03/08/17

Spotlight: Rev. Jane Hiatt and Unity Community of Bend, Oregon

Rev. Jane Hiatt introduced SpiritGroups to her ministry in January of 2016 with 7 hosts, 5 groups, and 33 participants (in a congregation of about 83 members).

Since then, her program has grown to 9 groups and 56 participants  (10 non-unity peeps).  That's an engagement rate of over 67%!

What inspires her most about the work is the impact it is making in the lives of her congregation.  She shares this story about the transformation of a new member: 

“One year ago, a man named Kevin was in a slump. His life was great but he still felt depressed. Spirituality was not part of his life.

I recommended he read The Five Principles. He called me the next day on fire! He read it in a day and it resonated deeply with him. So I told him about our Spirit Groups that were studying The Five Principles.

He signed up and loved the group. Midway through the group he started coming to Unity and he loved that too. His wife came too and also loved it.

Since that time, they’ve both become members and trained as SpiritGroup Hosts. They just finished leading their first group of The Five Principles and want to lead another group.

Kevin is now one of our Prayer Chaplains and Platform Hosts and has decided to pursue Unity ministry. His wife is running for our Board of Trustees.”

According to Jane, “There is huge enthusiasm among the (SpiritGroup) participants. There’s been a running joke on Sundays lately about how 'My SpiritGroup is the BEST SpiritGroup EVER!' Multiple groups are claiming this title!”

Hosts and participants alike are sharing the impact their SpiritGroups are making in their lives:

• RC, a 33 year-old woman who is new to prayer is loving her prayer partnership with another young woman in her group.
• WG is doing a job that he no longer loves. His group encouraged him to go for something more true to his talents and he enrolled soon after in a leadership program.
• DL’s beloved dog dies suddenly and her whole SpiritGroup showed up to hang out with her and help her bury her dog.
• MM. (who doesn’t attend Unity... yet!) was very guarded and shy at the outset but by the last week she was participating enthusiastically. She and her husband were always the last to leave. 

Congratulations to Jane and to everyone at Unity Spiritual Community of Bend!  Thank you for being pioneers of the SpiritGroup program and sharing your progress and success with our community!

Pictured Above:  A SpiritGroup from Unity Spiritual Community of Bend, Oregon participate in a road clean up service project.