When four Kansas City-area Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations were invited in the summer of 2002 to be part of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA’s) proposed media test to begin the following January, they jumped at the opportunity. They saw the campaign’s proposed radio and...

Being welcoming to visitors is the easy part. When someone visits your congregation it’s not a stretch of the imagination to greet them warmly at the door, give them a packet of information, talk with them at coffee hour, and invite them back again. But if they do come back again—and again, then...

The question comes up often on Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) email lists: “We’re thinking about advertising on our National Public Radio station. People who listen to NPR...

There was a time when visitors to Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, were afraid to take a red visitor’s cup, says Pat Emery, the church’s volunteer coordinator. “I think it was about ten years ago when one of us overheard one visitor tell another, ‘Don’t take the red cup,...

There are people for whom going to church is akin to visiting a hazardous chemical site. The experience can induce severe allergic reactions. These people suffer from what is sometimes called multiple environmental sensitivities. For these folks someone’s perfume, the chemicals used to clean the...

Carmen McDowell, membership director at East Shore Unitarian Church, Bellevue, WA, invites friends and members to welcome visitors by thinking of three personas: "First there's the Forrest Gump introduction. Forrest wouldn't miss a beat if he inadvertently mistook a founding member for a newcomer.

Jeff Hutchins hasn't seen the start of a church service in years at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church of The North Hills in Pittsburgh, PA (174 members). The reason: He's out in the foyer welcoming just one more late-arriving visitor. When InterConnections asked congregations for names of...

Sometimes it's not the big things we do for children, but the little things that show how much we care for them and how vital they are to our religious communities. Certainly it's important that we pair adults and children in Secret Pal Sundays and do Youth Sundays and Religious Education Sundays.

When members of All Souls Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church in Kansas City, MO (400 members), began having trouble finding a place to sit on Sunday morning they knew it was time to face the future. There are two solutions to crowded Sundays—expanding the building or adding a service. For All...

When people join our congregations, how much do we ask of them? Are we so grateful they've chosen us—and so fearful they might leave—that we ask little? Do we create the impression that our congregation is a place where they will be served without having to do much? That may be true for some...

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...