Enrichment Workshops

Birmingham Unitarian Church
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

The Small Group Fellowship (SGF) ministry at Birmingham Unitarian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan has been in place for over a year and a half. At the beginning of the second year, the SGF Steering Committee planned an enrichment workshop to bring group members together for a morning of inspiration and discussion. We chose the theme, "Building Community Through Spirituality" for a half-day workshop on October 12, 2002 and charged a nominal fee of $5.00 per person.

We shared a continental breakfast, then moved into the sanctuary for the Ingathering that included a welcome from the Steering Committee, lighting of the chalice, singing and a reading. This was followed by a thirty minute Inspiration by our affiliate minister on the nature of spirituality and the difference between spirituality and religion. The large group then broke up into small discussion groups that were organized with SGF members in their own small groups. After a discussion of barriers to expressing or pursuing spirituality in everyday life and a short energy break, we gathered together again to share the content of the discussions.

Participants were placed in random groups for a second discussion on ways to nurture our spirituality as individuals, in the SGF, and in the church as a community. We met together again to share insights and complete feedback forms. The workshop concluded with a summing up of the morning's discussion, singing, extinguishing the flame, and a benediction.

The impact of the enhancement workshop as reflected in feedback comments was overwhelmingly positive in regard to both the topic and the process. As a result, we shared the outline of the presentation and some additional materials with all of the SGF Facilitators for use as a discussion topic in the individual groups. One negative in regard to the workshop was low participation; only twenty-seven of a possible ninety persons attended. The Steering Committee felt that additional publicity and more advance notice of a workshop would improve attendance. We are hoping to make this type of workshop an annual or biannual event.

June Strieby
Coordinator of Member Involvement