Kinship Circle Covenant Groups
Kinship Circle Covenant Groups are “open topic” groups. That means the topic for discussion changes every month based on member interest. Discussions are not “current event” or other intellectual debates. Rather, the aim of the groups is to provide an opportunity for people to get to know each other on another level—through the sharing of our life experiences and our unique spiritual perspectives. In other words, Kinship Circles attempt to include the “heart” as well as the “head.”

Joining a Kinship Circle Covenant Group provides you with an opportunity to contemplate and share aspects of yourself or your life you might not have thought about or talked about in a while. Groups assure a supportive, nurturing environment for deep sharing and deep listening on topics that may bring back life memories, may make you look at things differently, may allow you to verbalize thoughts that have been elusive for a while, and give you an opportunity to share your joys and concerns. In this way, “kinship” develops with other members, even though their daily lives may be quite different from yours.

If you would like to explore an experience for contemplative, open sharing focused on pre-assigned topics, and are driven by a desire to know each other better, please join us in a Kinship Circle that meets at a time best for you. Because of the “open topic” format, this type of Covenant Group can be quite flexible, and we will create as many new groups as we have interested people. For more information on Kinship Circle Covenant Groups, talk to current facilitators Stephanie Matz, Peggy Simonsen, or Janeane Weprin.

Living Our Principles Covenant Group
Living our Principles Covenant Group has been meeting for over five years as we “unite to strengthen the bonds of kinship” and discover ways we can live our principles. We have also, over the years, participated in local social service projects as we find ways to put the principles into practice. In order to facilitate discussion of our beliefs and faith we have selected books, articles even web pages to read as a group. This year we are starting off with the book "Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals" by John A. Buehrens. We feel this is an especially important topic in light of the religious right’s use of the bible to influence political action. We invite members or visitors from the church who would like to join us to come to a meeting and “test the waters.” We meet the second Tuesdays of the month in the High School Youth room. Expect chocolate, candles, friendship, and laughter . If you have any questions please call Leslie Evans.

Communicating Compassionately Covenant Groups
Based on our mutual interest in communicating compassionately, we gather in these covenant groups once per month to strengthen our bonds of kinship by 1) listening empathically and 2) sharing from the heart. On our own, we endeavor to more fully understand principles of communicating compassionately. Our sources for doing so include the book, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. From such sources we typically select brief readings. We reflect on these and then, when we gather in our groups, we listen and share on their basis. On our own, in our daily lives, we also endeavor to put related principles into practice. Putting principles of communicating compassionately into practice is easier said than done, however. To us, such an effort is sufficiently challenging, meaningful and enriching to qualify as a spiritual practice. In our covenant groups, grounded in our understanding that we share this interest and commitment, we gather to listen, share and build our relationships with one another.

CCCG Statement of Purpose
We agree to strengthen our bonds of kinship by:

• reflecting upon and cultivating as a personal, spiritual practice, the principles of communicating compassionately;
• focusing on the possibilities and practices of making life wonderful;
• celebrating our gratitude for one another's giving;
• engaging in deep, empathic listening and sharing from the heart; and
• focusing on what’s alive in us by attending to our own and others' observations, feelings, needs and requests.

We agree to respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part by:

• serving our church and community in ways consistent with our congregation's covenant, and
• deepening our compassionate connections with each other, even while we deepen our appreciation of how we can do the same with everyone with whom we interact – both in the CCUU congregation and in the wider world.

For more information, contact the facilitator, Vid Axel.

Menzgroup Covenant Group
The Menzgroup is a gathering of men in a covenant group, one of many of the Covenant Groups at Countryside Church , and the only one specifically for men.  The group meets monthly to share ideas and experiences of all things related to the masculine gender.  Currently the group has eight members, including the facilitator.  Our meetings are based on mutually agreed topics, updated regularly.  To date we have addressed several issues such as male violence, the four archetypes of men (from the book by Roger Moore and Douglas Gillette, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover), male communication, and men’s virtues.  We are at this time only open to one or two more members for this group, but if there is sufficient interest, we would gladly help another group get started.

For more information about the Menzgroup Covenant Group please contact the facilitator, Ken Sepos.

Motherhood Kinship Circle
Mothers, take time to reflect on how motherhood has changed you, challenged you, and inspired you. Motherhood may be one of our great opportunities to grow spiritually. Our kinship circle will work to help foster the spiritual growth of members through focused contemplation, a supportive environment, and truthful recognition of the conflicts and challenges we all experience.

We will reflect on such issues as recognizing and honoring life transitions, setting appropriate personal boundaries, working with our own changing values and personalities, caring for our parents, recognizing and working through changes to our relationship with our partners, and keeping a sense of adventure.

We will work to go beyond the surface conceptions and societal value judgments of motherhood and to develop our own individual sense of how the role of mother fits into our sense of self, our spiritual views, and our hopes and dreams.

The Motherhood Kinship Circle will provide an opportunity for its members to get to know each other on a deeper level – through the sharing of our life experiences and our unique spiritual perspectives. Our group will be a supportive and nurturing environment for deep sharing and deep listening, and will promote the development of “kinship” between its members.

