leadership

Church tips found through social media

For a look at how some Sunday morning guests might see us, read the account of a Texas blogger on her first visit to a UU church. She wrote of her visit:

“I’m not sure what to think of this service. I expected something a bit more like Unity, Church of Religious Science or Divine Science. I didn’t hear any mention of Jesus Christ and only found the word ‘God’ in a few of the hymns. Most songs were about the clouds, community and beauty, etc.

 

Though I’ve never been to a Native American service, I would think it would have the same general feel.

 

I’d call this church a true ‘feel good’ church. While I didn’t get much from it, I’m glad there are denominations like this that are welcoming to gay, lesbian and transgender people, who often find it difficult to worship openly with their partner in an environment filled with judgment.

The comments to her blog entry by church members are useful reading as well.

Over on Facebook, an item notes a new book, Real Good Church, How our church came back from the dead, and yours can, too, by a United Church of Christ minister in Somerville, Mass. The church grew from 30 to 150 members. The Rev. Molly Phinney Baskette writes, “It wasn’t one thing (that made us grow). It was 200 things: about signage, about stewardship, about advertising, about staffing, about creative worship.”

A few excerpts:

“Don’t privilege the people who have been at your church over the people outside your community who don’t even know about you yet.”

“Your work, as a pastor or lay leader, is to build up your own tolerance for disappointing people. Learn how to evaluate criticism for what it can teach you, don’t take it personally, and don’t let it slow you down or hijack God’s work.”

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Growth

Shed old processes to create vitality

Natalie Briscoe, a Congregational Life staff member for the UUA’s Southern Region, invites congregational leaders to undertake some “spring cleaning” in a recent post on the region’s blog. She suggests some things congregations might want to get rid of, including:

• A mission that is uninspiring, inaccurate, or old. A vision that is too small, old, or doesn’t lead you to where you want to go. An old covenant that isn’t practiced. Processes that no longer serve the congregation (such as committee structures, governance style, or communication processes).

• Along with old processes, how about old technologies? Are you still using a membership database from 1994? Do you still have Yahoo email groups? The internet, social media, and new database systems can streamline our congregations. We no longer need to waste time with outdated technologies.

• Silence around financial issues. Does your congregation have anxiety when it comes to speaking about money? Throw out the silence and start having honest conversations about what we can realistically do to financially support Unitarian Universalism in our communities. There are no tips or tricks; we just have to do it.

Briscoe’s complete blog post, from March 16, is here.

 

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Uncategorized

UU email lists, labs promote sharing

Whatever project you’re trying to undertake in your congregation, you’re probably not the first to try something like that. Rather than inventing the wheel, learn from other congregational leaders by connecting with them on some of the 300 email lists sponsored by the UUA, plus the many UU “laboratory” groups on Facebook. On both these venues leaders share ideas and encourage each other.

Among the UUA’s most popular email lists are ones for congregational administration, Church-Admin-UU; software, ChurchMgmtSoftware; communications, Newmedia-L; finance, UU-Money; religious education, Reach-L; general questions, UU-Leaders; and membership, Memb-L. There are also email lists specifically for small and large congregations. All of the lists can be found here.

Worried about getting overwhelmed by emails? You can choose to receive emails from these groups as a daily—or every few days—digest, rather than as individual emails.

There are around twenty UU labs on Facebook where participants discuss specific topics, including social media, growth, and worship practices. Among the most active ones are UU Growth Lab, UU Social Media Lab, UU Young Adult Growth Lab, and UU Media Collaborative. A list of these groups is here.

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Growth, Resources

Webinars offer expert advice

If you’ve ever needed advice on a congregational issue at odd hours, there are now at least three collections of archived webinars available for anyone to access.

These are mostly one-hour webinars that were created in the past several years, then archived. Most feature a UUA staff member or a congregational leader making a presentation, followed by a period of discussion including the people who participated in the live presentation of the webinar. Topics include nearly all aspects of congregational life––running board meetings, committees on ministry, digital-spiritual literacy, tips for new youth advisors, religious education curricula, volunteer practices, and more.

The UUA’s MidAmerica Region has an archive of webinars, as does the Central East Regional Group (CERG), and the UUA’s Vital Leaders blog, edited by the Rev. Renee Ruchotzke. Check the website of your own district or region, as well. Registration is required to view the CERG webinars.

In addition, there is a list of upcoming webinars on Growing Unitarian Universalism’s Facebook page. Click on the Webinars icon at the top of the page.

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Resources

Tips to recruit and retain volunteers

On the blog Growing Vital Leaders, the Rev. Renee Ruchtozke, leadership development consultant for the Central East Regional Group of the Unitarian Universalist Association, offers some tips for recruiting volunteers. In brief, find out what each member’s gifts and passions are and help them find a role that feeds them, notes Ruchtozke, drawing on information from Bonnie Blosser, the director of lifelong learning at the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence, Kans. See the blog entry “Your Trash, Another’s Treasure.” Also read the comments for more information.

