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Using
the covenant group model in young adult and campus groups I
believe that the covenant group model holds great promise for use
in young adult and campus groups. While your group’s covenant
will certainly work and read differently than those of other groups,
the processes of developing a covenant and running a covenant group
have great promise for use in young adult groups. First,
they are based on caring, listening and respect. Covenant group
rules allow everyone to talk and ask everyone to listen. A trained
facilitator should help keep things at an appropriate level of sharing,
allowing all to feel comfortable opening up in the group. Members
get to know one another and form a deep community, allowing them
to care for each other even outside of the group. Second,
they are flexible and responsive to group needs. Not only is the
covenant the entire group’s product, but it is designed to
meet the needs of the group members. If it’s not doing that,
it can always be changed. Curricula for covenant groups are written
with this flexibility in mind, and with the hope that your group
will take them and mold them to meet your needs best. Third,
they foster real closeness that is unavailable or uncomfortable
in larger groups. Working in a large congregation and taking worship
courses in seminary, I learned a lot about how some people react
to attempts at intimacy in a large, public worship service. Even
shaking hands with the stranger beside you is uncomfortable to some
people. The sharing of personal joys and concerns in our services,
as meaningful as it might get, does not generally allow for a real
community response to the emotions presented. Covenant groups offer
a way to build community bonds with people with whom you might not
have a lot else in common. They allow their members to share at
progressively deeper levels, creating real intimacy based in mutual
ties to the group. Fourth,
they offer the opportunity to explore meaningful topics in depth
for measured periods of time. I know some groups in our congregations
that formed 20 years ago and are still discussing the same topics.
I don’t think that young adults are particularly drawn to such
groups. Covenant groups can use topic-based curricula for a while,
be non-topical for a while, and come back to another, completely
different, curriculum. They also allow for groups to open themselves
up to newcomers on a regular basis, helping to alleviate the formation
of closed cliques. Finally,
they’re familiar in some ways to other experiences common in
Unitarian Universalist congregations. Many people who have been
a part of a Unitarian Universalist youth group know the importance
of “touch groups” at youth conferences. Touch groups allow
people to touch base with one another amidst the hustle and bustle
and mega-communitybuilding that goes on at those cons. Covenant
groups do a similar thing— consider them life touch groups.
At each meeting, covenant group participants have the opportunity
to check in and let others who care about them know what’s
going on in their lives. They allow us to admit when we’re
going through a rough patch, and to support our friends when they
are. I hope that you, too, will find this model well suited for forming and leading groups in your congregation or on your campus. We are truly blessed to have as our manual this wonderful resource created by Rob Cavenaugh, to which I’ve added a few sections from my own experience. I trust that it will become your companion in introducing covenant groups to your community.
Michael Tino is the Director of the UUA's Young Adult and Campus Ministry Office
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