Kendall shares this week about a new program designed to make joining a New Church small group easier and more available the world over. Small groups allow people to connect and discuss religion in a more thorough and hands on way than just reading or listening. Kendall explains the new program and the difference it has made in her life. -Editor.
Of the many gifts that the Lord has offered me in my personal spiritual journey, one of the most rewarding has been my discovery of a small community in which I can find truth, connection, and refreshment on a regular basis. My experience attending weekly group meetings with my small community has shown me just how rich and fertile the soil of a group setting can be for spiritual growth.
Not everyone can connect to the groups I attend, as they are limited to those in my immediate geographic area. So I am motivated to share with you an opportunity to plug into a simple program that could support you or someone you know in your spiritual lives.
I happened in the last year to obtain a job in which I can apply on a daily basis my personal experience with group life. I helped develop a program called Sunroom that aims to serve those who are not yet part of a spiritual community, for those who have not felt at home in a traditional church setting. A Sunroom Spiritual Growth Group is designed to be a place for people to share authentically and grow spiritually, using a simple plug and play system with meaningful content. It is an online video-driven system for Group Leaders who don’t have time to prepare content every week and would rather devote energy to meaningful dialogue on important spiritual topics. If you have a computer and internet access, you can participate in this program. I should also mention that Sunroom is designed to serve adults over the age of 18.
Let’s get more specific. The program offers two primary tools to those who wish to plug into a spiritual growth group: online leader training and compelling video content for face-to-face group meetings. The Sunroom Leader Training Video Series is available to anyone who signs up to receive it at sunroomgroups.org/leader-training. This 10-part video series, viewed in one sitting, can be completed in just over one hour. Contained within this mini-course is a tutorial on how use a Sunroom Content Video to run your face-to-face group meeting.
Each Sunroom Content Video begins with a sermon clip from a Sunday service recorded in Bryn Athyn, PA. What follows is a segment of focused discussion between spiritual growth experts Peter Rhodes and Ray Silverman, authors of Observing Spirit and Rise Above It, respectively. Peter and Ray offer their thoughts on the sermon theme and then pose a question for group members to explore together in their own face-to-face discussion.
Click here to watch one of our Sunroom Content Videos, accessible to anyone at sunroomgroups.org/videos.
The vitality of a Sunroom Group lives in the face-to-face interactions of group members. So while the video is a launch pad for discussion, human connection comes out of people hearing truths from New Church content and exploring them together in group discussion. For those who leave the meeting thirsty for more, each video closes with a quote from Swedenborg’s Writings and offers instructions on how to access the full-length sermon.
The Sunroom program will enter its pilot phase in January 2015 and will give people an opportunity to test out leader training and content videos for a span of 1-5 months. While Sunroom seeks to serve those who do not yet have spiritual community, people who have community already may want to offer feedback to help bolster our program before a concerted marketing effort and hard launch in 2016. Are you one of those people? Would you like to offer your feedback?
Sunroom is for any adult, anywhere, as long as they have access to a computer and an internet connection. While the program was developed with English-speaking users in mind, we have aspirations to adapt the videos for non-English speaking countries when the demand surfaces. (Please note that bandwidth may be an issue for those in developing countries.)
If in your personal experience you have seen the seeds for spiritual growth planted in authentic interactions with others, please consider joining me in this endeavor to make accessible a simple way to start a Sunroom Spiritual Growth Group. If you would like to participate in our pilot phase any time between January and May 2015, email me at sunroom@newchurchlive.tv.
If you have a friend who might enjoy learning about Sunroom, send them a link to this short intro video called Why Start a Sunroom Group? I look forward to watching the fruits of our combined efforts emerge.
In many ways trees are like us. Hidden in their seeds lies a kind of purpose, goal, and plan of producing fruit. Drawing on what is inside them, the seeds grow up out of the ground and clothe themselves with branches, boughs, and leaves. Finally, when the time is right and the opportunity for results exists, the tree blossoms and produces fruit. (True Christianity 374)
Kendall has found compassion, accountability, and fresh ideas about spirituality and religion through regular contact with other human beings in a small group setting. A self-described “full-blown introvert,” she has been coaxed out of her bubble into a life and a job that revolves around groups of people pursuing spiritual growth together.