At First Unitarian Universalist Church, Rochester, MN (322 members), people who used wheelchairs had to be pushed up a steep hill to get into the sanctuary. And then they still couldn't get to other parts of the building without help. It was an awkward situation. Other people worried that if they...

When high school youth leave your congregation for college, jobs, the military, or other endeavors does anyone other than their parents notice? An increasing number of congregations are marking that transition from teendom to young adulthood with bridging ceremonies. A bridging ceremony is a...

There are times in the life of every congregation when despite the best intentions of everyone there are details that don't get tended to. Well-meaning volunteers forget to do something, or take on more than they can do, or a family crisis intervenes....

When visitors decide to join the congregation, we celebrate in a number of ways—with ceremonies, by taking them to lunch, by giving them books, with a hearty handshake. Then comes the hard part. How do we integrate these new folks into our religious communities? And not only how, but when? The...

Music directors are third in line when it comes to getting paid in some of our congregations. Congregations that struggle to pay the minister and director of religious education at responsible levels often find they have little left for music. At First UU (Unitarian Universalist) Church of...

Q. The idea of providing child care for church and committee functions has not been a priority in our congregation....

When visitors come through our doors on Sunday morning most of us know what to do. We greet them warmly, talk to them during coffee hour and invite them back. What happens next is more challenging. If they become interested in us, then we are expected to teach them about our faith....

Q.A.Notice to Visitors: People who attend St. Mark's regularly are for the most part kind and friendly people, but they tend to be a bit shy and self-conscious with strangers. They are afraid of greeting people they think are new and discovering that "the visitors" have been attending St....

Sometimes, through no deliberate fault, a congregation becomes, well, complacent. It still functions week to week, but there's no fire. Rebuilding that fire can happen several ways. A new minister or lay leader can do it. Sometimes a church event or a new way of doing things can do it. At...

Every congregation has lots of visitors who come once, twice, even sign up for the newsletter, but never return. We wonder if we did something wrong, if no one spoke to them, or the coffee was bad. If we have our act together we have someone from the membership committee call all visitors within...

For those small congregations which aren't able to muster many volunteers for the Membership Committee, here is one that operates with just three leaders....

Music feeds our souls and many of us wouldn’t stay in our congregations without it, but to do it properly takes vision, time, and talent. Ten years ago, when Tom Benjamin, a choral director who had recently moved to the area, was asked to build a music program at the Unitarian Universalist (UU)...

When Mitch Levy's wife asked him for a divorce three years ago, he hadn't seen it coming. He'd just moved to the Seattle area for a new job and she was to join him. But then she called, saying she'd decided she didn't want to be married. In shock, and in a new town with no friends and no support,...

When the congregation of the First Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Duluth, MN (190 members), made the decision this past winter to begin raising money for a new church building, it seemed like the time might also be right to consider changing the name that would go up on the new building.

Getting members out at midweek for a "church night" is a tradition for many of our congregations. It's an important time to build those community connections in a more relaxed atmosphere than on Sunday morning. Members of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of Berkeley in Kensington, CA (555...

When a congregation adds to its space by building or remodeling, it has cause for celebration. But there are right and wrong ways to perform these ceremonies. Rev. John A. Buehrens, Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President, has participated in more than one hundred building dedication...

Asking the right questions is a key part of learning how well your congregation functions. The new book, Churchworks: A Well-Body Book for Congregations, by Rev. Anne Heller, district executive of the Pacific Northwest District, includes checklists for committees and boards of trustees. Here are...

For three years, Stefanie Samara Hamblen, director of children and youth programs at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship in Gainesville, FL (290 members), met every Sunday night with the three teenage boys who comprised the congregation's youth group.

Jean McCormick continues to be amazed at what comes out of the mouths–and hearts–of people she thought she knew. For four years she has been one of the coordinators of Unitarian Universalist (UU) Religious Odysseys, a program at All Souls UU Church in Kansas City, MO (317 members), in which...

Rev. James Robinson, minister at First Parish in Brewster, MA (715 members), is a believer in having lots of small groups as a way to connect members and build a congregation, not only in numbers, but in faith. And for good reason—he gives much of the credit for a seven-fold growth in membership...