Many congregational boards and other leadership teams go on a retreat to launch the new church year. It’s great tool for team building and focusing. What makes for a terrific retreat? Few activities can do more to get a team off to a good start and bonded than a well-planned and skillfully executed team […]
In Praise of Retreats Read More »
Some of us feel our financial gifts or volunteer efforts are too small to make a real difference. Not so. Imagine a chair missing a leg…. by Bill Clontz, Stewardship Consultant In my conversations with fellow Unitarian Universalists, I often hear something like the following: “I really love being a UU, but I am
Do My Gifts Really Make Any Difference? Read More »
Part of a Year-Long Special Series Generally about Privacy in Congregations Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal denomination. We are not dogmatic; we gather, worship, run our organizations, and engage by agreement. It is not an anything-goes religion, despite how we are depicted (lovingly) on Prairie Home Companion. We agree to our Principles, the democratic process,
Financial Information: Private Not Secret Read More »
Bill Clontz, Stewardship Consultant Long before I became a stewardship consultant, I recognized that my fellow Unitarian Universalists often have find it difficult to talk to each other about money, stewardship, and related topics. That realization is one of the reasons I became a stewardship consultant – I knew we needed get past this speed
Look at Each Other- Eye to Eye, One Person at a Time Read More »
How Do Children and Youth Fit in Our Stewardship Culture? Bill Clontz, Stewardship Consultant Not long ago, a couple of members of the Stewardship for Us team met with a senior Unitarian Universalist leader to discuss the state of stewardship within our movement. We asked the question, “Where do you think we most often come up
What About the Children? Read More »
Why Do We Pledge: Part IV Recently I read a string of messages on Facebook saying that we need all of our members to give a set minimum amount or our congregations are not financially viable (pardon the paraphrase). I was sorry to read that, not the least of which because it got a response
Pledging Builds the Community of Beloveds Read More »
Coming Together and Reaching Out A few weeks back, I participated in a “Summit on the Economic Sustainability of Ministry” sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association. The focus of the Summit was on the financial challenges facing UU ministers and congregations these days, and what in and out-of-the-box solutions we might come up with to
