Category Archive

I finished the first part of my presentation on Family Ministry in Milwaukee with a discussion of the importance of values, specifically the need to clarify and promote our values.

First, we took a look at what is probably the most well known statement of our UU values, our Principles and Purposes (along with the sources):

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

• Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
• Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
• Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
• Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
• Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
• Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Now I’m a pretty strong proponent of using our principles as a guide for faith development, and I certainly think we should teach them early and often in our religious education programs. However, the way they are worded makes it a little difficult for persons unfamiliar with our faith to discern what are the values we actually promote. And if we’re unable to clearly articulate the values we share in our communities of faith, then we’re probably not offering a comprehensible message to families looking for a spiritual home. Our Principles and Purposes are an excellent example of limited comprehensibility. We know what we mean when we say things like “the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part” or “the free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” but for an outsider, these phrases may be seen as more evidence that Unitarian Universalists are just a bunch of over-educated elitists.

How, then, do we make our message clearer? By grounding it in the language of our shared values. So at the risk of sounding like an over-educated elitist, I’d like to suggest that we do more “collective values clarification” or CVC for short. Truth is, identifying our shared values is a relatively easy process, and it can even be fun. Here’s one I’ve done repeatedly and successfully. Gather the people. Generate/show them a list of values (I often use the 21 values George Lakoff mentions in his book Moral Politics). Give the people multiple votes to identify their top three values. Tally the votes. Take the top six or so values and use them in all of your congregation’s promotional material—welcoming brochures, websites, descriptions of religious education classes (for children, youth and adults), etc. Do a sermon series on them. Teach them to your children. Design small group ministry plans around them. Incorporate them into your shared spiritual practices. Use them to guide your social justice activities. You can even build your mission and vision statements around them.

What we need to do is speak the language of values, so that families will know what they’re getting when they walk through our doors. I mentioned my home congregation’s insistence on articulating these values from our mission statement over and over: Unity Church-Unitarian is here to help us live loving lives of service, integrity, and joy.

So, beginning with “service, integrity, and joy,” we generated a list of values on newsprint and ranked them by giving each person three votes. We were able to come up with seven values that would service very nicely as a basis for a family ministry initiative (or for an RE program, or to help build a congregational mission statement). Folks noted that different kinds of congregations would need to use different processes. The important thing is that every family ministry initiative needs to have a set of six or seven values that it’s trying to affirm and promote.

I was in Milwaukee over the weekend to do a presentation on Family Ministry at the Central Midwest District’s REALL conference. Actually, I’m still in Milwaukee as I write this, waiting at the General Mitchell Airport for a flight that’s been delayed twice, so I thought I’d catch up on my blogging. And since I told folks that I’d do a series of posts on the information I presented, I figure there’s no time like the present!

I started with the Mormons. I noted that in my hotel room I found a Bible and, surprisingly, the Book of Mormon. Which got me thinking about the intentionality the Mormon religion has shown around families, especially their official designation of one night a week as “family night,” where families are expected to spend time together and the local churches are not allowed to schedule any events. I also mentioned that in the very first issue of a LDS journal called Marriage & Families, there was an article written by a Brigham Young graduate and professor called “Traditions: A Foundation for Strong Families.” In that article there was a sidebar listing four books for further reading. Three of the four books were written by Unitarian Universalist:

• Bill Doherty’s Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties,
• Mary Pipher’s The Shelter of Each Other: Rebuilding Our Families, and
• Meg Cox’s The Heart of a Family (which is out of print: her new book is The New Book of Family Traditions.)

I then went on to talk a bit about how my interest in family ministry comes from my own experiece with the Methodist church my family attended when I was a child, and how the congregation really offered no help at all when my parents divorced. I noted that most mainline Protestant denominations of that era we’re doing much either, and that my situation was one shared by tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, adults. And while right-wing conservative Christian groups have been putting their energy into offering ministries for people like me (and families that are currently struggling with difficult times), mainline Protestant denominations haven’t. So I wonder where are the ministries in UU congregations that would help me today if I were a child or youth whose family was falling apart

Yesterday morning I got up early and worked on the sermon I was going to present later at the Saint Cloud UU Fellowship. Planning a short trip like this in January or February (or even in March!) can be risky here in Prairie Star, but the weather was cooperating for the most part–temperature in the low 30s and no snow. But there was a LOT of fog. Not quite enough to cancel the trip, but enough to make driving on I-94 West a bit of an adventure. One good thing about driving on Sunday mornings, though, is that there’s never much traffic. So a little fog didn’t hurt.

