How to Accelerate
Your Spiritual Growth
AN INVITATION TO
PARTICIPATE
Greetings! If, as you read this, you
have just been a first-time visitor here, or if you are fairly new to
our church, we welcome you! This church has an enormous amount to teach
you about how to have the kind of life you want through applying
spiritual principles.
Prosperity, health, quality of
relationships, inner peace, and an ability to know and follow your inner
guidance are but some areas in which your life can improve. In learning
spiritual principles there are (as you might expect) two major aspects:
The first is hearing or reading about these principles. The second is
practicing their application.
If you are relatively new to this church
(if you've been coming here for less than six months), we encourage you
to let this be a time to receive through attending the services,
classes, and functions of the church. When you reach a point where you
recognize that your learning would be accelerated by more fully
practicing the theories you are learning, we invite you to become a
participant here.
A spiritual principle which operates in
all relationships, families, and groups states: "You can receive
from the relationship to the degree that you give to
the relationship." What this means at the church is this: For all that
is available to you here, much of it cannot actually be given to
you. It can only by claimed by you through your giving
to the church (time, money, prayers, service) and your participation in
(not merely attendance at) its services, classes, workshops, and
volunteer programs.
Here at Unity of Charlotte, our first
interest is in you - your desires and spiritual goals. Although this
church must, of course, function as a business (we have expenses to meet
and salaries to pay), and although it depends on volunteers to provide
its services at the highest level it can, we recognize that, together,
we are the church. If your participation here serves
you in achieving your life goals, it will also
serve the goals of your spiritual family.
In deciding how you want to be
involved here, here’s what we encourage you to do:
Take some time to visualize and write
down all the ways you want your life to improve during the next year.
Include inner goals like happiness, peace of mind, and a sense of
security, as well as outer goals like prosperity, health, relationships,
and career.
Refer to the list of volunteer teams and
committees. This list includes some of the possible benefits to be
received, and some of the ways you can grow, from your involvement in
each of them.
Ask yourself, "In order for me to have
the life I want:
A.
What qualities in me would need to expand?
B.
What is there in me which might need to be healed?
C. In
what ways would I need to grow?"
Choose an area of participation
which will become an Active Prayer, a way to demonstrate
your desire and to support you in being, doing, and having what you want
in life. (Our most powerful prayers are our everyday actions.)
Before listing the opportunities to
volunteer at the church (tithe your time), we would like you to know
that one way you can dramatically increase what you receive here is to
practice tithing your income. We believe in, practice, and support
financial tithing because of all we receive from it. If you want to know
more about the benefits to be received from this life-changing practice,
I recommend you read the booklet I wrote on the subject, How Tithing
Prospers You. A free copy may be obtained in our bookstore.
What you can receive from volunteering
here - in ANY capacity:
“Give and it shall be given to you;
good measure, shaken down and running over will they pour onto
you.” Luke 6:38
“Service is a way of loving your
neighbor as yourself. You recognize your own and your neighbor’s worth
simultaneously.” A Course In Miracles
Ministry Teams:
By participating in any of these
ministries…
- You can practice seeing and treating
yourself as the divine being you are by seeing and treating everyone
you serve as divine (as if you had the honor of serving Jesus or
Mother Theresa).
- You can experience the difference
between sacrifice and true contribution
by always including yourself as one of the recipients of your
giving. As you do, you will teach yourself that to give is to
gain and free yourself to extend God's love as much as
you want.
- You can “get out of yourself” by being
a part of a larger purpose and mission.
- You can claim ownership of this
church.
- Friendships. Through serving together,
we get to know each other more deeply than through almost any other
means.
- An experience of co-operation and
synergy (the whole is greater than the sum of its parts) from being a
member of a team.
- You can learn to ask for and receive
help when you need or want it.
- Also from being on a team, you can
learn to celebrate differences and to value your own unique
contribution.
- You can practice relationships that
work by empowering your teammates and being empowered.
