FAITH DEVELOPMENT IN SMALLER UU CONGREGATIONS /COMMUNITIES

October 2019 Welcome…. Introductions…

Nancy Combs-Morgan, Congregational Life Consultant [email protected]

Cameron Young, Congregational Life Consultant [email protected] Introductions, continued….

Please introduce yourself…

• Name • Congregation/Location • Role in congregation/community? • What pressing questions have you brought? Faith Development is ALL we do….

• Unitarian is ALL we teach, and

• The congregation is the curriculum.

-- Connie Goodbread A curriculum map begins with an understanding of the needs of humans across the lifespan and then determines how they are best served by answering three questions:

1. What would we like them to HAVE or EXPERIENCE? Mapping (Implicit Curricula) Covenant/Relationship Centered UU Faith Development 2. What would we like them to KNOW? (Explicit Curricula)

3. What would we like them to BECOME? UU Faith Development…

Covenant

Is at the CENTER! For those of us who are invested in Unitarian Universalist faith development, what if we understood our mission to enable children, youth, and adults to be a part of a community which seeks to manifest more hope, more love, Dream for more courage, more justice, and more joy in the world? every UU community… Mapping our interactions…

The purpose of curriculum mapping is to align our offerings with our principles and values.

Our mission is to manifest more hope, more love, more courage, more justice, and more joy in the world.

Recognizing that our work takes place in the context of interpersonal relationships, the curriculum map seeks to define our roles in these contexts. Smaller UU Congregations/Communities

• A strength of a small UU congregation/community is the potential of depth in interpersonal relationships. • The goal of those serving the growth of faith development in their community should be to grow: TRUST FELLOWSHIP A SHARED SCOPE of STORIES and a sharing of UU Identity • By using a liturgical year as an anchor, these goals can be achieved 21st Century Models of Faith Development

• Death of Sunday School https://www.uua.org/sites/live- new.uua.org/files/the_death_of_sunday_school_and_the_ future_of_faith_formation_ksweeney_june2017.pdf

• Role of Family Ministry - Full Week Faith: https://fullweekfaith.weebly.com/

• Whole Church Models - Soul Matters https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com/ Full Week Faith…

Full Week Faith Blessing the Backpacks

• growinguu.blogs.uua.org/tag/full-week-faith/ • https://smallscreen.uua.org/videos/fdo- webinar-full-week-faith Theme Based Ministry

• https://www.uua.org/theme/help/remedy-connection • https://www.uua.org/theme/help • https://www.soulmatterssharingcircle.com/samples.html • Place the emphasis on relationships, rather than on “teaching.” • Allow for significant time as a worshipping community so that children, youth, and adults could experience sacred space and time together on a regular basis. • Simplify the amount of material presented to children, using carefully chosen wisdom stories, some of which would be repeated year after year. • Allow for meaningful social action projects, with ample time to reflect on the experiences, rather than just doing a service activity without reflection. • Eliminate most teacher preparation time for adult leaders, to make leading a RE group a Small Group joyful, rather than stressful, experience • https://www.uua.org/sites/live- Ministry new.uua.org/files/documents/mpl/adapt_sgm_children.pdf • The primary focus of the volunteer teacher/group leader should be on the children/youth in the group and not on the content. • Children/youth develop spirituality in the context of a particular faith tradition by Small Group examining their own lives and experiences in the light of the wisdom from the Ministry… tradition. • It is in examining and exploring their own experience as it intersects with wisdom from our Unitarian Universalist Principles, Sources, and tradition that children/youth develop a Unitarian Universalist identity and spiritual practice. Anchor in the Liturgical Year

What are the milestones in the yearly life of your congregation?

• Water Ceremony (Fall) • Blessing of the Backpack/Guest At Your Table (Sept./Oct.) • Winter Solstice/Christmas/Holidays (Dec.) • Child Dedications? • (Spring) • Solstice (Summer and Winter) Flower Communion…

• The Flower communion service was created by Norbert Capek (1870-1942), who founded the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. He introduced this special service to that church on June 4, 1923 • The flower communion was brought to the United States in 1940 and introduced to the members of our Cambridge, Massachusetts, church by Dr. Capek's wife, Maja V. Capek (who was later ordained). • People were asked to bring a flower of their choice, either from their own gardens. or from the field or roadside. When they arrived at church a large vase stood waiting in the vestibule, attended by two young members of the Church School. Each person was asked to place their own flower in the vase. This signified that it was by their own free will they joined with the others. The vase that contained all the flowers was a symbol of the united church fellowship. https://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/documents/zottolireginald/flowercommunion.pdf Water Communion

The Water Communion, also sometimes called Water Ceremony, was first used at a Unitarian Universalist (UU) worship service in the 1980s. Many UU congregations now hold a Water Communion once a year, often at the beginning of the new church year (September).

Members bring to the service a small amount of water from a place that is special to them. During the appointed time in the service, people one by one pour their water together into a large bowl. As the water is added, the person who brought it tells why this water is special to them. The combined water is symbolic of our shared faith coming from many different sources. It is often then blessed by the congregation, and sometimes is later boiled and used as the congregation's "holy water" in child dedication ceremonies and similar events. https://www.uua.org/worship/holidays/water-communion Example of Multigenerational Experience:

Gather the Spirit 8 sessions

Multigenerational Earth stewardship, with a focus on water.

Curriculum Through a lens both scientific and religious, this program addresses the importance of water, the inequity of access to clean water, and Mapping actions we can take as Unitarian Universalist stewards to preserve water and water rights. How could you anchor this in your liturgical year?

www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/curric_map_multigen.pdf Embody an image of your community….ToF Vision Statement:

We envision children, youth, and adults who: • know that they are lovable beings of infinite worth, imbued with powers of the soul, and obligated to use their gifts, talents, and potentials in the service of life; • affirm that they are part of a Unitarian Universalist religious heritage and community of faith that has value and provides resources for living; • accept that they are responsible for the stewardship and creative transformation of their religious heritage and community of faith in the service of diversity, justice, and compassion; https://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/.../fdo_tof_vision.pdf Tapestry of Faith Vision….

• realize that they are moral agents, capable of making a difference in the lives of other people, challenging structures of social and political oppression, and promoting the health and well-being of the planet; • recognize the need for community, affirming the importance of families, relationships and connections between and among the generations; • appreciate the value of spiritual practice as a means of deepening faith and integrating beliefs and values of everyday life. Apply to your context…

• What are the central stories/rituals that ground people of all ages in your congregation/fellowship/community?

• How can you help people grow in their Unitarian Universalist identity? Questions? Additional Resources…

What are your wonderings? Additional Resources: • The Church of the Larger Fellowship offers multiage RE resources. https://www.questformeaning.org/clfuu/ministries/re/ • Family Circle Training, Sheila Schuh [email protected] Thank you!

• Thank you so much for taking part in this webinar sponsored by the MidAmerica and Southern Regions of the UUA. • We hope to hear from you and your feedback!