Vol. IX Issue 3 Summer 2006 In this issue: LEADERSHIP Four Churches Recognized as 'Breakthrough Congregations' MONEY New Health Care Plan Available to Congregations TOOLBOX Podcasting--Another Way to Spread Our Message MEMBERSHIP UUCA Puts Emphasis On Welcoming and Integration NOURISHING THE SPIRIT Changes to Water Service Bring Deeper Meaning QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Managing during a minister's sabbatical, and renting out your church space for extra income BRIEFLY NOTED More Information on UUC Annapolis; New Handbook for Youth Groups; Election Rules to Help Keep Your Congregation Tax-Exempt; and more! EMAIL LIST Find out when the new InterConnections is online InterConnections Archives

In this feature we seek out answers to questions of broad interest, drawing on experts in congregations, the UUA, and elsewhere. If you would like to submit a question, please write to InterConnections at 25 Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02108, or email dskinner@uua.org.

Q Our congregation will send our minister off for a five-month sabbatical next year. There are concerns about attendance declining during this period and whether we can meet the pastoral needs of members. What can we expect?

A Says Helen Volz, who served on the sabbatical and Sunday services committees at the UU Fellowship of Centre County, Pa., during its minister's recent five-month sabbatical: "We continued to grow during the sabbatical. Our minister had made arrangements with ministers at other UU congregations to fill in. The sabbatical committee worked hard to plan everything ahead of time and arranged for some local ministers to provide pastoral care. In addition, our caring committee kept on top of things. Our Sunday service committee planned and carried out other services. We had very positive feedback." Other recommendations: "Increase the Sunday services budget and coordinate closely with the music director."

InterConnections has written several times on this topic. Go to uua.org/interconnections and search for "sabbatical." Among tips to remember: Start planning a year in advance, create a budget for sabbatical expenses, train a team of worship leaders to assist visiting ministers, involve the director of religious education who may have more responsibilities during this period, create or expand a caring committee to be responsive to caring needs in the minister's absence.
A Handbook on Sabbatical Leaves for Ministers and Congregations is available from the UU Ministers' Association, uua.org/programs/ministry/development. Sabbaticals are also recommended for religious educators. A Sabbatical Leave Handbook for Professional Religious Educators and Congregations is at uua.org/lreda/content/sabbatical.html.

Q Our small UU church is exploring the possibility of renting out space in our RE wing to a daycare or preschool to increase our yearly income. Have other UU churches done this, how did they begin, and what has their experience been?

A John Levine of the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, N.Y., notes that his congregation bought the building next door to the downtown church five years ago and rented the first floor to a Montessori nursery school. "It's worked out pretty well. We don't get as much rent as we would from a commercial tenant (if we could find one, which is iffy), but since the school is an appropriate nonprofit activity, the city has agreed to make the whole building tax-exempt and the savings on property tax make up the difference."

He adds a caveat: "Preschools can be financially fragile, so my main advice would be to plan ahead for what you'll do if the school comes to you and asks for an emergency rent concession, or just folds up and disappears."

Paul Funch of First Parish Church of Groton, Mass., adds that the church coming to rely on the extra income is a problem. "Financial dependency is a very hard addiction to cure."

"The other negative is the continued feeling that the church is not 'ours' because we have to share it," he says. The financial benefits from the business relationship usually counter this, he says, and as long as the church doesn't have a lot of daytime activities of its own there won't be much conflict. But if that situation changes, he says, "watch out."

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