What is Small Group Ministry? Small Group Ministry (also known as Covenant Groups) consists of groups of 8-10 people who meet regularly and use spiritual based discussion to not only grow community and service but also to form intimate relationships.
Sharing spiritual struggles and growth
Deepening religious commitment
Ministering to each other
Supporting each other
Learning from each other
Undertaking service and social ministry projects together

We value our time together as a group and therefore: we commit
to attend the meetings and to start and stop meetings on time
We keep personal information strictly confidential and share ideas
outside the group only without attribution
We value each other's contributions to our discussions and
therefore: we encourage and allow all to contribute equally, we
listen to all contributions, we try to treat each other with respect,
caring, and kindness and we keep discussion on topic.
We value face-to-face decision-making and therefore: we discuss
all matters of group process only at meetings and we use e-mail
for routine housekeeping matters or informal communications

Each group develops a covenant to guide interpersonal behavior and interaction in the group. The covenant is a promise to abide by a set of relationship ground rules. This includes ways to listen and be heard. The covenant is renewed annually and may change as the group changes. A Core Circle covenant must include confidentiality for what happens in the group. 

A group meets no more than every two weeks and no less than once a month, with the frequency determined by the groups themselves. Group may meet at a home, the Church or some other mutually agreed upon location. A trained facilitator leads each group.

Some choose to be in the same group; others don’t. It is up to the spouses or partners.

Child-care and child participation will vary from group to group. Different groups provide a variety of options and suggestions.

The facilitators make sure the group begins and ends on time, and seek to equalize participation, if necessary. They remind people of the next meeting and contact group members who miss a meeting, or delegate someone to do so. During the meeting, they read from the session plans and guide the discussion. They welcome new members into the group and keep the group open to new people and new ideas. They meet periodically with the minister and other facilitators and help to maintain the connection between individual groups and the congregation as a whole.

What are the attributes of a Core Circle facilitator?
Commitment to the greater good of the congregation
Good listener
Ability to express and represent a UU perspective
Ability to manage group dynamics
Respect for individual spiritual paths
Commitment to spiritual growth for self and others

The session leader guides a meeting of the group, using basic facilitation skills, and assists with upholding the format during the meeting. This can be done by one person or rotated within the group. The Session plan is a guide and a springboard for discussion.

The minister is the as-needed coach for Core Circles. He helps to recruit and train facilitators, and meets with them periodically to counsel and guide. He may help in assigning new members to existing groups, creating new discussion topics, recruiting and training new facilitators, and in developing new groups.

Core Circle meetings follow a simple, flexible format:
An opening reading that introduces but does not guide the topic.
A check-in during which each person briefly shares about such questions as, “What's most on your mind today?” or “How is it with your spirit today?”
A time for the focus or theme of the meeting with sharing from personal stories, and learning from listening to others, rather than wanting others to agree with a perspective.
The checkout gives opportunity for each participant to say how the session was for him/her.
A closing reading.​

What topics might be discussed? All kinds of things! Topics are chosen for their depth dimensions: Life, death, politics, love, good and evil, the needs of children, spirituality, religion, human nature, concepts of God, relationships, spiritual disciplines, transcendence, world religions, The Good Life or what the group determines is important.

Each Core Circle is asked to create an annual service project that benefits the church or the wider community. Some groups do both. This helps the group deepen its internal relationships, increases the connection with the congregation, and gives from the abundance of the group experience.

The Core Circle program answers the needs that many people feel for spiritual challenge and growth in community with others. They help create new ways for church members to relate to each other, to care for each other, to talk to and listen to each other. They offer a way for newcomers to become part of the congregation and to gain a sense of belonging. Core Circles at FUSD have significantly strengthened our overall sense of community.

Participants are expected to bring a positive and respectful attitude, a willingness to share and to learn. Experience tells us that the most important expectation that participants have for one another is to give the agreed upon meetings a high priority. While no one can make every meeting, members are expected to make every effort to attend.

You're usually committing for a year, though the groups are designed to be open ended.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.

It fosters meaningful dialogue and parent-child communication. OWL helps participants apply their religious and moral values in an important area of their lives and deepens commitment to one’s faith tradition.