SGM REGISTRATION LUNCHEON
October 9th After the Service
We're beginning our 7th year of Small Group Ministry (SGM) and that means it's time to register for this year's program, or re-register if you're currently a participant. Please join us on Sun, Oct 9th for a delicious lunch provided by the SGM groups following our service. During you will have a chance to learn more about the program, and register or re-register. Registration forms can be found attached to this eblast and in the office. Forms can be turned in early to the office. Registration deadline is Oct 16th.
Small Group Ministry
Purpose
Members of a Small Group Ministry group get to know one another and deepen their own spirituality by participating together in discussions of topics of universal human significance. The spirit of community that develops in a group radiates outward, increasing the members' connection to Emerson and to society at large.
This purpose motivates everything about SGM -- the size of the groups, the structure of the program, the form of the meetings, the topics discussed, and the ground rules of discussion. The statement of purpose explains what SGM is and is not.
What are Small Groups?
The Small Group Ministry (SGM) idea has spread quickly through Unitarian-Universalist churches. It was virtually unknown five years ago, and now hundreds of churches have programs either underway or on the drawing board.
Of course, there is nothing new about parishioners meeting together in small groups and having discussions. However, the groups of a Small Group Ministry program have a unique set of features that make them different from study groups, classes, committees, task forces, support groups, affinity groups, or any of the other groups that one typically finds in a church.
- The groups are people-centered rather than task-centered. You may get to know people by serving on a committee with them, but that's not why committees exist. Committee meetings are designed to get something done, not to foster connections between people.
- The groups are on-going rather than running for a set term. Not everyone who joins a group will stay with it for years and years, but the possibility is there if you want it.
- The groups are not isolated, but are part of a program that is integrated with the larger life of the church. They are an important ministry of the church.
- The groups give back to the church and the wider community by annually performing some kind of service as a group project, to be determined by the group.
How to Join
To join, fill out a registration form, available at the welcome table or in the office. Return the form to the minister or to the office, or mail it to Emerson. Please give us times and days you are available. Please give a variety of times if possible. Groups are formed by the minister. The minister uses her judgment to decide which groups are best able to accommodate new members, and the more options you give her the better she can do her job. After consultation with the group facilitator, the minister can add new members to a group at any time.
This purpose motivates everything about SGM -- the size f the groups, the structure of the program, the form of the meetings, the topics discussed, and the ground rules of discussion. The statement of purpose explains what SGM is and is not.
SGM is not a debate society or a study group. The point is not to convert other people to our own opinion or to impress them with our intelligence and knowledge, but to speak our truth so that others can know us, and to listen to others speak their truth so that we can know them. The topics are not ends in themselves; we don't talk about, say, community or forgiveness because we want everyone to become experts in community or forgiveness. The topics are means to the end of getting to know ourselves and each other. By watching and listening to each other grapple with the topics, the participants learn about each other in a different way than they would by serving on a committee or meeting at a coffee hour or some other social event.
SGM is also not therapy. The point is to get to know
one another, not to solve each other's problems or give each other advice.
People get to know each other not by confessing their deepest darkest secrets,
but by participating together in discussion.
The topics are intended to focus the group's attention on the things we have
in common just by being human. And so SGM groups are not affinity groups; the
topics do not assume any shared special interests or experiences. But everyone
was born and everyone will die. Everyone has successes and failures, loves
and losses. Everyone has the same fundamental needs and the same basic emotions.
Just being human gives us a great deal to talk about.
Finally, the purpose of a small group is not to replace Emerson's other activities
or to cut group members off from the rest of the congregation, but to draw
them further in. Many other UU churches have found that SGM does not satiate
or exhaust the participants' appetite for community, but whets it. Having discovered
how much common humanity they share with an apparently random group of parishioners,
SGM participants become more curious about the rest of the congregation. Having
been listened to, accepted, and treated with respect in one church activity,
they are encouraged to try others.
The topics are intended to focus the group's attention on the things we have in common just by being human. And so SGM groups are not affinity groups; the topics do not assume any shared special interests or experiences. But everyone was born and everyone will die. Everyone has successes and failures, loves and losses. Everyone has the same fundamental needs and the same basic emotions. Just being human gives us a great deal to talk about.
Finally, the purpose of a small group is not to replace Emerson's other activities or to cut group members off from the rest of the congregation, but to draw them further in. Many other UU churches have found that SGM does not satiate or exhaust the participants' appetite for community, but whets it. Having discovered how much common humanity they share with an apparently random group of parishioners, SGM participants become more curious about the rest of the congregation. Having been listened to, accepted, and treated with respect in one church activity, they are encouraged to try others.
What is the Commitment?
Joining the Small Group Ministry program means taking on certain commitments.
You commit yourself to making the group meetings a high priority. Everyone from time to time runs into unpredictable events (like illness) that make it impossible to attend a particular meeting. But if you know from the outset that you will not be able to attend the meetings regularly, don't sign up.
You commit to give the group and its members a chance. You may already know a number of the people in your group and may have prior opinions about them. Or you may have prior opinions about people like them -- opinions about old people or young people or men or women or whatever. We ask that you do your best to put aside your prior opinions and give everyone in your group a chance to surprise you.
You initially commit to attend four consecutive meetings of your group. In the experience of the congregations that have tried SGM, four meetings is what it takes to give the group a chance. If four two-hour meetings is too much for you to risk on a group, don't sign up.
If you continue with the group after the initial four meeting period, you commit to stay with the group for a year. If it becomes necessary for you to break this commitment, please tell the facilitator or the minister. It's important for the minister to know the true size of a group when she is making decisions about whether to add members.
You commit to abide by the group covenant. Unitarian Universalism is based not on creeds but on covenants, agreements about how we will be together and how we will treat each other. Each group will establish its own rules and practices for showing respect to each other. The initial covenant of each group will be the "Guidelines for Discussion" contained in the SGM handbook. Each group can alter these rules as it sees fit, while retaining the goal of honoring the inherent worth and dignity of each individual.