- You can practice seeing and loving all
parts of yourself by seeing everyone on your team (and everyone you
serve) as your mirror, and loving your reflections.
- You can claim your part in
contributing to someone's life as his or her life changes for the
better through their involvement with the church.
Some ways you can receive from
your participation on specific ministry teams:
The Ministry of Youth Education
- You can develop your ability to play
and have fun by playing with the kids and letting them remind you of
how to have fun.
- You can get in touch with the
innocence in you as you see the innocence in the children.
- You can demonstrate your desire to be
a parent. You can see and release possible inner barriers to having a
child of your own.
- You can have an experience of the
church as an extended family
- You can heal your inner child as you
see each child as a mirror of some part of the child in you, and
practice loving those parts by loving each child you teach.
- You can more deeply learn Unity
principles by teaching them to the children.
- You can practice receiving love.
Children are much less inhibited in extending and sharing love than
adults are. Receiving love from the children teaches them (and you)
that what they (and you) have to give is important.
- You can learn the difference between
leadership and control (for example, asking the children to join you
in making and keeping agreements rather than telling them what to do).
The Ministry
of Prayer
- You can develop your own prayer
consciousness by joining in the weekly meeting to pray with all those
who have given us prayer requests.
- You can be part of an international
circle of praying people.
- You can learn the joyful Truth that
all prayers are answered, and see your faith in God and knowledge of
Truth principles strengthened.
- You can experience your own prayers as
a valuable contribution to all of humanity and feel the power of group
prayer.
- You can feel more connected with God
and with all people.
The Ministry of Greeting and
Ushering
By greeting people:
- You can expand your circle of friends
by being a greeter (especially valuable if you are relatively new to
the church or the community).
- You can practice knowing how much love
is in you by seeing that you can genuinely feel love for, and extend
love to, people you don't even know.
- You can practice receiving more people
into your heart and life.
- You can practice and increase your
social skills
- You can have a relationship with
everyone who joins us on Sunday mornings.
By receiving
the offering:
- You can practice gratefully receiving
God's love in the form of money, as you receive and count the
offering.
- You can practice enlarging your own
prosperity consciousness as you see each gift as one given to you.
(Since you are a part of the church, it is all being
given to you.)
- You can heal any thought you might
have that "money and spirituality are separate."
The Bookstore Ministry
- You can share and expand your love of
learning, of listening to inspiring CDs and music, and your love for
products which enhance spiritual growth.
- You can demonstrate your desire to
have a shop or business of your own.
- You can practice receiving money for
materials which enhance spiritual growth, knowing that as people give
to themselves and others in this way, their investment comes back to
them multiplied.
The Hospitality Ministry
- You can share and expand your love
for planning and presenting attractive, tasty meals by joining
this team that provides Sunday morning refreshments, monthly pot luck
lunches, and holiday parties.
- You can experience the joy of
teamwork, and of seeing your church family and visitors having their
time together enhanced by the wonderful food you’ve presented.
- This is another opportunity to meet
new friends and to expand your experience of the love in you by
extending it to others.
The Chaplains Ministry Team
- You can deepen your own spiritual
growth through the chaplain’s training, through the continuing
education provided in the monthly meetings, and through the
experiences this ministry offers.
- You can enhance your listening skills,
and your capacity to see yourself and others with compassion, as you
listen to and pray with those who ask for prayer on Sunday mornings.
- You can strengthen your regular
practice of prayer as you pray daily for your assigned people and
support them on their spiritual paths.
- You can develop your ability to pray
aloud with people and practice spiritual leadership.
- You can heal your fear of old age,
disease, disability, and/or death by loving those who are faced with
one of these and visiting them.
- You can learn to accept and have
compassion for yourself "where you are" while seeing through
appearances to the spiritual Truth about you, by providing this
service to others.
- You can expand your experience of, "My
love and my presence are enough. My value isn’t dependent on finding
the perfect words for my prayers.”
The Pastoral Care Ministry
- You can experience joy, compassion,
and love as you support Unity of Charlotte family members by sending
flowers or plants on occasions like births, marriages, or
bereavements.
