Sometimes a new building is just what a congregation needs. Sometimes, if you build it, people will come and fill it. There is nothing worse than having to turn away people because you don't have room for them. And sometimes there are alternatives to a new building. Before you embark on an...

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. Our church has just gone to two services and had our first congregational meeting after the second service. We wonder if we are disenfranchising those who attend the first service since few people return for the meeting....

Q. One of the things we struggle with as a congregation is cultivating enough leaders. Our current leaders are getting burned out and there aren’t enough new ones coming up to replace them. We’re getting frustrated. A. Try the following ways, says Eunice Benton, district executive for the...

Does any congregation ever have enough volunteers? Most of us struggle with that. It can be one of the most frustrating parts of being a lay leader. But there are ways to make finding and keeping volunteers less of a problem. Start by asking them the right way: face-to-face....

When Carol Hosmer found it necessary to temporarily drop out of her church ten years ago to deal with some family dynamics that were consuming much of her time, she discovered something uncomfortable. It seemed that no one missed her. She explains: “It was a mid-to-large-size congregation and one...

Ever wonder why friends and members leave your church? The Membership Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley (UUCB) in Kensington, CA (526 members), did and went to the trouble of conducting exit interviews. It’s a process that can tell you a lot about whether people feel...

They go by various names—circle suppers, dinner for eight, second Friday suppers. When they work well they bring friends, newcomers, and members of the congregation together monthly to share food and get acquainted. They can be a powerful tool for creating community in any sized congregation. But...

Should congregations borrow money from their own members for capital improvement projects? It’s an option that some congregations have used, but it’s not without pitfalls. “There are all sorts of reasons why it’s not a good idea,” said Wayne Clark, the Unitarian Universalist...