Check out uuworld.org each Monday for articles relevant to congregational leaders, and other topics. You can also sign up to receive a weekly email notifying you of new articles. Here are several recent uuworld.org articles of special interest to lay leaders of congregations:
Harvest the Power, a new UUA curriculum created to strengthen the skills and confidence of congregational leaders, is available now as part of the Tapestry of Faith series of programs from the Lifespan Faith Development staff group.
Adult Programs Director Gail Forsyth-Vail says Harvest the Power will be useful for summer leadership retreats and other types of gatherings of leaders. “It also offers an intentional pathway for making leadership an opportunity for spiritual growth,” she says.
Harvest the Power is composed of 12 workshops structured in three units of four workshops each. Each unit explores progressively deeper aspects of leadership, beginning with helping leaders explore their own identities, then moving into the purposes of leadership, including how leaders can care for themselves, and finally focusing on learning skills and new ways of thinking which are helpful in leading congregations.
Forsyth-Vail adds, “Harvest the Power is not a program about the mechanics of leadership. It rather invites lay leaders to grow in spirit, in skill, and in confidence as they help congregations navigate changing circumstances. It is designed for maximum flexibility, so that leadership groups might do the entire program, or one of several combinations of three or four workshops, or even a single workshop.”
Harvest the Power, and other Tapestry of Faith curricula, can be found, free of charge, at uua.org/tapestryoffaith.
An item in the Questions and Answers column of the Spring 2009 issue of InterConnections, about how long to keep church records, was incorrect. The correct address for a resource that responds to that question is nonprofitlaw.com/retention.shtml.
The Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry has collected information on what congregations can do if precautions should become necessary for the swine influenza. Resources, available here, include a Congregational Preparedness Checklist, a Swine Flu Fact Sheet, and a Flu Care Booklet. The UUA’s website has additional resources, including information from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
