Wellspring

Enrollment Now Open for 2012-2013 Session

To enroll, visit the Wellspring Table in the Gathering Space at church during May, or click here to enroll on-line. 

Are you looking for a deeper connection to Unitarian Universalist and your own spiritual journey? Wellspring may be for you!

Wellspring offers spiritual deepening within our Unitarian Universalist tradition—an opportunity for learning more about ourselves and our faith through a ten-month small group experience. After an opening retreat on Saturday, September 22, 2012, each Wellspring group of twelve people or less will meet twice a month into early June 2013.

We invite you to an informational session to learn more and to help you decide whether Wellspring is a commitment you want to make. Please join Rev. Mark Stringer and some current Wellspring participants on Wednesday, May 9, from 6:45 - 8:00 pm, in Room 114.

Bring your questions, and your open hearts. We look forward to seeing you there. Or feel free to talk with any of the past facilitators: Sally Boeckholt, Scott Clair, Todd Lackmann, Ann Rezarch, Barb Royal, Caesar Smith, Ellen Taylor, Diane Ford, or Jo Fitz. We are excited about this program and want to give you enough information so that you can be excited, too.

If you already know you want to participate, click here to enroll on-line!

A Brief Overview of Wellspring
A Unitarian Universalist Spiritual Journal

The Five Components of Wellspring

  • Spiritual practice – commitment to regular, intentional practice
  • Spiritual direction – self-reflection with a guide
  • Unitarian Universalist history and theology – reading, listening, reflecting
  • Small group – participation in a community of seekers
  • Faith in action – what we are called to do in the world

Expectations
During the ten-month program, participants will make every effort to:

  • Attend small group sessions every other week and actively engage from both the head and the heart
  • Commit to a daily spiritual practice and seek support if that becomes difficult
  • Complete the readings and other assignments
  • Meet once a month with a spiritual director (spiritual companion, spiritual mentor) to reflect upon and nurture their inner spiritual life
  • Listen to what they are being called to do in the world

Examples of Reading and Discussion Topics

  • Spiritual Practice
  • Our Spiritual Journeys
  • Welcoming the Soul
  • Our European Roots
  • Unitarian and Universalist Roots in America
  • Transcendentalism
  • Buddhism
  • Humanism
  • Process Theology
  • UU and the Crises of Life
  • Human Nature
  • Forgiveness
  • UU Perspectives on Death
  • The Theology of Joy
  • Living our Faith

Who should participate in Wellspring?

Anyone who has been involved in our church for a while, is committed to learning more about Unitarian Universalism and wants to find a deeper spiritual life within this congregation.

How much time is required for Wellspring?

Wellspring is a commitment to a spiritual journey that begins with a day-long retreat in September, followed by regularly scheduled two-hour facilitated meetings scheduled about every other week from September into early June. Participants should plan on time for daily spiritual practice, a monthly meeting with a spiritual director, and time for reading the assignments and reflecting on them (approximately 4-6 hours per month).

How is this program different from Small Group Ministry?

Wellspring is different because of the outside reading, the commitment to a daily spiritual practice, and the focus on understanding the roots of our faith and the transformations in Unitarian Universalist thought, as well as our own beliefs. The readings cover a multitude of topics including history, Transcendentalism, process theology, humanism, and the crises of life. We are asked to think about how our faith sustains us and what it calls us to do in the world.

What is Spiritual Direction?

Spiritual direction is meeting with a guide (a spiritual director/companion/mentor) to help explore your personal faith journey. It is about intentionally deepening your relationship with the holy, however you define that. It is generally a one-to-one experience in private sessions,with a spiritual mentor who has most likely completed extensive training in the ministry of spiritual direction. Unlike therapy, it includes your deity, or higher power, or sense of the holy, as a third partner in the process. While it may be appropriate to discuss personal, relational, financial or health struggles in spiritual direction sessions, the focus would be on how your spiritual life is affected during these struggles, and vice versa. A typical question might be "Where is the holy present/absent in that experience?" Spiritual directors are open-minded guides who are in your service and are not going to advocate a particular religious view.

To enroll, visit the Wellspring Table in the Gathering Space at church during May, or click here to enroll on-line.