Covenant Group Session 1 – Creating a Covenant Group Covenant

January, 2009

Adapted from the First Unitarian Church of San Jose

Chalice:  

 “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?

            If I am not for others, what am I?

                 And if not now, when?”

Check – in

Reading:

 “A mission  statement asks a congregation to focus on what it wants to be or mean to the community in which it exists.  More than merely a statement, a mission should be a congregation’s articulation of:  Why do we exist?   What do we exist for?  In what ways do we live out and give expression to this sense of purpose in the surrounding community?

A vision statement is a definition of how the mission will evolve over time.  It is a view of what a congregation wants at some point in the future.  A vision inspires a congregation to nurture the gifts and talents of its membership towards a greater fulfillment of its mission.

A congregational covenant responds to the question:  “What are the qualities that sustain our life together as a congregation engaged in mission?  A covenant is our expression of how we agree to “walk together” as a community of faith.”-Rev. Margo Mckenna

Quotes from the Common Bowl: see attached

Life Questions

1.   In what way is a covenant group a small group ministry?

2.  What are the ways we want to be together?

3.  What are the promises we make to each other?

4.  What are the things we are looking for from each other and this group?

From the responses to these questions write a covenant together that reflects the guidelines, hopes and expectations of the group.

Closing ritual:

 We extinguish this flame but not the light of truth,

The warmth of community.

Or the fire of commitment.

These we carry in our hearts until we are together again.

Check out

Quotations for Lesson 1 – Creating a Covenant Group Covenant

One of the most satisfying experiences I know is fully to appreciate an individual in the same way I appreciate a sunset.  When I look at a sunset…I don’t find myself saying, ‘Soften the orange a little more on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and use a little more pink in the cloud color…’I don’t try to control a sunset.  I watch it with awe as it unfolds.

Carl Rogers

Good communication is a stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Isn’t everyone a part of everyone else?

Budd Schulberg

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt.  I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

Bertrand Russell

Community cannot long feed on itself – it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond; their unknown and undiscovered sisters and brothers.

Howard Thurman

The ones who count are those persons who—though they may be of little renown—respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit.

Martin Buber

Small group ministry has a spiritual core.  The whole group and the individual are contained in some larger presence than human will power and everybody knows it.  The second component is authentic community where people can show up and feel “I am valued for being me, for being what I am.  I will listen well to the other person.

From Robert Hill’s Complete Guide to Small Group Ministry

Covenant groups offer us contexts in which to speak to our concerns with the expectation that our view will be heard and respected.  It offers safe settings in which there can be consideration of issues without rancor.

Robert Hill

Effective communication is 20% of what you know and 80% of how you feel about what you know.

Jim Rohn