CERG

These resources are provided by Rev. Renee Ruchotzke, CERG Leadership Development Consultant. We also recommend you visit the UUA Resources Pages for additional resources listings. Of particular note is the Top Picks for Governance on the UUA website.

You may also want to look at the resource pages on Conflict Management, Leadership Development, Healthy Congregations and Stewardship/Annual Canvass.

Web-based Resources: Articles

• The Art of Governance: Building Effective Boards (pdf) by Annette Marquis
• Policy Governance in a Nutshell from GA 2000
• A Discerner's Guide to Congregational Governance by Dan Hotchkiss
• The State of the Church (pdf) by Thomas Bandy
• Cleaning Up Bad Communication Habits by Kibbie Simmons Ruth , Karen A. McClintock

Web-based Resources: Governance Examples in UU Congregations

• Policy Goverance at West Shore UU Church, Rocky River, OH

Books

• Governance and Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership by Dan Hotchkiss - A roadmap and tools for changing the way boards and clergy work together to lead congregations. Hotchkiss demonstrates that the right governance model is the one that best enables a congregation to fulfill its mission—to achieve both the outward results and the inward quality of life to which it is called.
• Spirited Leadership: Empowering People to Do What Matters by Thomas G. Bandy - A new dynamic for leadership in the new century--a dynamic based on flexible teams, spirited leadership, and management aimed at training and empowering leaders. He calls for organizational action to be centered around teams that are given freedom to act within the corporate trust and the boundaries that identify the heartburst of the organization.
• Governance as Leadership: Reframing The Work Of Nonprofit Boards by Chair, Ryan and Taylor - Informed by theories that have transformed the practice of organizational leadership, this book sheds new light on the traditional fiduciary and strategic work of the board and introduces a critical third dimension of effective trusteeship: generative governance. It serves boards as both a resource of fresh approaches to familiar territory and provides a road map that leads nonprofit trustees and executives to governance as leadership.
• Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations by Gilbert R. Rendle, Alice Mann - Presents congregational leaders with a broad and creative range of pathways, processes and tools for planning. By choosing the resources that best suit their needs and context, congregations can shape their own strengthening, transforming and holy conversations.
• Healthy Disclosure: Solving Communication Quandaries in Congregations by Kibbie Simmons Ruth, Karen A. McClintock - Knowledge is power, and the way knowledge is shared in a congregation can build up or break down community. When congregational leaders are sensitive to the ways that information should be shared, the congregation can become safe and strong. Unfortunately, congregations can easily fall into patterns of communication that lead to disastrous interpersonal and organizational outcomes. Even in times of crisis, however, congregations can learn and practice new skills and healthy communication management.