Resources and Guides
- Quick-Start Guide for New Facilitators
- Circles of Trust
- Required and Optional Books
- Spiritual Directors List
Quick-Start Guide for New Facilitators
Quick-Start Guide for New Facilitators
Google Doc: Original
Wellspring Love at the Center Quick-Start Guide
A Resource for New Facilitators at Foothills Unitarian Church
Congratulations on taking this next step on your spiritual journey! Your group will be meeting eleven times over the course of the year. Wellspring has requested that we begin these groups in October since the curriculum is new and in development. Please note that the curriculum does not begin with a group retreat.
Your group is scheduled to meet on _________________ from _____ to ________. If you are choosing to meet at church please make room reservations for your group using this form: Event reservation and promotion
This year, you'll be helping others grow in their Unitarian Universalist faith by making the UU Wellspring curriculum available to your small group. Don't worry, though. You won't be doing it alone.
The UUWellspring organization makes detailed training resources and session-by-session curriculum guides available at their website. And the Foothills' Wellspring Leadership Team, in partnership with Foothills' professional ministerial staff, is here to help make sure your facilitation experience is meaningful for you and your group participants.
First Steps
- Meet with your co-facilitator and your Foothills Wellspring Leadership Team mentor. Your mentor will be an experienced Foothills Wellspring facilitator who will serve as a resource, sounding board and cheerleader for you and your co-facilitator throughout the year.
- Go to the UUWellspring website and complete the Wellspring Facilitator Registration form under Facilitator Registration. Register as a facilitator of "Love at The Center". Facilitator Registration Form
- Plan to attend one of UUWellspring's live online training sessions or view a recorded version. You can find the recorded 30-minute training video on their website under Resources > Tools for Facilitators.
- Become familiar with Planning Center Groups. A link to the Group Leader Introduction will be sent to you by the staff administration team once your group has been set up.
- Working with your co-facilitator, send a Welcome Letter to your group participants. Send this letter as soon as your group has been set up.
On-Going Meetings and Support
- Once your group has decided on its covenant, store the document in Planning Center Groups for member access and ongoing review.
- Once your group has decided on its meeting dates and you have secured a meeting location, schedule the events in Planning Center Groups.
- Remember to use Planning Center Groups to send out assignments and notices for each upcoming meeting and to take attendance after each meeting.
- Expect your mentor to check in with you periodically to offer support and help problem-solve if necessary.
Growing New Leaders
- Help develop the next generation of Wellspring Sources leaders. Encourage participants who demonstrate an aptitude for supporting group process and engagement to consider facilitating next year.
- Encourage participants to share their Wellspring experience with fellow congregants, to help identify congregants who might be interested in Sources next year, and to consider participating in second-year Wellspring offerings.
- Let your mentor know if you would like to be a part of the Foothills Wellspring Leadership Team.
Attend to Your Spiritual Life
Continue to tend to your spiritual life. As a facilitator, having a daily spiritual practice and working monthly with a spiritual director, spiritual companion, or spiritual friend continue to be expectations. We hope this year offers rich opportunities to grow and go deeper in your spiritual life as you help others in our community do the same.
See Also
Circles of Trust
Circles of Trust
Overview
The Circle of Trust model, developed by Parker Palmer, is foundational to UU Wellspring group practice. The core rule: "No fixing, no saving, no advising, no setting each other straight."
The Practice
"So what do we do in a circle of trust? We speak our own truth; we listen receptively to the truth of others; we ask each other honest, open questions instead of giving counsel; and we offer each other the healing and empowering gifts of silence and laughter. This way of being together is so countercultural that it requires clear explanation, steady practice, and gentle but firm enforcement by a facilitator who can keep us from reverting to business as usual. But once we have experienced it, we want to take this way of being into other relationships, from friendship and the family to the workplace and civic life."
Videos
- Chapter 4: Circles of Trust (4.5 min) - Parker Palmer from Hidden Wholeness
- Chapter 5: Establishing the Conditions of Circles of Trust (5.5 min)
- Circles of Trust in UU Wellspring (6.5 min)
Journal Prompt
What are the hallmarks of a circle of trust? According to Parker Palmer, what is the soul, and what can we do that might inhibit or welcome the soul? What are the obstacles to living an undivided life?
Further Reading
See Also
Required and Optional Books
Required and Optional Books
Sources Curriculum Books
All books are available from the UUA Inspirit Bookstore, online retailers, and as ebooks. Many are available in the Foothills library (room 221). If others have taken UU Wellspring at Foothills, they may have copies to lend.
Read Before the Retreat
- Everyday Spiritual Practice: Simple Pathways for Enriching Your Life, Scott Alexander, editor
Optional (Referred to Throughout the Program)
- Voices from the Margins edited by Jacqui James and Mark D. Morrison-Reed
- To Wake, To Rise: Meditations on Justice and Resilience edited by Rev. William Sinkford
Read Before Session 14
- Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind by Barbara Becker
Read Before Session 18
- Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
Facilitator Resource
Participant Journal
- UU Wellspring Sources Reflection Journal (optional purchase for participants; ordered by WSLT as a welcome gift for new facilitators)
Second-Year Books
Book requirements vary by curriculum. Check UU Wellspring for the current list. Past second-year offerings have required:
- Faithful Practices: Everyday Ways to Feed Your Spirit edited by Erik Walker Wikstrom (Sacred Arts)
Book Discounts
Each June, WSLT contacts local bookstores for possible group discounts on required readings.
Spiritual Directors List
Google Doc: Original (.docx on Shared Drive) -- Last updated 2022
Status
The Spiritual Directors List is maintained as a Word document on the Shared Drive. It should be reviewed and refreshed annually as part of the January curriculum review.
Purpose
UU Wellspring encourages all participants to have a spiritual companion. Options include one-on-one spiritual direction, group spiritual companioning, or a spiritual friend. This list provides local options for participants seeking a spiritual director.
When to Share
- Included in Welcome Letter 2 preparation materials
- Referenced in the Quick-Start Guide for New Facilitators
- Discussed during the opening retreat