Join me this Summer! TWO CHOICES

Friends,

Are you one of the lucky people with time off over the summer? Vacation, Study Leave, Retirement? If so, join me this summer at one of the two conferences I will be attending.

This Summer I will be one of the leaders at

1. The UU Small Group Ministry Network Summer Institute at Ferry Beach
At the SGM week I'll be one of a handful of conference leaders. This is a great time to take your small group minsitry to the next level (or learn how to start one right).

and

2. The Star Island Religious Education week
I will be leading (provided registration is sufficient) a workshop for young adults and leaders working with YA's. It is called "SUPERSIZE THIS! A Young Adult workshop on engaged spirituality, leadership and community." Note that THANDEKA, popular theologian, speaker on "Affect Theology" and president of the Center For Community Values (CCV) will be the theme speaker. My workshop will meet each morning of the week. Casual porch time with me to follow!

Here is the "SUPERSIZE THIS" workshop in a nutshell:

Everything our faith has to offer, young adults are ready for more of it.
Aren't you? During this week we're going to take Unitarian Universalism to the
next level. We'll start with an honest UU reality check, looking at the
assumptions, structures, language/terms that congregations have been using to
operate. After identifying what we think has been, we’re going to challenge the
status quo! Drawing on wisdom from small group ministry, life coaching and other
sources we will look at new ways of doing spiritual growth, leadership
development and community building.Topics will include spiritual leadership in
group ministries, covenants and group health, peer spiritual direction and
coaching, weaving spiritual disciplines into group life, cultivating
relationships that matter, and techniques for sharing our faiths with those who
are hungry for it.

As for the Small Group Ministry week, check out the Ferry Beach website for more information. www.ferrybeach.org and the Ferry Beach page of the UU SGM NETWORK.

If you know of anyone with time off over the Summer who might have interest in either of these, please forward this to them. I'm trying to help get PR out for both of these events.

UU BLOGGERS: Cross-Blog-Pollination of these events much appreciated!

Thanks,
Peter

PS-- Questions about either event? Email me at peter@uuplanet.com

Peter Freedman Bowden
Director, UU PLANET Ministries
Online at www.uuplanet.com

Evaluating Small Group Ministries & Covenant Groups

Earlier this month I asked Covenant Group News readers to share how they evaluate their small group ministries. I have compiled the responses on our website. Note that my question was in response to a visitor to our website asking if we had any evaluation forms. At that time we did not. Thanks to all of you, we now have over a dozen evaluation forms! A special thanks to Ray for asking the question and to all who responded.

The URL of the compilation is:
http://smallgroupministry.net/public/evaluation.html

Here are a few thoughts on evaluations from my conversation with readers who wrote in.

Facilitator Meetings Many congregations have group leaders meet with lay coaches and/or their minister(s) for ongoing training and support. This is a great way to keep groups focused, to share feedback, and do skill training. One reader asked if they needed to have formal evaluations in addition to these meetings.

Facilitator meetings are great for giving facilitators a chance to share their sense of how things are going. But a facilitator’s perception may not always be accurate. If you want to know what group members think about their group, ask them. Chances are they will appreciate it.

Exit Interviews?
Considering the work congregations put into getting people INTO groups, I’ve been amazed at how few congregations follow up when people leave. When there is a problem with a group, if it is left unidentified and unresolved, it is common for people to drop out.

It is worth noting that many people leave groups because they think the group they were in was the only kind there is. “I tried Small Group Ministry and I didn’t like it.” If you have a program with multiple groups meeting with the same purpose (homogenous groups) a participant might think they are all the same. Every single group in your church is different.

Once when I was guest preaching I spoke with a man during coffee hour. He tried a group and didn’t like it. I followed up. “What didn’t you like about it?” I don’t know what was scarier, his group experience or the fact that he thought this was what small group ministry was meant to be like! After a five minute chat he was ready to give it another try.

Feedback in Groups
Many groups have a time for "Likes and Wishes" at the end of each session. This is a form of group process check. Some groups do this each session, others periodically, some never. If you give participants an opportunity to evaluate the group DURING the group time, consider the following from sales and marketing expert Harry Beckwith:

A basic principle in life applies to surveying… Even your best friends
won’t tell you, but they will talk behind your back.

Could this possibly be true for Unitarian Universalists? Shocking! You better believe it.

Keep in mind that asking for feedback is also a sign of respect and shows that we care. Beckwith notes that when we ask for an opinion it shows that we value that person’s opinion. We should all feel that our church values our opinion.

Other Feedback
While evaluations can identify problems or challenges, they can also highlight what you are doing well. Except for a handful of congregations, Small Group Ministry is NEW FOR ALL OF US. We should be learning what works, what doesn't, and strive to develop this ministry to the best of our ability. The only way to do this is to communicate with group leaders, participants, and even those who have yet to join a group.

Years Later…
When you evaluate your program consider checking in with your larger community. What's the understanding of small group ministry among those who are not in groups? Three years after your initial SGM launch do people still get it? Many congregations allow their Small Group Ministries to slowly fade into the background year by year. It is not easy keeping SGM front and center. When you ask non-participants what they know about this ministry it communicates to them that it is something important. It also lets you know how well you are educating members about your groups.

Excerpted from CGNews #84 (PDF)

PS: SGM = HARD WORK
It takes HARD WORK to maintain a healthy and growing Small Group Ministry. I've talked to some religious professionals who haven't evaluated their SGM formally because they know it isn't where it should be or it has lost focus or hasn't received their attention. If this is the case for you consider evaluating your SGM and use the feedback as an opportunity to work with your board and committee on ministry to prioritze what your congregation is doing. The large churches in other denominations that grow as a result of SGM prioritize it above other "programs." If you don't have time for SGM maybe you can work with the congregation to remove things from the ENTIRE CONGREGATION'S plate.

For SGM consulting and training contact me at UU PLANET.