If someone is being fed, say Ruchtozke and Blosser, they are less likely to burn out or fade away. And if you find a volunteer who seems to be struggling, make it possible for them to give up part of that job to someone who might enjoy it more. Or leave it empty to see if someone will step into it. It’s important, Blosser says, to “walk beside” the volunteer. “Sometimes just knowing you have someone you can turn to helps you to plow through.”

Growing Vital Leaders is a blog of the Central East Regional Group that focuses on ideas, tips, and tools on leadership formation. Recent blog topics have included congregational communications and management issues.

Many other articles and several webinars on volunteer recruitment are here.

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Resources

Church is not for nappers

The Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein has written an essay on her blog, PeaceBang, entitled Napping on the Floor of the Aerobics Studio, about encouraging and empowering leaders.

Church members, friends, newcomers and leaders should be nurtured in spiritual practice and equipped with the language of our faith traditions so that they can articulate the gifts they both give and receive from their experience with the church, the community that is gathered by God (or by the deepest yearnings of the human heart, if you’re a humanist).

The congregation should be in the regular practice of spending time discussing their spiritual experience. It should be as natural as a potluck. We should be ready to turn conversations away from petty gossip to deeper reflections. Leaders should be able to challenge people who constantly want to talk about the minister to talk about their own ministry, or about the church’s ministry.

And those leaders should be empowered to motivate the “nappers,” she adds.

If I go to the gym and people are sprawled out napping on the floor of the aerobics studio, I will think the gym management is not just remiss, but nuts. It’s no different in church. We’re all there for heart strengthening of a different kind. Leaders should be empowered to be able to say: ‘Get off the aerobics floor, please. You can nap at home. Napping on the floor of the aerobics studio is not part of our mission, so we won’t be addressing your complaints about the pillows.’

She adds, “This isn’t about not loving people. It’s about being clear what church is for.”

She writes that congregations should have a broader mission than simply “to collect the religiously wounded and enable them to stay that way. We must say, ‘We are all welcome here. There is a hospital wing here. But no one takes up permanent residence in that wing. They get better and leave the bed open for the next person.’”

 

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Growth

Being open to other points of view

The Rev. Renee Ruchotzke has posted an article on the UUA blog Growing Vital Leaders, about the dangers of running congregations from within a bubble. A bubble happens, she notes, when leaders aren’t receptive to ideas from others or simply don’t take the time to look beyond their own congregation for solutions.

Ruchotzke says, “Congregational leaders often don’t think to look beyond their congregation’s walls for ideas or answers. They may believe that their own congregation is unique in its situation, but there is likely a congregation down the road (or in another district) that has similar challenges. Part of the goal of cluster-building and regionalization is to help congregations connect to one another and access the wisdom of the wider UU movement.”

The full article is here.

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Uncategorized

Eliminating financial barriers to participation

Does your congregation impose unspoken financial barriers to membership, leadership, or simply to participation? That is, if you want to have a social life within the congregation do you have to buy it at the annual auction? What about those who can’t afford to do so?

If you want to be on the governing board, does that require taking time off from work for meetings? If someone takes on a volunteer task, are they expected to pay for any needed materials themselves? In a blog post, the Rev. Renee Ruchotzke notes, “For those who don’t have much—or any—disposable income, some norms can create a financial barrier against potential involvement.”

The full post, “Financial Barriers to Leadership,” is on the UUA’s Growing Vital Leaders blog, for which Ruchotzke is one of the primary authors.

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Resources

Making room for introverts

A good leader makes room for introverts to be heard, the Rev. Renee Ruchotzke reminds. In a recent post on the UUA blog Growing Vital Leaders, in an essay titled “Making Space for the Quiet Voices,” she argues for making sure that everyone in a meeting is invited to speak.

She writes, “I’ve learned from experience that some of the best ideas and reflections come from the introverts or the people who might be at the margins of the conversation because of age or culture.”

The blog entry also includes a brief video from the Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom, author of the book Serving With Grace: Lay Leadership as a Spiritual Practice. In the video, Wikstrom advises leaders to speak last:

If you are usually one of the first ones to speak make it a discipline to hold your tongue for a while. Hold back. Let others talk first. Nine times out of ten you’ll find your really good ideas coming out of other people’s mouths. Since this really isn’t about showing how smart you are, is it, but about furthering the work of the church in a way that also deepens your spiritual life, you can rejoice that the important ideas got out there and you got to practice humility. And of course if anything has been unsaid, you can say it at the end.

 

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Resources

Congregational leadership resources, including videos and webinars

The UUA’s Congregational Life Facebook page is highlighting several issues that are timely for congregational leaders as the new church year begins.

Leadership Retreats – Resources include team-building exercises, videos, and curriculum segments.

Assembling Leadership Teams – What to look for in team members, how creativity works, why teams are more innovative than individuals.

Leadership videos – The UUA’s Central East Regional Group has assembled an online library of videos on topics including leadership development, growth, vitality, and history.

Leadership webinars – Includes free on-demand and scheduled webinars on issues including congregational growth, safety (disruptive behavior and right relations policies), and faith development.

Add the UUA Congregational Life page to your list of websites to check frequently for updated information about congregational issues.

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Resources