural, clustered, or isolated. Might multi-site be right for you?

How do we design and support congregational systems that help us live into our mission and vision? Using guiding "ministry action statements," goal-setting, and assessment to keep its mission and vision vital and effective.

A wonderful exercise to elicit emerging ideas and to discover where the energy resides in a large group.

Once a congregation understands its mission, the next step is to discern how it wants to deepen and grow as a congregation. This workshop outlines processes for discerning aspirational values and ways to create and use a vision statement in devising a strategic plan and annual ministry goals.

General Assembly 2014 Event #243 Once a congregation understands its mission, the next step is to discern how it wants to deepen and grow as a congregation....

Purpose-filled people are misson-driven. Workshop participants will explore discerning congregational core values, how to articulate them as mission, and how to make a mission "portable" to provide alignment for all of its ministries, strategies, and resource allocation.

Purpose-filled people are misson-driven. Workshop participants will explore discerning congregational core values, how to articulate them as mission, and how to make a mission "portable" to provide alignment for all of its ministries, strategies, and resource allocation.

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...

I often use General Motors as an example of the top-down model of organization and leadership that is the opposite of what our congregations need to be nimble and vital (and I might add, attractive to Gen-Xers and Millennials). A story from Bloomberg "GM Recalls Stalled in 10 Years of Committee...

There is a quote that guides me in my work: “We create the path by walking.” How many of us knew exactly who or what we wanted to be when we “grew up?” Instead, many of us made choices that led us in a certain direction. As we started down a particular path, our choices helped us to discern...

Your congregation is committed to growth and understands that growth in numbers results from other kinds of growth. You also know it is important to set goals and measure how well you are doing.  ...

Are all of the members and friends of your church aware of all of the outreach ministries of your church? Is the wider community aware of who you are serving and how? Churches need to tell their stories, advises a r… article in the Christian Century. Author George Mitrovich explains When my...

Congregational leaders are often tempted to go through the motions of creating mission, vision, planning and covenant documents without taking a holistic view of the process.  Do the congregations systems support the process?  How do we reflect the core values...

Assessment of a congregation's ministry is a very important aspect of religious leadership and is one of the roles of a Committee on Shared Ministry. assessments....

Many of our congregations are wondering what our home congregation might look like in a changing context.  So today, we’re going to use a different part of our brain. 

Unitarian Universalists tend to use a lot of words when we attempt to explain our religious beliefs and values. We have a complicated faith that does not fit into typical questions about religion from outsiders. This makes sense at a national level. We have a big tent that makes room for a lot of...

Congregations who care about growth keep detailed tracking records and look for long-term trends.

Your mission is what is hanging on the wall, Your system is what is happening down the hall....

A good mission—articulated gracefully and served faithfully--can help the members of your congregation feel like they are part of something epic.