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)
For
more information on Covenant groups at First
Church,
please contact Facilitator Doug Olson dolson4@cox.net or
Rev. Marta Valentin (504) 866-9010.
For
more information on Covenant groups in general, please see: Hill,
Robert, the complete guide to Small Group Ministry: Saving
the World Ten at a Time, Boston:
Skinner House Books, 2003.
UUA Interconnections:
Small Groups Help Build a Stronger Congregation: http://www.uua.org/interconnections/membership/vol4-1-membership.html
