Hospitality and Belonging Resources
The resources below can help your congregation to grow in vitality and
reach—both to members and to newcomers.
Guides and Tools
The Membership Journey (PDF, 53 pages)
A guide to various aspects of membership growth and for enriching the lives of all members for all sizes
and ages of congregations. This guide also suggests approaches to moving toward
being an anti-racist/anti-oppressive/multicultural congregation.
Congregations Count: Evaluating Your Membership Process (this section includes PDF, Excel, and mp3 tools)
Used with The Membership Journey, above, Congregations Count is an easy-to-use diagnostic
tool to help your congregation effectively focus your membership efforts toward congregational growth.
Congregations Count helps your congregation diagnose whether you need more
visitors, a better process to convert visitors to members, or a program to
retain existing members.
"101+ Ideas for Membership Growth," is a list of outward-focused things your congregation can do to be more welcoming and inclusive.
DVDs
"Voices of a Liberal Faith" is a compelling DVD about Unitarian Universalism for your congregation's guests, for your friends, and for you! It is available to order online from Congregational Services at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). This DVD was produced by the UUA as a hospitality resource to introduce newcomers to Unitarian Universalism.
"Ideas for Growth" DVD, produced by Jefferson Unitarian Church, Golden, Colorado. This DVD is for membership committees, boards, and all who wish to make their congregation more welcoming. To order a copy contact your congregation's UUA district office or the UUA Bookstore.
Pamphlets
"Religious Hospitality: A Spiritual Practice for Congregations" by Peter Morales.
A pamphlet for congregational leaders,
members and friends about the spiritual practice of offering hospitality from
deep within ourselves. This pamphlet is available from the UUA Bookstore.
The bookstore has many other useful pamphlets for describing our UU movement to newcomers.
Email Lists
Consider joining the UUA's membership and growth email list Memb-L. The list
covers a range of UU congregations' membership topics and best practices.
For discussions of public relations (PR) and marketing outreach for UU congregations, including signage, work with the press, web sites, and more, consider joining the UUA's PR-L email list.
Instructions for joining the email lists are on line.
Tracking Attendance
Try using these forms to monitor natural fluctuations and the progress of
your efforts:
- Monthly Attendance (Excel) (PDF)
- Special Event Attendance (Excel) (PDF)
For good information on how to use these attendance figures please see Congregations Count, referred to above.
For more information contact growthresources @ uua.org.
Last updated on Tuesday, August 5, 2008.
