This page was updated 04/21/2006

What is a Covenant Group?

A Covenant Group is a small group of people who agree to focus on nurturing a relationship between members and having a clear commitment of participation.

Covenant Groups encourage people to talk, learn, work and play together over time. Members may tell their life stories, offer support, and engage in work to serve the larger community. Covenant Groups offer expanding opportunities for growth, caring and connection within a congregation.

In a Covenant Group, people interact as individuals within a group which affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person. People experience themselves and each other as part of the interdependent web of existence. Together, people establish communities which embody the values of justice, democracy and human dignity. Each person is treated equitably. Each has a voice and is heard. And each person is respected for his or her own intrinsic humanity.

Covenant group relationships strengthen our ties to each other and to our congregation, building a stronger church community. We minister to each other in Covenant Groups and are ministered to in turn.

What will our Covenant Groups do?

These small groups meet a minimum of once a month in a member’s home or at the church. All groups have trained facilitators, use a regular format, and covenant together how they will relate to each other and how they will serve the congregation.

Our groups will always meet with an Open Chair, signifying that our groups are always open to new members. Our groups are also open to growing new groups, so we will sprout new groups in order to maintain all groups at small group size of eight to 15 members. We expect each group to stay together for the church year, and we will open registration and offer group members the choice of staying with their group or growing into a new group each fall.

We have access to a rich body of curriculum material developed by our fellow Unitarian Universalists in congregations from California to Maine, and our Covenant Groups will use that material plus whatever else the facilitators find will meet the needs of their groups.

Facilitators, and each group’s facilitator in training, will meet regularly to plan sessions, troubleshoot and share tips for deepening their group members’ experiences.

What are the benefits of joining a Covenant Group?

Covenant Group members will enjoy:
~ Regular opportunities for lifting your mental and emotional horizons up from the mundane
   considerations of day-to-day life.
~ The safety of a carefully led small group to help you get to know and be known by up to 14
    others with similar interests.

Mutual commitments define the Covenant Group experience

Each group member is expected to make certain commitments to the group:

~   to maintain basic UU principles
~   to fully participate as you are able and in your own mode of expression
~   to be present in mind, body and spirit
~   to be open to knowing others and open to knowing yourself
~   to let one person speak at a time while the others listen respectfully
~   to maintain confidentiality when requested and when appropriate
~   to respect each other by asking permission to give feedback
~   to minister to each other
~   to welcome new members to the group
~   to commit to attend meetings for at least six months
~   to begin and end meetings on time
~   to let the leader and/or co-leader know when you cannot attend
Each group member is expected to make certain commitments to the church:
~  to share, as appropriate, their experience with new members and others interested in the Covenant Group experience
~   to join your group in a service project, if your group chooses one
A participant does not need to be a member of the church.
The group is expected to make certain commitments to each member:
~ to provide the opportunity to fully participate
~ to provide the opportunity to be heard
~ to contact a member when they do not attend
~ to maintain an interaction style that fits the type of activity, from deep listening to group discussion
~  to provide a time for personal discussions after the meeting
Group leaders and co-leaders may not:
~ allow the group to function as a therapy session and give advice
~ promote philosophies that are contrary to UU principles and values
~ use the group as a platform for the leader’s own perspective
~  dominate the group

For more information and more description, check out the Covenant Groups Program bulletin board in our Social Hall or call one of the Implementation Team members. We are Kathryn Farnsworth, 625-3435, Nan Getzin, 747-6432, and Connie Haas Zuber, 456-4132.

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