Archived Workshops

Recordings of recent online workshops are available at Midwest UU Leadership.

Links to older recorded workshops are below.

Welcoming Newcomers

Held: August 12 and 18, 2010

Leader:

• Marie Murton, Membership Director at Fox Valley UU Fellowship, Appleton, WI

We want to welcome everyone who comes to our congregation, though many times it is easier to greet those we already know than brand new people. There are many things congregations can do right now to get ready for newcomers walking in our doors. From training greeters to looking at membership expectations, this workshop will discuss ten good ideas for congregations to be welcoming of the newcomers who are searching for a spiritual home, which will help them along the path to membership.

Watch a video of Welcoming Newcomers.

Second Hour Church

Held: September 14 and 16, 2010

Leaders

• Nancy Combs-Morgan, Faith Development Director of the Heartland District and
• Rev. Phillip Lund, Lifespan Program Director for Prairie Star District.

The “Second Hour Church” is just one of the many different religious education formats congregations are beginning to explore as they seek to become more intentionally multigenerational.

This workshop will review the steps involved in becoming a “Second Hour Church,” including ways to adapt the format of RE programs for all ages in order to enhance the purpose and mission of your congregation.

Watch a video of Second Hour Church.

Ten Steps in Becoming a Safe Congregation

Held: May 11 and 20, 2010

Leaders:

• Rev. Phil Lund, the Lifespan Program Director for the Prairie Star District
• Nancy Combs-Morgan, the Faith Development Director for the Heartland District of the UUA.

This workshop highlighted 10 steps for your congregation to consider in becoming a “Safe Congregation.” It included information on safety and liability policies for religious education programs, as well as “safe congregation policies” for the entire congregation.

Watch a video of the Safe Congregation workshop.

Ten Good Ideas about Staff Evaluation

Held: April 8 and 13, 2010

Rev. Dottie Mathews

Leader: Rev. Dottie Mathews, Associate Minister at Fox Valley UU Fellowship in Appleton, WI (641 adult members, 222 registered in church school).

Host: Nancy Heege, Prairie Star District Executive

As churches grow and hire paid staff, they are sometimes stymied by the issues that emerge. Should we hire a church member as a staff member? What kind of evaluation system would be fair to staff and helpful to those who oversee their work? Join us for this workshop, led by a minister whose church has put a lot of thought and effort into this subject and has a reputation for doing evaluations of non-ordained staff well.

Watch the video of Staff Evaluation workshop.

Staffing for Growth Workshop

Mark Stringer

Held: February 25, 2010
Guest Presenter: Rev. Mark Stringer, Minister of First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, Iowa

When Rev. Mark Stringer went on sabbatical in 2007, he visited several large UU congregations across the country, to learn all he could about church staffing as related to congregational growth. Since then, he’s put into action a number of steps that have transformed the work of the Des Moines church.

Mark led an online workshop for leaders of mid-sized congregations on “Staffing for Growth.” This video, fifty eight minutes long, contains Mark’s audio presentation and a slide show.

Watch the video of Staffing for Growth.

Multi-Site Congregations Workshop

Held: November 7, 2009
Guest Presenter: Rev. Christine Robinson, Senior Minister at First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque, New Mexico

This workshop explored the possibilities for multi-site Unitarian Universalist congregations. Multi-site congregations are those which have members living in two different locations: two or more sites, one church.

• Large congregations, which are restricted by their buildings or their locations, look at multiple sites as a way to continue growing numerically or to do outreach to people not currently being served.
• Small congregations which affiliate with larger congregations get services they can’t currently afford to offer their members.

Watch a video of Multi-Site Congregations workshop.

Fall 2008 Workshops

In the Fall of 2008 Midwest UU Leadership (a resource for UU congregations in Central Midwest, Heartland, and Prairie Star Districts) sponsored a series of online workshops.

The powerpoint presentations for those workshops, leaders' scripts, and links to additional information are now online in Phil’s Little Blog on the Prairie maintained by PSD Lifespan Program Director Phillip Lund.

Here are links to the material on specific workshops:

• 10 Good Ideas About Getting Your Church Ready for Fall (presented August 2008)
• 10 Good Ideas about Effective Meeting Leadership (presented September 2008)
• 10 Good Ideas about Multigenerational Worship (presented October 2008)
• 10 Good Ideas about Adding a Service (presented November 2008)
• 10 Good Ideas about Integrating New Members (presented February 2009)