Pennies and nickles from church school children, combined with larger donations from adult members, helped the endowment fund at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church in Bethesda, MD (917 members), grow past a million dollars last year.November is Endowment Month at Cedar Lane, and that's...

Think back to the last time you were asked to chair or serve on an important congregational committee? Did it feel like: I thought you'd never ask. I was just going to ask you if I could do that. A death sentence. It may be too much to expect that we will be overjoyed when we are asked to take on...

The voice of experience belongs to Deirdre Shaw when it comes to attracting young adults to Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations. Three times in ten years she tried to form a Young Adult group in her own congregation. Twice she failed. But the third time she succeeded and now on any given...

Q.My church has about 175 members. We have always had a fulltime minister and part-time secretary and custodian, but we began paying our half-time director of religious education about ten years ago and recently began paying a quarter-time music director....

Congregations that want to grow might think that advertising is the only way to attract members. But there's another option for UUs who are willing to put their principles to work. Social action can help build your membership, even as it boosts your local community. It's also much less expensive...

Q. We just had our annual meeting and we were barely able to declare a quorum at the start of the meeting. The same was true at a special meeting we held earlier this year. By the time we got around to voting I'm sure we had lost our quorum. I find it a little disappointing. How do other...

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. —Thomas Edison Monthly work parties are an institution for most Unitarian Universalists (UU) congregations, necessary to keep the grass cut, the buildings painted, and the bathrooms shined up . But getting...

Helping volunteers to feel good about what they're doing is one of the best ways to keep a congregation moving forward. What works best? Respecting volunteers' time is a good way to show appreciation, says Martha Osgood, membership co-chair at The UU Church in Eugene, OR (209 members)....

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....

Helping volunteers to feel good about what they're doing is one of the best ways to keep a congregation moving forward. What works best?Respecting volunteers' time is a good way to show appreciation, says Martha Osgood, membership co-chair at The Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church in Eugene, OR,...

It's 11:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month. If you're on the board of trustees of your congregation, where are you? A. Home in bed, where you belong. B. Yawning your way through a tedious discussion about folding chairs and wishing you'd had Caller ID when the nominating committee...

BELIEVING it is essential that the fundamental principles of the Unitarian Universalist belief be clearly understood and demonstrated, the Fourth General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, recognizing the autonomy of all its churches and fellowships under the principle of...