Big Questions -- Covenant Groups at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia

The Covenant Group program started at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia three years ago with six groups under the direction of their new lead team minister, Rev. Michael McGee. Now there are 26 covenant groups with about 250 members and friends involved - about a fourth of the congregation.

Rev. McGee took a somewhat unique approach with two different kinds of groups. He originally started with special interest groups, including groups focusing on spirituality, racism, issues concerning the elderly, and others. These were followed the next year by the Big Questions covenant groups.

After polling the congregation, Rev. McGee and Rev. Joan Gelbein (team ministers) selected eight big questions and preached about one per month during the year. The covenant groups met monthly to discuss each of the big questions with discussion questions suggested by the ministers.

Coincidentally the Big Questions program began immediately following the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the attacks became the backdrop for most of the questions, giving people the opportunity to voice their sadness, fear and anger and to build a closer sense of community.

Some of the big questions discussed were:

Why are we here?
What is evil?
Why do we die?
Why do we suffer?
Can humanity survive?

This year the Big Questions series was followed by the Big Answers: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism. The congregation is exploring the answers to the questions of life as given by the religions of the world with the understanding that to genuinely celebrate diversity we must first comprehend and learn from the wisdom of other faiths.

Some of the big answers are:

Judaism: Living the Covenant
Islam: Surrendering to the Divine
Christianity: Seeking Salvation
Buddhism: Being Compassion
Unitarian Universalism: The Dance of Diversity

Of the 26 covenant groups 21 of them are Big Answer groups, and three of them are intergenerational. Other groups in the church also focus on the Big Answers including the church school chapels, the youth group, the humanists and the Buddhists. The result is that there is a congregational conversation with all ages and philosophical perspectives about some of the most vital questions and answers in life.

You can find more information about the Arlington covenant group program at their web site: uucava.org.