Small Group Ministry

Sample Welcome Letters

Communication between a facilitator and the participants in a Chalice Circle is via email. Occasionally a participant will not have an account and will need a phone call. About one week prior to starting a Chalice Circle send out a welcome letter to all those registered in your Circle.

The letter should include:

• A welcome statement.
• The date, the beginning time and ending time, and the place of the first meeting.
• Directions to the place (i.e. To the Meditation Room)
• The topic for discussion. "Bring an object that has meaning for you and tell a story about how it came into or fits in your life." Or just come and tell a story about yourself as an introduction to the group.
• The agenda: Chalice lighting, check-in, a reading, sitting in silence, sharing stories, a reading, check-out, extinguishing the Chalice.

Here are two sample letters:

Forming a Covenant

There are three files here to help facilitators guide their Circles in covenant formation:

"Create a Covenant" is a how-to-do-it explanation from the UUCB Covenanting team. It discusses various ways from the quick and easy to reflective and thoughtful.

"Content of a Covenant" is a reprint of the covenant formation section in the Facilitators' Handbook and discusses common elements in Chalice Circle covenants.

"Sample Covenant" is an example of the raw statements suggested by the members of a Chalice Circle and a word-smithed summary. Remember to ask for volunteers to do the word-smithing for the group.

Background Information for Facilitators

UU Small Group Ministry

• Small Group Ministry

Session Plans from other Congregations

• First Unitarian Church of San Jose
• Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco
• First Unitarian Society in Newton

Materials for making an Order of Service

• Worship Web
• Wisdom Quotes
• Quintessential Quotations