Video, based on the book Taking Your Church to the Next Level: What Got You Here Won't Get You There by Gary L. McIntosh

(Atlanta, GA, 2000) Following a morning worship service, Alban Institute consultant Alice Mann was introduced to lead the day's learning experience on "Navigating Change in the Midsize Congregation." Mann, the author of "The In-Between Church," is an Episcopal priest who has been involved in...

Why Dying and Rebirth are Essential Components of Growth Congregations that aspire to be vital, strong and growing follow a constant cycle of birth, aging, death, renewal and rebirth. This session will look at several theories around the life cycles of congregations and will suggest the critical...

The challenges that Membership Professionals face require that one react both with their head and with their heart....

The most common symptom of this dreaded “disease” is focusing on only one aspect of the membership experience, i.e., visitors and newcomers. But there is a whole lifecycle of the membership experience that calls for creative and effective engagement by the membership committee. Those involved in...

Five Ways of Growing Your Congregation. Mark Bernstein discusses five ways of growing strong, vital and lasting Unitarian Universalist congregations. 2012 Additional Resources Five Types of Growth (doc)...

Rev. Sue Phillips Dawning Future, November 2015...

Rev. Meg Riley, senior minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship From Dawning Future, November 2015...

What Holds UUism Down and Prevents Us From Rising? Introduction to morning presentations from Dawning Future 2015 Rev. Tom Schade of "the lively tradition"...

Theme-based ministry is happening in more and more congregations throughout the Unitarian Universalist movement. Theme based ministry, sometimes called theme based church, helps create multigenerational connections, as people of all ages explore common themes in age-appropriate ways....

Small congregations offer intimacy and inclusion, but can sometimes feel exclusive to newcomers. How might you bridge that divide?

Become more informed about and more comfortable with neuro-diversity (autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc) so that we can more fully live into a practice of radical welcome. With Linette Lowe(2015).

Learn how to provide paths to leadership in your congregation,to identify potential leaders and to equip them for service in your congregation. (2016).

Faith traditions are all in a time of transition and the UU faith is no exception. As we struggle to consider what our faith will look like in the world of congregations and beyond, let us come together to consider some new perspectives on the traditional ideas of membership. In this webinar, we...

It’s not your parents’ church anymore, that’s for sure. You may have heard that Unitarian Universalist religious expression will take different forms in the 21st century than it has in the past. Here are some things we know: The way we have been ‘doing’ congregational life is modeled on a...

UUA program will focus on congregations’ innovations more than membership growth; seeks nominations.

An archive of stories from UU Congregations showing growth, creativity and vitality in the program that ran from 2005-2019.

Does your congregation have fewer than 100 members? Do your leaders burn out quickly? Do you get first time visitors but not many repeat visitors?  This training is for you!

Looking at membership as a spectrum: From fostering a culture of connection to belonging, then to integration and eventually leadership.

It is by building relationships and diverse community that we can transform ourselves and the world.