| FALL 2009 SUPPORTING THE VISION |
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| At United Centers for Spiritual Living (UCSL), our high intention is to anchor everything we do in Divine vision and visioning. Since the adoption of our new Organizational Design Model 9 years ago, we have embraced visioning as a community spiritual practice to allow God’s idea of who we are as an organization and a movement to emerge, express and actualize. United Centers for Spiritual Living is committed to visioning through our UCSL Vision Core and our spiritual communities are supported in discovering or expanding their use of visioning through our Vision Facilitator Program. | ||
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MESSAGE FROM THE VISION CORE COORDINATOR Beloved UCSL Community: Visioning is at the center of the Organizational Model for United Centers for Spiritual Living. It is therefore essential that our cores, ministries and covenanted communities are anchored in visioning. Our Vision Facilitator Program was created to do just that; our certified and trained Vision Facilitators support our covenanted communities in using visioning and in developing vision cores within their churches and centers. And true to the principles of visioning, the expansion of our program was anchored in 18 months of visioning and affirmative prayer prior to posting the open positions and starting the application process. It’s a great feeling to experience visioning coming so powerfully into form. I had the honor of getting to know this dynamic group during the comprehensive application and certification process: submission of application packets, a series of interviews, a 3-week orientation via conference call and the 2-day certification retreat. I’m excited to have such a dedicated group to work and serve with, a group sharing my passion and commitment to visioning. Please join me in congratulating and welcoming your Regional Visioning Facilitators:
In the coming weeks we will be contacting the covenanted communities in our regions, offering to support with visioning and to assist the start-up or development of a vision core. You may contact us as well. For more information on our regions and how to contact us, CLICK HERE We are here, ready and excited about serving you. In Loving Service, Rai Jordan, RScP COMMUNITY SHARING Regional Visioning Facilitators Certification Weekend As part of their certification process, our newly appointed regional visioning facilitators participated in a 2-day certification retreat during the weekend of October 2 and 3, held in the San Francisco/Bay Area island city of Alameda, CA. The article below by Rev. Jennie Goff offers some of the flavor of that weekend. Rev. Jennie was regional visioning facilitator for the Desert Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) during the pilot program and now serves as regional visioning facilitator for our international Spanish speaking communities.
During the retreat we were enveloped in spiritual practice. We spent time each morning in extended visioning and affirmative prayer sessions and had ample time to embody visioning as a rich spiritual experience as well as a powerful tool. Rai invited Rev. Dr. Joan Steadman to spend Friday afternoon with us; she shared with us about the early years of visioning with Rev. Michael Beckwith and then answered our multitude of questions. Along with time in spiritual practice together, we also prepared for working with spiritual communities by engaging in role playing sessions with some of the most challenging “board members” and “ministers” we could encounter. Rai and her support team, comprised of a minister, two practitioners and one lay person, acted out several over the top but real scenarios, situations that we could experience in a safe environment, building our skills and awareness before going into the field. We had opportunities, supported by our colleagues, to see how we might stay present, compassionate and in service. This was a powerful experience which put into practice the concepts we had discussed during the weeks of orientation. We learned from each other how we’d handle real-life situations, such as dealing with resistance, mistrust of the process, hidden agendas or a desire to move into action prematurely, all with confidence, sensitivity and masterful skill. We concluded the retreat Saturday late afternoon with a moving closing ritual where each declared our sacred intention for being in leadership and sacred service as we anchored ourselves and the visioning facilitator program in affirmative prayer. Many of us capped off our weekend by staying over an extra night in order to attend Sunday services at East Bay Church and Oakland Center for Spiritual Living, a joyful ending to a great weekend. It has been an honor to be a member of this dedicated group of volunteers since its inception 3-4 years ago under the leadership of Rev. Cynthia James. The current team, if I may speak for all, are grateful for the solid foundation laid by the first generation of regional visioning facilitators and for the powerful new energy that is being birthed by this second generation led by Rai. She has done a great job of drawing from lessons learned during the pilot program, creating a certification process for us that was fun, highly informative, empowering and rich in opportunities to bond and deepen spiritually, bringing us a strong sense of just what’s called for to effectively serve our spiritual communities and how to best equip new facilitators to do their jobs well. We are also grateful to the UCSL Core Council who saw the value in having trained regional visioning facilitators and who approved the funding for the training and retreat. Who are we and how can you contact us? We work with the regional Ecclesiastical Representatives and Practitioner Representatives to support the communities we serve in using visioning and developing vision cores. For more information on how to contact us, CLICK HERE You might wonder how your community could benefit from this free service. Are you wondering how to develop interest in visioning in your community or how to start a vision core? Has your community vision core been meeting regularly and you’re unsure of the next steps? Are members of the Core Council/Board of Trustees skeptical because visioning doesn’t feel like anything is being done? Visioning is an integral part of each of the regional visioning facilitators’ lives and we look forward to being a resource for your community. Call on us. A VISIONING DEMONSTRATION This issue’s demonstration comes from Joy Ryan of the Centre for Spiritual Living in Saskatoon, an ICSL community in Saskatchewan, Canada. Joy is Vision Core Coordinator for her community. I first met Joy when she enrolled earlier this year in the UCSL Visioning class that I taught as a teleclass through my UCSL Teaching Chapter. Recently, she wrote to share this glorious demonstration. I asked her if I could share it here with you. Dear Rai, Our little core visioning group, which has been visioning together once per month for 1 year now, has had a wonderful success! First of all, I need to tell you that we have been looking for our ideal new Centre home for a few years now. Every time I was given a lead, I would follow up on it...this has been going on and on. I think everyone was getting very discouraged. When we started our core visioning group, we kept asking the same questions each time we met...the first one being "What is the highest vision or highest possibility for our Centre?" What do we need to become? …let go of? …embrace? …etc. etc. etc. We kept living the vision the way you taught us.
