CGroups

A CGroup (C for community, for covenant, for connection) is a group of 7-10 adults that meet regularly in member's homes to deepen connections between people and to encourage and support spiritual growth.

While it is hoped and expected that CGroup members will be the first to provide support to one another in times of need, these groups are not organized as "therapy groups."

If you have any questions about CGroups, please contact Reverend Julia Older.

How Do I Join a Group?

As we begin CGroups, there will be an enrollment period during which folks can sign up to be charter members of a group. One should sign up for the group that meets at a convenient time. All groups will operate with the same format, although we expect each will evolve differently once underway. Couples may sign up for the same group or different groups, as they wish.

How Do New People Join CGroups? Are CGroups "Closed"?

New members will be recommended by the minister, by CGroup leaders, or by members of the group who invite them to join. CGroup members don't have to be affiliated with the Fellowship, nor do they have to be UU. In fact, inviting non-members and non-UUs to these groups in encouraged.

Membership in the groups is open. This is a very important element of CGroups. In fact, we recommend that each time a CGroup meets, there should be an empty chair, symbolizing the invitation and welcome to the next person who is seeking a small group for community and spiritual growth.

When a CGroup grows to about 12 members, the group will divide in half and form two groups. We realize that this may be hard after making some intimate connections with other people's lives and ideas. We ask that you think of this as being an opportunity to build and create connections with new people and for them to create connections with you. As each new person joins a CGroup, or as each new CGroup is created, there will be new ideas and experiences brought to the CGroup and, in turn, opportunity for more spiritual growth.

Who Will Lead the CGroups?

The original CGroup leaders will be members of the congregation who have some experience with small group facilitation and are interested and committed to the idea and process of CGroups. The minister will choose the leaders.

The minister will provide training for the CGroup leaders in advance of beginning a CGroup. Leaders will also have their own monthly CGroup meeting with the minister to discuss how the groups are going and how they can be enhanced, and to provide support to the leaders.

Each CGroup, once underway, will have an assistant leader chosen by the CGroup's leader and minister. Each assistant leader will work with the leader--developing her or his own leadership skills, taking on a greater leadership role with time--and discuss and process group dynamics with the leader. We expect that, when the group grows and needs to divide into two new, smaller groups, the assistant leader will become the leader of one of the two groups, and new assistant leaders will be chosen for both groups.

While each CGroup will have a leader, her or his role is to help facilitate the conversation and caring in the group--something that we understand to be the role and responsibility of the whole group.

When Will CGroups Meet?

Groups will at meet at least monthly, and may decide to meet more often for better continuity. We recommend that CGroups meet at least twice a month. Each group should reach consensus on the meeting schedule, and all members should strive to attend all meetings. Each meeting will be two hours long, and the leaders will be responsible for making sure the meeting ends on time.

Where Will CGroups Meet?

We expect groups to meet in members' homes. We think that people's homes are a more comfortable meeting place than the Fellowship, and the Fellowship does not have enough space to house groups privately.

Groups may elect to meet at the same home each month, or to rotate. Members should recognize that not everyone's house will be able to accommodate a meeting, or be centrally located, so probably just a few in each group will accommodate the meetings.

Each CGroup will discuss together how to care for the children of CGroup members. Some parents might rather choose to attend CGroups on different nights, others might choose to have individual baby-sitters, or people may choose to pool babysitting services.

What Will a CGroup Gathering Be Like?

The group meeting is for a two-hour period, with the time strictly observed.

• There is about ten minutes of gathering and greetings
• A chalice lighting and short reading, perhaps a meditation.
• Around 45 minutes of sharing "Personal Joys and Sorrows," what is going on in your life. Each person would have up 4 minutes to speak. After individual speaking would be 15 minutes of follow-up conversation.
• A spiritual topic is introduced by the leader, perhaps with a reading and reflective questions. The CGroup members discuss this topic for about an hour.
• A quick check-out asking folks what they liked about the meeting and what they wished it could have been.
• Closing words

What Kind of Commitment Is a CGroup?

We expect people to make a six-month commitment to the group, providing a sense of stability to the meetings. Each group will discuss and make a covenant with each other and to the Fellowship. The content of those covenants is up to each group, but we expect they will include confidentiality, regular attendance, and a statement speaking to the CGroups relationship to the larger congregation and service to it.

CGroups do not replace Sunday morning worship services or the larger congregation. Rather the two complement one another. In a CGroup we experience deepening connections and spiritual growth and on Sunday morning we celebrate with the whole community and feel and know ourselves to be a part of something larger.