This thread is dedicated to discussion and links around starting and running ACIM home study groups.
How did you start?
What would you recommend to others?
What challenges did you face?
How did you grow your group?
What successes did you have?
What worked and what did not work?
What formats were used, and which ones would you recommend?
What tools have you found helpful?
How do you promote your group?
Any helpful links?
When you started your home study group, had you completed the text, Teachers Guide or lessons, or where were you with those?
The easiest path is to join an existing study group.. To access a study group near you, enter the zip code and area code you live in, then press enter, at the following web page.
http://www.miraclecenter.org/services/search.shtml
Once you attend a few meetings, you will not only have someone to call, but you will get a first hand experience of how study groups are structured, so that you can start your own in your own area...
I'm Bob and I live in Chico, CA. I was led to A Course in Miracles this past summer and I am on lesson 106, I have read maybe half of the text and most of the Manual.
Early in my study of the Course, I was allowed to join an evening group led by a delightful teacher who studied and taught in Wisconsin for a number of years. My work schedule changed and I was only available for a daytime group and there were none to be found.
As a relatively new student of the course, I felt uncomfortable leading a group or being considered the teacher, but I did want the interaction of a group and was willing to host one. I sent an email out to the local Course community as I know it and invited them to a Friday morning get together to talk about a daytime group. So far I've only contacted that group by email and a couple of other personal friends and our group runs 4 to 6 people most Fridays.
The first few weeks we just watched Gary Renard's Beyong the Ego workshop on DVD and had our discussions around that. (Gary Renard is the author of Disappearance of the Universe and is bringing a large influx of people to the course as well as being considered by many to be one of the clearest vioces for the Course out there today. It's "also been said" that more young people and men are taking an interest because of Gary's books. While I didn't come to the Course through Gary, he has made my study of the Course come alive and made it's reading much easier to comprehend.) A couple of the attendees hadn't started on the course yet, so this seemed a good place to begin.
Just recently we found the Pathways of Light website. They are a group in Wisconsin who come highly recommended by Gary Renard and they have great resources on-line. Follow this link which is under the "Help with ACIM" tab on their pathwaysoflight.org website. This link: http://www.pathwaysoflight.org/acimtext/textindex1-10.html will take you to some thought-provoking questions on the text. Click on the chapter sub-headings and it takes you to a discussion of the questions. Our group feels like we've found our direction for a good time to come, although we welcome any suggestions
We plan a trip to see Gary Renard when he appears in Truckee, Satuday, July 18th, 2009. For details follow this link: http://www.goodnesssake.org/
Come join us 
Bob Walker justgottadance@email.com, 530-514-5269
Great post Bob... In our conversation, you mentioned that you also read the text together and then discussed it.
I think that is a great idea also. This can be done with any home study group. Since there are 600 plus pages, or 900 with the Simple Text version of ACIM, there is plenty of room for lively discussion.
Another part of the home study group could also focus on the Teachers Guide, such as at the end of the session, when others may want to leave, due to no interest in that part of it. Since it is a short manual, even if only 1 or 2 pages are read and discussed, it will still be covered in a reasonable period of time.
I am in about the same position as Bob.. I completed the Teachers Guide on 3/09. I have not completed the lessons or text.. Ideally, before acting as an official ACIM teacher, the text suggests completing both lessons and text. I can understand why. I do not call myself a teacher in the strict sense of the word. I am a facilitator.. Bottom line though, everyone is a teacher and a student.
Despite not having finished the text or lessons, just like Bob, I was called to start a group of some kind. Bob was drawn to start a home based group. I was drawn to start this group. This group serves as a study group for me.
This group also allows me to extend what I have received with others. By sharing what we receive with others, we synergistically get even more. As we give, we receive even more. That is the essence of this group. Bob is sharing what he knows and has experienced, so he will receive more in return.
Another creative idea I received this morning, is this... If anyone here has a home study group, use a computer with speakers as a way to share something with your group. Go to the bottom of the home page of this group where the audio section is, and open up one of the audio sections.
Share the radio, podcast or other audio lesson with your weekly or monthly home study group and then discuss it.
Also, if you want to start a home study group, it is possible to be listed as a group using the link listed above.. You can find a home study group, as well as be listed as a home study group, so that others can find you easier.
Feel free to share how you advertise or market your home study group here, or share ideas that might work...
One of our members here shared that there are several ways to improve a group in terms of results, so I will share those here;
One way to get more depth is to assign reading every week ahead of time. Each person does the reading; 2-10 pages and then thinks about the reading for that week. The work is to journal what comes up, what process a person goes through and realizations. The meeting is designed to give a space to share at the end of the week with the group.
Because there are also lessons that are being studied, the results will be different for each person, but each person will learn what they need to and grow in the way necessary. The focus for the group is on the text, as well as sharing around whatever is read that week. The lessons will add the individual component that the group cannot provide, along with the freedom in the individual study to progress at ones own rate and speed.
By sharing at the end of each week within the group, the experience and realization is solidied in each person. What is taught is solidified and never forgotten. What is learned but not shared is soon forgotten.
Because each person is equal in terms of growth, expeirences and what is shared, the process becomes one of equality, harmony and shared experience, with each person getting a chance to 'teach', rather than duality of any kind.
A 'talking stick' can be passed around to give each person an equal chance to share, with a pre-agreed span of time allocated to the whole group. If more people show up, reduce the time allowance so that each person can speak.
Whatever time is left at the end, can be opened up for questions or 'extra' sharing by those who have shared once already.
The object of ACIM is NOT memorization of key concepts or knowledge of principles. Yes, there is mind training. Yes, there is knowledge. But the object is not memorization or knowledge. Knowledge is used to open the door to what is of real value, but it is of itself of little or no value.
The object of ACIM is to experience and then live what is beyond the open doorway, beyond ego, moment by moment.
Practicing the spiritual principles is the work of ACIM... With practice we learn mastery. We do our best day by day.
Hopefully a study group is a sharing place, "a safe place for “work”, where no one is wrong, no cross talk, no advice, and no discussion. “Work” is your choice; practicing divided attention: God or mammon, God or imagination, etc.
The goal of the Socratic Method of inquiry is for students to internalize a mode of questioning that will enable them to achieve a higher level of understanding and realization through content related areas of study.
http://www.cyberhigh.fcoe.k12.ca.us/PASS_Program/methodology/Socraticteaching.htm
- Clarity: Could you elaborate further?
- Could you give me an example?
- Accuracy: How can we determine if that is true?
- How can we verify your statements
- Precision: Could you be more specific?
- Could you provide more details?
- Relevance: How does that relate to the issue?
- How does that align with the question?
- Depth: What are some of the complexities of this question?
- What factors need to be considered?
- Breadth: Do we need to consider another point of view?
- Do we need to look at this from a different perspective?
- Logic: Does what you say follow from the evidence? &nb
