What is the point of your Unitarian Universalist Religious Education program?

But if we can get congregations and RE programs to consider their foundational purpose for their religious education program, congregations could form closer networks of mutual aid.

At the Think Orange conference, it was assumed that most everyone, in the end, had the same goal for their religious education program – to grow young hearts for Jesus. We don’t have that same kind of unifying goal among congregations. Sure you could blame our polity for that, but I suspect other denominations with similar congregational polity still have a broad consensus on the purpose of their religious education programs for children and youth. We don’t. Whether it’s because each of our congregations has a different theological flavor or because most congregations would just never agree to a dictate from an outside group on principle, we just don’t. But if we can get congregations and RE programs to consider their foundational purpose for their religious education program, congregations could form closer networks of mutual aid.

This foundational purpose is different from a vision or a mission statement for your Religious Education program. This foundational purpose is just that – it’s the foundation from which you build your mission and vision.

A foundational purpose is different from mission – it’s on which you build your RE Program. Click To Tweet

As I see it, here are a few possible foundational purposes for UU Religious Education Programs. None of these are The Right or The Wrong one, but as you read them, you’ll probably see something that describes your current program. And it might not be the one you wished it would be.

Four foundational purposes for Unitarian Universalist Religious Education Programs:

  1. Develop current & future Unitarian Universalists.
  2. Build future members of Unitarian Universalist Congregations.
  3. Facilitate discovery of personal spiritual beliefs.
  4. Teach students about other religions to help them choose their own.

You will also probably look at this short list and think, “my RE program is all of them, actually, all RE programs should have elements of all of these.” No, they shouldn’t. Our programs need focus to make the biggest impact we can make. We see our average child maybe 20 weeks a year (every other week on average, not during summer) – how we can try to focus on all things in such a short time?

Each congregation has it’s own flavor. But each congregation needs a clear, foundational purpose to their RE program. A purpose that is too broad is equivalent to having no purpose at all.

A purpose that is too broad is equivalent to having no purpose at all. Click To Tweet

Let’s look at each of these four Foundational Purposes a little closer.
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1. Develop Current and Future Unitarian Universalists.

What this looks like: Within RE Programs, there is a focus on Unitarian Universalist theology and history. Children know the 7 principles. Topics are presented in such a manner to ask what Unitarian Universalists believe about the topic. Focus on UU identity in elementary school and in adults new to the faith.

How this is different from than the rest: It is taught within RE programs what being a Unitarian Universalist means – it means we the 7 Principles, 6 Sources, 5 Smooth Stones. There’s a stronger focus on this across all ages in RE programs. Families are taught to do Unitarian Universalism at home with chalice lightings, etc. It’s taught that Unitarian Universalism is a unique, distinct religion and this is what Unitarian Universalists believe.

2. Build future members of Unitarian Universalist Congregations.

What this looks like: There’s a focus not just on what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, but a focus on how to be a UU in community with other UUs (which let’s face it, not always the easiest thing to do!) There is a strong focus on covenant and covenanting, on worship experiences for all ages, on opportunities to serve the inner Church community for all ages. There is a realistic attempt to show youth what it means to be an adult member of the church community – from attending worship services to joining different committees.

How this is different from than the rest: There’s a focus on future membership in congregations. Children are taught early on to how to attend worship services – this could be similar to a middle hour style religious education program where RE for all ages happens before/after worship for all ages.

3. Facilitate discovery of personal spiritual beliefs.

What this looks like: This looks like a strong focus on Coming of Age, both in Jr. High but also age appropriate coming of age style programs in younger and older grades. Focus on religious exploration and putting words to their inherent spiritual beliefs. I see Spirit Play and Small Group Discussions being big in RE programs that want to focus on this foundational principle.

How this is different from than the rest: The focus is on religious exploration and not learning as much about UU theology or history. Focus is on developing a sense of inner spirituality. If UU theology is talked about, it’s more about how does that theology intersect with their personal beliefs. Strong emphasis on spiritual practices and on adult classes like Build Your Own Theology.

And finally, even though this option is problematic, I’ve seen it in congregations:

4. Teach students about other religions to help them choose their own.

What this looks like: This looks like classes in comparative religions. A focus on Neighboring Faiths / Building Bridges for both children and adults at different ages. A model where world religions and Judeo-Christian religions have regular, periodic focus similar to a pillars approach. Spirituality and faith is seen as collating from different, non-explicitly UU sources as opposed to creating your own.  Why is this option problematic?  This is cultural appropriation – encouraging children and youth to take some beliefs from other traditions without living those experiences.  [Note: Many Unitarian Universalist Congregational RE programs have this as their stated or unstated core purpose which is why I included this on this list.  We need to all move away from this as a core foundational purpose.]

How this is different from than the rest: This is the cafeteria style approach to spirituality – pick and choose what you want from different options. UU might be one of the options, but it’s presented equally with other possible religions choices and traditions to select ideas from. There’s a strong vein of no religion is best and they all have good ideas to pick from.

Without this united foundational purpose, there will be conflict.

It’s important to make sure that, Your Minister, Your Religious Educator, and Your Lay Religious Education Leadership all agree with what the foundational purpose of the religious education program is. If there are disagreements, work needs to be done to align these differing purposes so the church leadership is united around the foundational purpose of your congregation’s religious education program. Without this united foundational purpose, there will be conflicts around both big picture strategy and small, weekly choices on what topics to cover in the Religious Education program.

What do you think? What is your foundational purpose for having a Unitarian Universalist Religious Education program?

What is your foundational purpose for having a UU Religious Education program? Click To Tweet