Small Group Ministry, GA and the UUA

If you attending our association's June General Assembly conference you probably noticed people were talking a lot about small group minsitry. Here's what happened:

* There was a very successful pilot program of covenant groups. Close to 250 people participated. Almost all reviewed the effort as a great success despite some logistical issues related to space.

* Small Group Ministry was mentioned over and over again in workshops and presentation. Our association has learned that small groups are part of "Good Church".

* There was a worship service on small group minsitry (Rev. Michael McGee).
Web coverage of service | Full text of sermon
* There was a 8-10 minute spot in plenary on small group ministry and its positive impact on our faith (Rev. Bob Hill with back up singers).

* There was a workshop presentation on Covenant Groups: Some glorious, some gone bad (Rev. Bob Hill, Rev. Calvin Dame, me, and Thandeka).

* All week the Rev. Mellen Kennedy and I, with a few other volunteers, consulted with masses of people on small group ministry. That is in addition to signing up new members to the UU SGM Network.
Membership Info | Membership Kit (PDF)

What was the highlight of these highlights? For me, talking to hundreds of excited and confused UU's about the perils and promises of small group ministry. Why? Because for all the things that happened at GA, there is still very little support for congregations working with SGM. Our members are hungry for it! GA affirmed my belief that our NEW UU Small Group Ministry Network is doing much needed work.

But it also raises for me the issue of the UUA supporting small group ministry. For the money we are investing in new congregations I wish we were spending as much on supporting this proven way to strengthen congregations. We need more people teaching people how to do small group ministry right. I say "right" because the majority of the people I spoke with were having some kind of trouble. Big trouble.

But more on tha later.

I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on how best to have small group ministry supported in our congregations. We have just launched our new UU Small Group Ministry Network as a membership driven organization. This is raising funds so we can coordinate the production of some badly needed resources. But this is just a start. Maybe kind of a bandaid until the UUA starts supporting this ministry more actively.

What kind of support does your congregation need? Resources, training, consulting?

I want to know. WE want to know.

There are several ways you can communicate with us. You can use the comment feature on this blog, complete our needs survey , or email me.

Later this month our leadership team (coordinators and board) will be gathering for a visioning retreat. We will be discussing feedback you give us, prioritizing resources to develop, developing content for our journal (the SGM Quarterly) and looking at the role of small group ministry in growing/supporting our faith.

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