Religious Education Reflections
Category: Unitarian Universalism - General
UUMomma is helping me kickstart my writing about religious education, with her recent post on “expectations of membership.” In this thought-provoking piece about what UU congregations should ask of members, she touches on many areas of church life (communications, donating time and money, and more). But what really leaped out at me was her section about the need for adults in the congregation to engage with children…
We expect you to find a way to be a part of the lives of the children in this congregation, even if you do not have any of your own. Hand them cookies on Sunday morning; read them a story during the Story for all Ages; be a part of their religious formation by teaching in their classroom one Sunday per month; ask them about the worship service they just attended, especially when they are young, so they understand that what we expect of them is an engagement with the message, not just time sitting in a pew.
Yes! This passages reinforces for me several important lessons about religious education that I’ve started to learn in my work with my congregation youth group over the past year…
1. Children and youth are capable of experiencing the worship service (and other congregational activities) in a meaningful way and discussing that experience with adults. Not only are they able to appreciate and participate in worship, but they also need worship, spiritually activities just like adults do.
I’ve been working with youth in my congregation over the past year, and we’re starting to plan now for the year ahead. One of the big changes that I’m excited about for next year is that we’ll be holding programs for teenagers (i.e. Youth Group and Coming of Age) at a time that makes it easier for youth (and youth leaders, ahem) to attend worship! I feel that worship next year is going to be engaging for all ages, and that it will provide more spiritual “fuel” for our other programming for children and youth. Our youth deserve to be spiritually and intellectually nourished, and it seems to me that one of the biggest challenges of running a youth group is to offer this nourishment in a way that fits the developmental stages and life challenges of teens.
2. Adult engagement with children in congregations should be treated as a lay ministry — not a form of childcare. Religious education is not just taking care of children while their parents go do something else — it’s an opportunity to provide spiritual nourishment and emotional support. The best teachers and religious education staff already know this, and their programs have substance and depth.
One challenge I’ve faced as a youth group leader is trying to better understand, through conversation with youth and fellow adult leaders, what the mission of youth programming is. What I’ve come to believe is that a functional youth group is more than just a space for youth — it’s more than just a meeting time, place, and core of members and leaders. That’s just a container and some ingredients — like having a big bowl with some eggs and flour inside. But what are we making? What’s the final product that is more than the sum of its parts?I like the slogan often used with UU campus ministries: “spiritually alive, radically inclusive, and justice centered.” It’s short and clear, and presents goals and values that can be related to more concrete activities. I’ve been thinking about suggesting something similar to my fellow leaders, but with the goals of spiritual wholeness (including deepening knowledge of and grounding in Unitarian Universalism), connection to one another and the congregation, and contribution to the wider world.
3. Adults can contribute to positive experience of children in the congregation even if they themselves are not parents! Yes, it’s true! In fact, non-parents can be especially important as role models and program facilitators for teenagers. We made the decision this year in youth group to recruit leaders who were not parents of group members. While this has made it much more difficult to find youth group leaders, I think it’s been a good choice for our program at this time.
That said, I wish that we leaders had reached out more effectively to parents earlier on. We had a meeting of parents in the late spring of this year (after the program had been going on for months) and it was extremely valuable. I wish we had held regular meetings for parents throughout the year. I know…this sounds so obvious but it’s amazing what can get overlooked when one is pulling together a program for the first time!
So those are a few thoughts on religious education, and I’ll probably write more on this topic as the summer goes on. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for excellent RE resources (i.e. curriculum, leader training materials, etc.), especially related to teenagers, please e-mail me (ShelbyJMeyerhoff@gmail.com) or comment here — thanks!
June 2nd, 2008 10:22
I agree, Shelby! RE is an essential ministry in a congregation and must be tended carefully and enthusiastically.
In our congregation, we often have conversations with the children before they go to their classes, rather than a story. Yesterday, our sermon theme was Science and UUism and the conversation, led by a layleader, was about how Science influences our spirituality, using the image of flat earth and sun’s orbit as being old theories that religion clung to but science disproved. And the kids got it. It was remarkable.
June 2nd, 2008 10:52
Wow. Thanks for these extended notes, Shelby. I may have very little to write for my service next week, thanks to you!
In our congregation, we don’t send the children out during worship. This became problematic recently and we are addressing it for the summer, but I’m finding that children as young as six can get something out of the service. Can. Not often do, but can. More importantly, we feel it introduces our children to what it means to be in community, in church, together. My girls twitched and moaned about going yesterday, but once there, had a blast during the hour of RE before the worship and in the hour-long congregational meeting after the service. They had fun with each other, with the babies and toddlers, and even with the adults who hung out with them.
Thanks again for the shout-out. I look forward to hearing more from you on this.
June 2nd, 2008 21:54
Hi Ms. Kitty,
“RE is an essential ministry in a congregation and must be tended carefully and enthusiastically.” Yes, exactly!
What a good idea about having conversations sometimes instead of always a story; I went to a seder recently where the rabbi engaged the children in conversation about the religious topics and I was impressed with the depth of their insights in response.
UUMomma,
Oh good, we’re getting each other’s writing work done! :-)
My sense is that children can get a lot out of worship when it’s an intentionally intergenerational worship service, with activities, music and words geared to be accessible on a multiple levels. And, as you note, it models the expectation of community involvement and worship attendance early on.
However, most of the UU Sunday morning worship services I’ve been to are not intentionally intergenerational and operate on the assumption that children will be in a separate space for most of the service, so I imagine that’s a challenge for the few children that do attend the service. It’s nice that your congregation offers the option of children attending both RE and worship, so that families can choose to worship together.