Outdoor Covenant Group (Facilitators: Shamus Rohn and Kathleen North)
Group Purpose: An opportunity for us to experience the wonders of the outdoors together; to enjoy the simpler things the world provides; to feel the “mud” instead of the “concrete”; to enjoy the physical depth of our external world; to enjoy the safety of a group as we explore things or places or activities that we haven’t on our own.
Group communication by Yahoo user group.
A covenant group to discuss the power of myth. Monthly meetings on the fourth (4th) Monday of each month. The program is based on the series of interviews conducted by Bill Moyers with Joseph Campbell, considered by many to be the world's foremost scholar of mythology. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with a viewing of a video followed by discussion over dessert and coffee.
At Max's. Please email oeschgerm@yahoo.com or call for information (phone 220-2616/895-5185)
The Sacred Space Covenant Group gathers to discuss what the sacred means to us, and how to make room for the sacred in our lives. The group meets the first Saturday of every month at 9 a.m. For more information please contact Cherie LeBlanc.
WHAT IS A COVENANT GROUP?
A covenant group is a small group of people within a congregation who meet regularly for the express purpose of:
- Forming deeper, more intimate relationships
- Sharing spiritual struggles and growth
- Deepening religious commitment
- Ministering to each other
- Supporting each other
- Learning from each other
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF COVENANT GROUPS?
The goal is to bring people into right relationship with each other and the larger world by deepening relationships, exploring spirituality, giving participants the opportunity to work together to help others, and creating and committing to a covenant with one another. This is about a creating a more intimate community within a community, where people can get to know one another better than may be possible without a small group.
HOW IS A COVENANT GROUP DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SMALL GROUP ACTIVITIES?
Most churches have group meetings, but a Covenant Group has five characteristics in common: a shared format, a trained leader, a small size, regular meetings, and a covenant. Groups meet at least monthly in homes, at church, or in the community. Covenant Groups also make a covenant -- or a promise -- how the members intend to relate to each other and how they, as a group, will serve the church and their larger community.
The key to the covenant group experience is having a clear expectation of what a covenant group is and is not. A covenant group is:
- Supportive and yet not a support group;
- An opportunity to learn from peers and yet not a formal class;
- Reverent and yet not a formal worship experience; and
- An opportunity to make and deepen friendships and yet not a social club.
(The above prepared with thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist, and the Miami Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship)
Please contact Rev. Melanie Morel-Ensminger at office@firstuuno.org or (504) 866-9010 for information on Covenant Groups. There are suggested resources on covenant groups via The Unitarian Universalist Small Group Ministry Network website: Small Group Ministry Resources.
A recommended resource is:
Hill, Robert. The Complete Guide to Small Group Ministry: Saving the World Ten at a Time, Boston: Skinner House Books, 2003.
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