The Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington, KY longs for religious naturalist ritual, but a framework for cultivating leaders of religious naturalist ritual does not exist. This project will explore and encourage the development of religious naturalist ritual leadership in a Unitarian Universalist congregation through experimentation and engagement with established ritual theory. Using characteristics of ritual as outlined in the work of Richard Grimes, the intersection of pastoral care and ritual leadership, and ritual improvisation, an ethic of ritual leadership will start to emerge. From this theory of ritual leadership, a curriculum to create a Ritual Design Lab in a congregational context will be formed to form ritual leaders while creating rituals rooted in a religious naturalist worldview.

Unitarian Universalism has arrived at an historic inflection point that calls it to an overarching purpose of helping to bring about the Beloved Community in the wider world while dismantling racism and other systemic oppressions in its members and institutions. For most UU congregations the former is a familiar goal that compels social justice work, but transforming themselves seems a bewildering and daunting goal. This mixed method study of six UU congregations and 50 of their leaders proposes a support structure for congregations on this journey to help them change their institutional leadership practices and foster spiritual vitality in all their members.