About Groups

Part 9 of 14 in the series About LISN

LISN encourages finding others with whom you can find a deep and meaningful connection.

Membership groups will either be for spiritual interaction (small LISN_circles) or for organization support, affiliation and information (LISN_Organizations).

LISN_circles

Small groups are called LISN_circles because LISN encourages groups of 2-10 to meet in a circle (Virtual or face-to-face) – this is a major intention of this website, to encourage LISN_circles.

LISN_circles can also be known as councils. circles of trust, prayer groups, friendship support, or intentional spirit-groups. They may meet for any reason, for yoga, meditation, LISNing to each other’s stories, etc.

By definition such groups are spirit-enablers, ways of helping those in the group to grow spiritually. Typically a LISN_circle has established principles and practices that are based on loving compassion.

They are intended to be small, (2-9 members optimally), with a spiritual purpose, path or practice in mind. This may be simply a couple working on their day-to-day lives, or an AA gathering, or a Circle of Trust.

Why such a small number in a group? Because LISN supports ‘listening’ and it is difficult to listen deeply to numbers of people that cannot sit in a circle together. LISN recognizes the merit in large groups, congregations, clubs, temples etc, and is not intending to minimize their positive impact on the community. However small groups best hold space for spiritual intimacy, and all religious traditions support small groups for that reason.

LISN_CIRCLES can be affiliated with other groups. For example, an AA LISN_circle may have a larger regional parent group, which in turn is affiliated with AA internationally.

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Small Group Effectiveness | FAQ