Wellspring Wednesdays

Barbara Hubbard
Unity Church – Unitarian
St. Paul, MN

Many congregations have a midweek intergenerational vespers service; some congregations include programming and a shared meal with their evening vespers service; a few congregations offer a weekly gathering with dinner, worship, and programming for the entire church community. Unity Church in St. Paul, MN, provides a model weekly gathering – Wellspring Wednesdays – that is described below.

Pat Hoertdoerfer, co-editor

Every Wednesday evening there is a weekly gathering for the entire church community. Programming is announced seasonally – Fall, Winter, Spring – but the overall schedule of dinner, worship, and workshops/classes/meetings/outings remains the same. Costs for dinner are reasonable ($6/adult, $4/children, and $18/family) and people are welcome to bring their own dinner if they desire. A 25-minute intergenerational vespers service follows dinner. Worship leaders are ministers, religious educators, and lay leaders of many different ages. Programming is diverse but always includes something for all ages. Weekly programs include Activities for Kids (game room, homework room, and child care), high school group's Tower Club, and Junior Youth (Grades 7-8) Group. Unity Young Adult Group Circle Gatherings are bimonthly. Every fourth Wednesday of the month is reserved for church meetings of ministry teams and fellowship groups. Fifth Wednesdays happen periodically throughout the church year and feature a special outing.

The range of adult programming is amazing, from lectures to knitting, from dance lessons to socially active spirituality, from family rituals to ethical wills. Here are sample seasonal (Winter 2005) offerings:

The Music is Life Project Lecture and Discussion
Second Semester Teacher Training
TriYoga*
Working Toward Prayer*
Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography*
Answering Big & Little Questions: Parent's Guide to Communicating About Sex
Leadership Development*
Moral Development of Children
Forgiveness and Reconciliation Lecture and Discussion
Islam: Pillars and Sects*
Transylvanian Connections*
Reviving the Progressive Majority Lecture and Discussion
Covenant Groups
Writing Letters to the Homebound
Making Valentines

* Items are multi-week courses.

If you are interested and would like more information about this model midweek all-church gathering, visit www.unityunitarian.org or contact Barbara Hubbard (barbara@unityunitarian.org ).