The Wi$dom Path

"Mariana Rodrigues," story for use with Worshop 6 of The Wi$dom Path adult curriculum.

For Workshop 3, Are We Doing the Right Things? Alternate Activity 1, Leadership and Management Alternate Scenario

For Workshop 3, Are We Doing the Right Things, Activity 4, Leadership and Management

For Workshop 4, Caring for Ourselves and Others, Activity 2, Bodies of Water Guided Meditation

(45 minutes) Materials Handout 3, Alternate Systems Thinking Scenarios Newsprint, markers, and wall-safe tape Preparation Copy Handout 3 for all participants. Read Activity 2, Applying Systems Thinking, to become familiar with how to diagram a congregational issue or challenge from a systems...

...Meaningful change is hard, especially as it relates to identity and power. It raises essential questions about whose voices are heard, who is asked to take risks, how we negotiate our relationships, and what our priorities are as a community. False divisions like “political correctness”...

Distribute copies of Taking It Home or tell the group when you will email it. Invite participants to reflect on their own leadership style by asking, “Are there things that you plan to approach differently as a result of this workshop?”

Consider some of your congregation’s social justice projects and programs, using a systems lens. How does your congregation engage with the community? What relationships, both within and outside the congregation, comprise your congregation’s social justice system?

Have the group brainstorm conflicts or dilemmas facing their congregation(s) and select two or three to examine closely. Invite participants to form groups of four to six to examine an issue (either the issue that most interests them or a single issue, whichever you chose).

(15 minutes) Materials Handout 2, Leadership Lessons for the Real World Newsprint, markers, and wall-safe tape Preparation Copy Handout 2 for all participants. Arrange for a participant to read the handout aloud. You might provide them with a copy of it ahead of time. Title a sheet of newsprint...

(40 minutes) Materials Handout 1, Heavenly Unitarian Universalist Congregation Optional: Handout 3, Alternate Systems Thinking Scenarios Newsprint, markers, and wall-safe tape Preparation Review this activity and Handout 1....

(15 minutes) Materials Story, Tapping Out of “Fake Fights” Preparation Arrange for a participant to read Tapping Out of “Fake Fights” aloud; you might provide them with a copy of this reading in advance. Description Have the participant you chose read the story to the group. Then, point out...

Light the chalice, and share this reading from Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown: Many of us have been socialized to understand that constant growth, violent competition, and critical mass are the ways to create change.

In this workshop, participants practice looking at the structures, committees, and formal and informal groups of the congregation as an inter-related, interconnected system. They will identify relational and emotional patterns within the congregation as they examine congregational changes and challenges.

This worship time offers a model for leadership groups to acknowledge the anxieties and the challenges in the congregation while lifting up that which supports and deepens the congregation’s vision and mission.

The purpose of this activity is to raise participants’ awareness of their own stressors and to consider how they react and respond to stress.

Consider and discuss these questions with your co-facilitator: Looking at each activity in this workshop, what worked as well as or better than you had anticipated? What did not work as well as you had anticipated?

Take-home suggestions and resources for participants in Workshop 5 of Harvest the Power, 2nd edition.

(15 minutes) Materials Table or stand for chalice and worship materials, and a cloth to cover the table Chalice, candle, and lighter or LED battery-operated candle Four candles and a lighter; or, four natural objects such as pinecones, stones, or shells, and a container to hold them Bell or chime...