Abundant Life Unity Church is a continually growing spiritual community that offers unprecedented care and connection for all. We are a place where everyone belongs and is cared for by someone, and where all our leaders are supported and do not experience burnout. Your minister and board hold this vision and we know that many of you can see it too. We often hear from people who enter our doors that they can palpably feel we are a vibrant and properous spiritual community and that we will grow to be a very large presence in Lake County. The key to manifesting this spiritual growth is our purposeful evolution into a community where ministry happens at the small group level.

In October, 2011 five of us from Abundant Life Unity attended a workshop on this in downtown Chicago. We learned that a small group care structure is what supports sustained spiritual growth and health in successful large churches throughout the country. To be clear, our goal isn’t numbers of people in the seats, but numbers of people whose lives are transformed by our teachings and whose lives are supported by meaningful and closely connected ministry. We are about consciously evolving our consciousness, and we want ministry to happen everywhere, not just where the minister is.

Just now we are launching a couple of our first small groups. They are the Special Events team, responsible for coordinating our parties/events, led by Susan Sigler; CARE, responsible for welcoming and engaging people in our community, led by Bonnie DeMartini; and Youth and Family Ministry, our group of committed youth teachers, led by Mathea Jacobson with Laura Forman as leader apprentice.

Being a group leader is more than being a meeting facilitator. Our group leaders will be trained and personally supported. They are responsible for the health, growth, connection and care of people in their group. Care happens as listening, sharing, learning, engaging in meaningful spiritual discussion and supporting in prayer. Groups can form out of an affinity such as couples, men, women, gardening, book study, Master Mind prayer, animals, health, law of attraction, or outreach. Or they can form for the purpose of service such as the ones mentioned above.

You will hear more about this at our upcoming Palm Sunday Fellowship Feast. A couple things worth mentioning right now are:

• People who choose to participate in our small groups, will make deeper connections and engage in ongoing meaningful spiritual discussion, while experiencing consistent prayer support in their lives.

• Groups are designed to grow and organically evolve. They are not static. Group members hold the intention of inviting new people into the circle, and training new leaders to assume responsibility.

• An 8-week Unity Foundations class is coming in April/May. This will be a first step in getting our small groups off the ground. Please consider attending. You won’t regret it.

Our future has no limits. Everyone has a perfect place at Abundant Life Unity. We know that Spirit has its own way of connecting people to one another. Right now, our first set of small groups and leaders are perfectly formed ideas in the Mind of God. It is our job now to bring it into being.