What is the role of lay leaders in a mission-focused congregation? What is the role of the minister? The Rev. Brent Smith has experience and success leading mission-focused congregations. In this post he shares some of his insights. The distinction between lay and clergy roles is a key element in...

Having a clearly articulated mission statement helps to guide a congregation’s leaders in deciding where to put their energy and resources. But often such statements are put together by a committee and can be a bit….(I hate to say it)…wordy. Last year I visited Western Michigan, where the rest...

How many of our congregations offer programming that isn't working, or has only a very small group of the "usual suspects" participating?

Vibrant congregations in today's world live out of a sense of core mission or purpose. Twenty-first leaders need to find ways to embed that mission into all parts of congregational life. This workshop will provide strategies to help your congregation focus its development of leaders and congregants...

Mission speaks to the congregation’s calling, the source of its integrity and it’s central reason for being. What are we called to be and do?

Supporting one another is important, but if that is primarily what you do, then your congregation will decline. For a congregation to be alive, vital, and growing, it must have a sense that it exists to serve as well.

This process can be run in a morning, afternoon, or a longish evening. The program works well with teenagers on up to seniors. Provide a variety of spaces for people to sit and work—some will want to work at tables, others may prefer comfortable chairs, and still others may want to sit on the...

The words vision, mission, and covenant have been used but the meanings have varied over time and context. This is one model of understanding.

Teams who are just forming, or who have an important project, need to take the time to form as a team. A team retreat is a time for the members of the team to get to know one another and figure out how to work well together.

From the earliest days of recorded history in the Western world, there are stories of vision, mission, and covenant as foundational parts of religious community. These stories have been told in song, dance, and language, and they are the story of community—individual stories woven into an...

The vision, mission, covenant and other guiding documents can be incorporated into the life of the congregation in an unlimited number of ways in order to keep them in front of the members. The following are some suggestions:

To keep your mission, vision, covenant and other guiding documents relevant, it's helpful to revisit them every 5-7 years.

UU Communities can be very different from one another! Use this continuum exercise to see how your congregations understands itself.

Vision statements need to be useful to the leaders. Effective vision statements tend to have common characteristics.

As your congregation moves into times of discernment, such as doing vision, mission, or covenant work, powerful questions are ways to surface deep understandings and creative ideas.