- You can expand your sense of being an
important part of this church family by acting as its representative
at these important times in people’s lives.
The Unity Fellowship Outings Ministry
Team
- You can demonstrate your desire to
include play in your life by planning and organizing social events,
picnics, fun outings, etc.
- You can heal the thought that "fun and
God don't go together.”
- You can add to the joy in the church
and in your own life and foster closer relationships in both.
The Beautification and Gardening
Ministry
- You can practice seeing the beauty in
you as you beautify and maintain the church.
- You can demonstrate your desire to
love your own body by loving the physical expression (building and
grounds) of your spiritual family.
- You can express your love of gardening
and/or expand your skills in it and develop it into a hobby.
- You can enjoy helping to create and
maintain “sacred spaces” at our new church home as you work with
others to create meditation paths and spaces, etc.
- You can deepen your connection with
nature.
The Construction and Building Ministry
- You can develop your skills in
carpentry and other aspects of construction.
- You can become more familiar with
construction tools and supplies.
- You can enjoy connecting with others
who love to build and work with wood.
- You can participate on creating
something tangible, practical, and beautiful (especially gratifying if
you work with intangibles in your job).
The Newsletter Mailing Ministry
- You can claim your ability to provide
inspiration and knowledge to hundreds of people as you participate in
sorting, addressing, and mailing our bi-monthly newsletter,
“Horizons.”
- You can demonstrate your desire to
have a newsletter for your own business or practice.
- You can have a wonderful social time
with like-minded people and be treated to lunch!
The Special Events Ministry
- You will often have the opportunity to
spend time with our guest speakers by driving them to and from the
airport and church.
- You can develop your mastery of the
physical universe by working with logistics and planning for upcoming
events.
- You can claim your desire to be a
guest presenter by serving guest presenters.
- You can practice being more at home on
our planet by helping our presenters feel at home here.
The Office Assistance Ministry
- You can be in the energy of the church
for several hours at a time.
- You can learn to operate
state-of-the-art office machines.
- You can get to know our ministers and
administrator better.
The Music Ministry
- You can enjoy expressing yourself by
singing.
- You can practice leadership skills by
leading congregational singing.
- You can demonstrate your desire for
harmony in your life by singing in the choir and working with a group
of people who also love music.
The Home Run Express Ministry
(This ministry provides weekly
classes on basic spiritual principles at the Men’s Homeless Shelter.)
- You can deepen your understanding of
Unity “principles for living” by teaching them to others as part of a
presentation team.
- You can enhance your awareness of how
we are all one, while also being totally unique expressions of God.
- You can learn more about your own
society as you hear how your fellow Americans became homeless, and the
challenges they face in getting their lives back on track.
- You can practice self-acceptance and
self-compassion by offering these to the men in the shelter.
- You can practice seeing yourself with
the eyes of Christ by seeing through appearances of lack to the real
Truth of those you serve.
The Audio-Video Ministry
- You can experience yourself as part of
our television outreach ministry, teaching people we may never meet,
and inspiring others who will someday be a part of Unity of Charlotte.
- You can learn to operate
state-of-the-art audio and video equipment.
- You can be a part of creating quality
music and sound for our Sunday services.
The CD Ministry
- You can experience yourself being part
of our outreach ministry by creating vehicles (CD’s) through which
people can share our Sunday services with others and more deeply learn
Unity principles themselves.
- You can demonstrate your desire to
create and/or market CD’s of your own.
The Name Tag Ministry
- You can get to know the names of
everyone in your spiritual family.
- You can practice your organizational
skills.
- You can demonstrate your desire to
have more intimacy in your life.
As mentioned previously, this is a list
of some of the possible benefits to be received from your participation
in a volunteer ministry. No doubt there are many more. If you would like
help with choosing the best area for you (the one which would most
support you in achieving your own life goals), please feel free to ask
your Volunteer Ministry Coordinator or one of the ministers. We look
forward to serving and growing with you.
