The staff-led Adult Spiritual Development Team has been hard at work over the last couple of years revisioning our program to deepen the support we offer to adults in the area of spiritual development. What is Adult Spiritual Development (ASD)? It is a type of adult learning that nurtures people as spiritual beings and connects them to meaning and relevance as they seek to answer significant questions in their lives. Adult spiritual development facilitates connections to self and others and helps people find their calling to serve the world. Unitarian Universalist adult spiritual development done well, equips people to respond to their world and to live deeply Unitarian Universalist lives.
This church year we offer eleven programs including UU Elevator Speech, Spiritual Practices Exploration, Grief Support Group, Planning Your Own Memorial Service, Ethics & Morality class, Queer/Trans Inclusion workshop, Adult Our Whole Lives, Theme Circles, Yoga, Geography of Grace pilot group, and Beloved Conversations. In addition, several Member-Led Ministries engage adults in spiritual development, including the weekend Spiritual Retreat, UU+ Study Group, and Gathering Waters Sangha.
Our current ASD team includes Lisa Gies, Diane Horne, Nancy Pajewski and Javier Dorantes, and is led by yours truly. We are currently inviting two or three more members to join our team who are passionate about this work, are under the age of 50, and hopefully male or people of color to diversify the perspectives that inform our work.
We will be engaging adult members of our congregation from a variety of demographics in one-to-one conversations over the next two months, to learn more about what you seek for your spiritual development. If you would like to participate in a conversation, please let me know by March 1 at dena.mcphetres@uumilwaukee.org and I will match you with one of our team members. We look forward to learning from you in order to serve you better on this complex and challenging journey called life.