Our Kinship Circle is open to all types of mothers – mothers of all ages, who have children of all ages; mothers with partners and mothers without partners, mothers who work outside the home and mothers who work inside the home. If you believe that motherhood is not only an opportunity to know and love a child, but to grow in knowledge and love for yourself, then please join us! The Motherhood Kinship Circle will meet one morning a month, to be determined by the members. We plan for childcare to be available.

For more information on the Motherhood Kinship Circle , please contact Christina Caglar at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

“The Artist’s Way” Covenant Group
Nurturing your Spirit through Creativity

And yes, you are creative. Maybe you just don’t know it. Maybe you just don’t want to admit it. Maybe you are just afraid to try. We will explore and nurture our creative selves through all kinds of silly and profound art projects. This covenant group will be based on Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity.
The facilitator will be Juli Cicarelli, who has a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. She believes adults, as well as children, need creative activities in their lives.
Join us. We’ll color, draw, paint, and journal. Art is a spiritual path that can help us discover where we are now, where we are going, and why we want to be there.

Limited to six participants - Wednesday or Thursday morning

Time and how often we meet will be determined by members. For more information about this covenant group, contact Juli Cicarelli.

“A Course In Miracles” Covenant Group
A Course in Miracles is a complete self-study spiritual thought system that teaches that the way to Love and Inner Peace is through forgiveness.  “Forgiveness is your only function”.  The Course’s unique message is that true forgiveness is to forgive one another for what they haven’t done.  This is because the world we believe we live in is an illusion, and our reality is our oneness with each other and with God.  A Course in Miracles is a three-volume curriculum consisting of a Text, Workbook for Students, and Manual for Teachers.  The Course was “scribed” by Dr. Helen Schucman, a clinical and research psychologist and tenured Associate Professor of Medical Psychology, through a process of inner dictation she identified as coming directly from Jesus Christ.  The language of the Course reflects Christ’s message as it was intended to be perceived, rather than the way in which many modern Christian traditions have misinterpreted it.  The Course, therefore, expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality.  It is a universal spiritual teaching, not a religion.  The miracle is defined as the shift in perception from fear to love.

This covenant group will meet monthly to discuss the principles of A Course in Miracles.  There will be a lot of discussion and sharing of the experiences, joys and challenges of implementing forgiveness as a way of being.  Through the sharing, the kinship aspect of covenant groups will be fostered as members of the group get to know each other better on another spiritual level.    This group will assure members a nurturing, supportive atmosphere.  The Course in Miracles Covenant Group will also discuss excerpts from the books authored by Gary Renard.  Gary has been instrumental in making the Course in Miracles more accessible and understandable to the masses. 

This course can therefore be summed up very simply in this way:

Nothing real can be threatened-- Nothing unreal exists--Herein lies the peace of God.

For more information, contact the facilitator, Lisa Hagenbuch

Sacred Movement Covenant Group
Open yourself up to a sense of playfulness, creativity, and camaraderie. We, the members of Countryside’s Sacred Movement Covenant Group, invite you to join us every other Sunday, after Church. We’ve been meeting for five years. This year, we will start on October 7, but you can join at any time.

Our goal is to express and explore spirituality through movement. This isn’t about fancy dance steps, it’s about getting together with supportive friends and express what we are feeling. No dance experience—or talent—required! This group is suitable for people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and physical situations.

We’re very informal. We enjoy one another’s company and have fun. Usually we take turns leading the group, picking out music and planning the kind of movement we’ll explore. We’ve explored all kinds, including Hula dancing, blues, classical, flamingo, jazz, and belly dancing. We watch videos of various dance styles and performances.

We’ve performed at our church, other Unitarian Churches, and other denominations. We’ve helped people celebrate transitions: a wedding, a house blessing, and bidding farewell to friends. We’ve run movement workshops, and encouraged people to explore movement in their lives, their communities, churches, and organizations like nursing homes. One of those exciting events in this past year was when Lucy Ayyat, with our support and encouragement, held a two-day gothic belly dancing workshop at our church. The workshop was a sell-out success, and attracted people from all over the country. A Saturday night performance saw beginners, intermediates, and nationally known dancers perform on stage. All dancers, no matter what gender, size, shape, experience or talent level, danced. It’s in that spirit that we welcome you to join us.

For more information about the Sacred Movement Covenant Group, contact the facilitator, Juli Cicarelli.

Reflections on "Conversations with God"
Suppose you could ask God the most puzzling questions about existence- questions about love and faith, life and death, good and evil.

Suppose God provided clear understandable answers.

It happened to Neal Donald Walsch. He wrote it all down in a series of books called Conversations With God. The concepts are extraordinary and breathtaking. They strike at the heart of our human belief system and drive right to the point of human life itself.

Our covenant group meets every 3rd Sunday at 8:30 am till 10am . We use the Conversations with God Guidebook and look at a different concept from the book at each meeting. We bring personal stories and experiences to the group to assist us in realizing the concepts we discuss.

If you have read any of these books and they have resonated deep inside you, please join in discussing these concepts with like-minded people in a nurturing environment and explore how to integrate this spirituality into your everyday life.

For more information, contact the facilitator, Terry Frank