The 6th National Conference for Midsize Congregations

Congregational Change is Personal: Meeting People Where They Are and Moving On

Nearly three hundred lay and professional congregational leaders met at the Hyatt Regency, Phoenix, AZ, from March 2-5, 2006, to ask and answer questions that are central to the well-being of midsize church communities.  Some of the issues raised included what are we willing or not willing to do to encourage growth, what steps can we take to ensure financial stability now and in the years ahead, what methods of governing are the most effective, how do we nurture our many generations, and what is our place in the larger community.

Keynote Presentation

• Managing Transitions: Meeting People Where They Are and Moving On

Worship

The following documents are in PDF format.

• Friday Morning Worship, by Victoria Safford
• Saturday Morning Worship, by Kenneth W. Collier
• Sunday Morning Worship, by Vail Weller

Conference materials NOW Available!

The following documents are in PDF format.

• 1A Radical Hospitality: How to Attract and Retain Visitors
• 1B Staffing for Growth in the Midsize Congregation
• 1C Many Paths One Journey—Taking the Next Steps
  • Synopsis: JUUST Change Consultancy
• 1D From Large MidSize to Small Large: Breaking Through Self-Defining Barriers
• IE Deep & Soulful: Vital Youth Ministry
• 1F Transforming Congregations: Transitions in Governance and Organization
• 1H Stewardship is a Personal Lifestyle, Not an Annual Church Event—Painless Person-to-Person Annual Budget Drive Workshop
• 2A Marketing 101 for Congregations
• 2B Goldilocks and the Three Boards
• 2C Congregational Identity and Board Effectiveness in a Multicultural World
• 2D Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara: The Congregation That Found Its Wings
• 2E Effective Adult Programs in the Program-Sized Church
  • Starting or Restarting an Adult Religious Education Program: FAQ
• 2F Transforming Congregations: Transitions in Staffing Models (see 1F) 
• 2G Spiritually Vital and Alive: Creating Inspiring and Contemporary Worship
• 2H What We Can Learn From the FCT Survey
• 3A Build it—They will Come!
• 3B Life Above the Plateau: Could Your Midsize Church Be Larger?
• 3C Inspired Faith, Effective Action
• 3D 1st Unitarian Church of Des Moines: 505 in ’05
  • Five Year Plan
  • Passive Barriers
  • Review of Recent and Past Growth
• 3E The Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth  
• 3F Spiritually Effective Decision Making
  • When faced with change I...
  • Me, We, Thou
• 3G Transitions in Worship/Faith Development (see 1F)
• 3H Beyond the “Any Warm Body in the Eleventh Hour” Method of Nominating
• 4A The Uncommon Denomination: The Good News about Marketing Our Faith
• 4C Our Unfinished Journey
• 4D All Souls Church, Unitarian—Breaking Through to Large Church Size
  • Notes and Reflections
  • Moving from Midsize to Large Size
  • Covenant of Right Relations
• 4E Growth by Young Adults
• 4F Practicing Wholeness: Resources for Congregational Leaders
  • Comparing Congregational Gifts and Goals
  • Mission: What and How
  • Vision: What and How
  • Covenant of Relational Practices
  • Summary of the Relational Congregational Practices
• 4G An Introduction to“Singing the Journey”
• 4H Umbrella Giving, Planned Giving and Endowments