Ministering to Children: Kicking It Up a Notch!

On Saturday November 6th I attended a district-wide Religious Education training with the other members of my team.  It was stimulating and invigorating, but the news was mixed.  The news applies to liberal churches of other faiths, as most are facing the same challenges and the implications are the same.

The bad news first:  Most churches are having a hard time keeping people in their pews and children in their Sunday School classes. Compounding that the traditional model of RE is outdated, and unappealing for both children and adult volunteers.  Most UU’s are adult converts, and most people raised as UU’s don’t come back once they’ve reached adulthood.  If we can’t find a way to keep our children into adulthood, the future looks grim.

There are many reasons for this.  Children and families are overcommitted and depleted and seek activities that are meaningful uses of their time, a fact we have noticed with much wailing and gnashing of teeth in RE these days. Today’s children crave a deeper exploration of how they fit into the universe and how they can make meaningful contributions rather than discussion about the ideas or activities that only scratch the surface. 

So what is the good news?  As I see it, Unitarian Universalism is uniquely poised to re-imagine the purpose of church as well as RE in an age of religious pluralism. Since we have no absolutes to fight against, we need to work on exploring why our faith is relevant.  One way suggested in the RE training is incorporating multigenerational and whole family faith formation alongside our children into our worship practices. 

 Partly this requires a renewed commitment to putting the Seven Principles into practice with our children because they want to apply the Seven Principles in ways that are meaningful to them and explore where they fit into the bigger picture, not just learn about these ideas. There is no roadmap for where we must travel for and with our children in order to assist them in creating meaning for themselves.  Frankly, it’s never happened before and we’re on the cutting edge.

Religious education for UUs is moving towards a vision of “faith formation,” and this affects every member of our congregation.  In order to preserve and grow both our church and Unitarian Universalism we will need to consider how we can cultivate this faith while meeting the needs of our congregants in the modern world.  The needed changes will affect the flavor of our church's activities and will invigorate the life of the congregation and the individuals within it.

Joyce and I, and the other members of the RE Committee would love for you to contribute your thoughts in creating an approach to Religious Education—Faith Formation—that is livelier and more engaging for everyone—including you!

In peace,
Shelley Dennis and Joyce Fetteroll