rebelrebel: unitarian

Unitarian? What's That?

This is such a frequently asked question that someone has gone and written a book attempting to answer it. It's probably more helpful for me to tell you what it is we get up to rather than get embroiled in theology. Having said that: I consider myself a Panentheist and I feel right at home.

Unitarians meet in community, to help and support each other as best we can, and to engage with the challenges and joys of life as we go along together. We acknowledge that each person is on a unique path and so each Unitarian group may be made up of individuals who may hold quite different religious beliefs. At our best, we are a diverse collection of thoughtful (and occasionally pleasingly eccentric) religious liberals, and I am glad to have found this open spiritual community.

That's one way of describing it, one tiny part of the story, but of course everyone's take will be slightly different and I'm sure I would write something else if I composed this again tomorrow...

Kensington Unitarians

The main Unitarian community I'm involved with is Kensington Unitarians (based in Notting Hill, West London). I have been there for ten years, originally just as an enthusiastic volunteer, and now as a part-time member of staff. I look after the congregation's website, edit the newsletter, help to organise the service arrangements, and co-facilitate a couple of long-running engagement groups (on creativity and reading). Over the last few years, I have also co-facilitated quite a few shorter-lived groups and courses (on growth, worship, a conversation group based on Margaret Wheatley's "Turning to One Another", also a course based on the UUA's "Evensong" series, another based on Findhorn's "The Quest", a theological reflection group called "God in Daily Life" based on "Reflecting with God" by Abigail Johnson, and a course entitled "Exploring Prayer" based on "Simply Pray" by Erik Walker Wikstrom).

Hucklow Summer School

Hucklow Summer School is, for me, the most exciting and essential event in Unitarian circles in the UK. I have been there every year since 2000 (back in the days when it was still called "RE Summer School") and have been a member of of the Summer School Panel which plans the event from one year to the next since 2004. I am currently convenor of the panel.

I have also been on the staff for the last seven years, mostly co-facilitating morning workshops, and prior to that I helped out with various other sessions and the all-important silent auction fundraiser. In 2011, I co-led a workshop called "Practising Peace in Daily Life" with the delightful Jef Jones, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. In 2010, I co-led a workshop called "Exploring Prayer" with Mel Prideaux, a dear chum. In 2009 I had a year off from leading workshops. In 2008, I co-led a workshop called "Beyond Words: Visions of the Holy", with my friend Sheena Gabriel. In 2007, I had planned to have a year off, but ended up stepping in at the last minute to fill in for someone and had a splendid time co-leading a workshop on listening called "Listen That You May Live" with Margaret Kirk. In 2006, I co-led a workshop called "Sacred Cycles, Healing Journeys" with Simon John Barlow, which was (roughly speaking) about the cycle of the year as a symbolic journey towards wholeness. In 2005, we (me and SJB) co-led a group called "Creativity and Love", in which various crafts were used to aid participants in meditation on aspects of love. Back in 2004, I co-facilitated a shorter creative engagement group with Patricia Walker-Hesson, making huge "Umbul Umbul" peace flags (see photo, above right).

Engagement Groups

I am deeply enthusiastic about engagement groups (sometimes known as small group ministry, or covenant groups, particularly in the US) and have been involved in a big push to set several up in Kensington.

Our first group was set up just a few months after the idea was first introduced to UK Unitarians, at our General Assembly meetings, when Thandeka gave the Essex Hall Lecture on Engagement Groups back in 2002. Engagement group facilitators are often enthusiastic lay people who start out with little previous experience of leading groups but the system provides excellent support on a regional basis. We have regional meetings where facilitators help each other out and share their experiences of group facilitation.

In 2006, I was invited to join the Engagement Support Panel, and have been getting more involved in the development of facilitator support and training as a result. In 2007, I co-facilitated an Engagement Groups training day with Rev. Jim Robinson, and that seemed to be well-received. We planned an "Engagement Groups Conference", which took place in London in the autumn of 2008, and a 24-hour training event which took place in the Peak District in the autumn of 2009, for people to share their experiences.