The 1970's heart-throb boy band The Osmonds provided a disservice with their ear-worm hit song "One Bad Apple." They sang, ...

As Unitarian Universalists, we have a traditionally operated under a model of church that doesn’t acknowledge the kept track of one aspect of involvement in church life, “membership”, which typically means signing a congregation’s membership book and making an annual pledge. But in reality,...

Belonging to and being a part of a community is an important aspect of congregational life. Many of our members think of their congregations as a second home and think of the other members as part of their extended family. The relationships that we create and nurture by sharing the details of our...

The key to successful outreach amid the changing religious landscape, particularly with the unaffiliated or Spiritual But Not Religious sets, will likely be to speak to why people would want to show up in the first place, not just what can keep them there year after year.

Recommended articles, videos, and blog posts for people interested in exploring multisite ministry.

Explore models of sharing resources in service of Unitarian Universalism

Many of our "solid" congregations noticed a drop-off in giving that was not a result of a drop-off of membership during the past two or three years. We don't have much data (the trend is too new) but we do have some anecdotal information that seems to align with greater generational shifts....

Let me share a fable of two congregations. ...

What does it mean to be a member in a congregation? How much can we ask of members?  I believe that membership should signify a commitment to the congregation and it's mission as expressed by the Rev. Michael Piazza. ...

All congregation sizes based on certified membership at the time the stories were shared.

Shifting from a humanist fellowship to a more spiritual and inclusive community helped them reach the goal of owning their own building.

Making welcoming part of everyone's responsibility, and putting energy into small group ministry helped this congregation achieve sustained growth.

They chose to give up a historic building they dearly loved in order to build a new, larger home as their gift to the future.

A multiracial congregation offers a liberal sanctuary in a conservative area.

This congregation thrives because "This congregation says 'yes!' "Newcomers feel warmly welcomed, there are lots of activities aimed at getting people together, people feel their talents are appreciated.

They moved beyond their former mentality of scarcity and invest in new facilities, programs, and personnel, and…we needed to become a fair compensation congregation.

A church where people grow spiritually, and then out of that give to the larger world.

The congregation's leaders said there were seven values that sustained and guided them: we value everyone's voice; it's okay to ask for help; we value the advice we receive; we value the generosity of angels; we value the growth of liberal religion; we value social justice; and we value fun.

A family-oriented and welcoming congregation

This congregation grew from 250 to 500 members and its budget has grown from $144,000 to $740,000 in ten years.