Well, the move took place today!!! Our space is wonderful because for the first time in the 20 years since the Centre started, we now have everything under one roof. We always had our offices in a building separate from the one where services were held; they were even in different areas of the city. Now classrooms, office space, sanctuary, etc. etc. are all together! No more setting up chairs and a 100 other things and then always putting them all away. Our core visioning group is taking credit for this wonderful success...in that the idea was ready to happen...we were open to receiving....things in the Universe shifted around...and here we are!!! We are continuing to vision. That will not stop! Thank you, wonderful teacher! Joy Ryan OUR NEXT COMMUNITY VISIONING TELECLASS Topic: “Establishing and Developing Your Vision Core: Building Trust & Commitment”
NEW! Expanded to 90 minutes to allow time for Q & A Dial In Information: For Spiritual Leaders and Vision Core Coordinators. Get practical help with forming or developing a vision core: how to facilitate a visioning session for your community, including many special tips; dealing with resistance, mistrust of the process or a desire to move into action prematurely. Presented by United Centers for Spiritual Living. *Please Note: We vary the start time of our quarterly calls to accommodate the different time zones which our covenanted communities call home, providing opportunities for people in different parts of the world to participate in the call “live.” If you are unavailable at this time you can still benefit; the call will be recorded and uploaded to our website for you to download and share with your community members. Stay tuned for the option of participating either online or by phone in the future. To convert to you time zone - http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html We welcome your input! We invite you to send your questions in advance, supporting the preparation of an outline for our sacred time together. Please forward questions for the Q & A section of the call to rai@highervisioncenter.org DID YOU KNOW? Did you know you can submit an article or demonstration for Visioning News? Please consider sending articles, demonstrations and revelations regarding visioning (no more than 500 words, please). Also, I welcome your feedback and comments about our newsletter. Your suggestions will be used to enhance the document. Please send to rai@highervisioncenter.org. Did you know that we will be offering regional visioning training sessions in the Spring of 2010? These weekend trainings are designed to provide in depth support and training to vision core coordinators and other key leaders within a community who are charged with leading the visioning. We are drafting a calendar of trainings to be offered throughout the US and will have those dates available in January. Mark your calendars and join us. Did you know that the UCSL Vision Core meets twice a month by conference call at 6 am PT? It is a great way to start the day. We spend our time together in centering meditation, visioning, sharing the vision and affirmative prayer. Currently we are visioning on the highest vision for: UCSL, the integration of ICSL and UCSL, the 2010 Leadership Gathering and for financial freedom for our organization. For each question we ask, “What must I become? What must be released? And is there anything else that is seeking to be known in this moment.” We close with each of us speaking our word in affirmative prayer for embodying the vision that has been revealed and for each other. A FINAL THOUGHT ABOUT VISIONING… Visioning is not a short term technique. It is a lifetime practice. Visioning may not yield immediate results. There is no rule about how long it takes for any vision to unfold. You cannot rush the growth of any organic process and visioning is an organic process. You act as farmer, allowing the “seed” to germinate at the level of the unseen until it is ready to bear fruit. As you allow the vision to unfold in its own time, you come to see that you really can manifest this way… from the inside out. Let us absolutely trust that, when nothing appears to be happening, something powerful is definitely happening deep in the soil. In visioning, it is the blooming forth of the true you. –Visioning Your Destiny Visioning Toolkit, Rai Jordan, RScP Contact Information: |
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I am pleased to announce the appointment of 10 new Regional Visioning Facilitators. These ten, along with the two continuing on after having served during our 3-year pilot program, Rev. Jennie Goff and myself, have stepped up in support of the expansion of the Regional Visioning Facilitator program. We are now fully staffed. 
I recently had the pleasure of attending a retreat hosted and facilitated by Rai Jordan, RScP, UCSL Vision Core Coordinator. The retreat was the culmination of a certification process completed by each of the regional visioning facilitators. The 3 week long orientation had been conducted over the phone, so it was wonderful to connect in person. Because we had had 3 weeks of conference calls to get to know each other and to know the program, the bond when we finally came together was immediate and deep.
A few months back, "right out of the blue," someone from the Meewasin United Valley Church, a local Christian church affiliated with the United Church of Canada, approached my husband Tim and asked him if he tho't our Centre would be interested in sharing their space, because they were having financial problems and were looking for ways to solve them. We would have never thought of this idea on our own--it just didn't occur to us.
UCSL Community Visioning TeleClass