Once I got to Saint Cloud was warmly received. This was my second visit to the fellowship, and I was happy to see some new faces (as well as some old friends). They’re working on some growth plans right now, and the congregation seems to be poised to move into a new phase which includes being more visible in the community. At any rate, the sermon went well, I think. It’s a little long and needs a new ending, but I think it’s the one I’ll be using for my next preaching gigs (in Northfield and Fridley–both in Minnesota).

After the service we had a soup and bread lunch, and then I met with about a dozen church leaders to talk about safe congregations and right relations. I’m happy to say that the congregation has purchase the Reducing the Risk II resource kit, and one of their members is ready to take the exam to get the Safety Award in Reducing the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse. It was about 2:00 p.m. when the meeting was over. By that time the sun was out and the temperature had reached the high 40s, making the trip back home a pleasant Sunday afternoon drive.

I’ve received a steady stream of inquiries over the last few month about the availability of Bill Doherty’s 2007 Fahs Lecture at General Assembly, “Home Grown Religion,” so I was happy to find a printed copy of it when I opened up the most recent packet of materials from LREDA (the Liberal Religious Educators Association). It’s a fantastic lecture, and it may well hold the key to the future of faith development in Unitarian Universalism, and perhaps even to the future of our faith itself. Here are some of my favorite parts of “Home Grown Religion.”

Religion is caught more than taught, and it’s caught most fully in the family. Church programming can supplement but not replace the home. Most parents and religious professionals agree would agree, but we know more about running organized programs in church buildings than we know about supporting faith formation in the home.

It’s a fantasy that getting out of our children’s way or teaching them a little about all religious traditions will release them to find their own path. The reality is that we hand our children over to the gravitational pulls of a me-first mainstream consumer culture that does not satisfy their spiritual needs or help them flourish—and that sometimes leads them to turn to a more authoritarian religious community.

My point is that because our children feel strong pulls from the culture of self-absorption and the culture of authority, our ambivalence about exerting our own gravitational pull towards Unitarian Universalism leaves them religiously abandoned. We either raise our children ourselves or others will raise them for us. If we want our children to grow up spiritually alive, free, and engaged with the world, we have to offer them citizenship papers in our Unitarian Universalist tradition.

The central venue for faith development is the home linked to an intentional UU community. The key active ingredient that makes this work is not what we spend most of our time on: Sunday school classes, worship services, and youth activities. Instead, the key active ingredient is the spiritual development of parents and other adults, and their grounding in both a local church community and the Unitarian Universalist tradition.

You can find a PDF version of the entire lecture at the LREDA website, or you can download a copy: Home Grown Religion.

The Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group of the UUA is looking for fieldtest congregations for next year. Here’s the scoop….

The UUA is pleased to introduce the first three online Tapestry of Faith programs for children. We are seeking a group of congregations diverse in size, location, and culture to test these curricula this winter and spring. These all-new, engaging programs in the Living Faith series each offer:

• 16 sessions to complete between January and June, 2008
• Informative introductory material to prepare teachers to lead effectively
• Core stories that teach UU values, principles and religious concepts
• Clear goals and learning objectives
• Engaging activities based on a variety of learning styles
• Parent resources and Taking It Home activities for families
• Session activity choices to help you tailor the session to your needs
• Faith in Action activities to engage the group in living our faith within or outside the
• congregation
• On-line format that is free, searchable, and adaptable.

The programs:

Creating Home: Grades K-1 by Jessica York and Christy Olson
“Creating Home” takes the concept of “home” that young children understand as a place where families gather, share love, and take care of one another and expands upon it to help children understand their “faith home” in Unitarian Universalism. This program develops a foundational sense of belonging, of trust, of loving community, as well as responsibility and stewardship, towards the faith community in which they will live out their lives. Learning about our faith ancestors, traditions and the blessings of family and friends are a few of the subjects that are explored.

Moral Tales: Grades 2-3 by Elisa Pearmain and Alice Anacheka Naseman
“Moral Tales” engages children in identifying and articulating their own sense of right and wrong. As they interact with a variety of stories from folk and faith traditions and share stories from their own lives, children are encouraged to articulate and apply their own “spiritual compass” to find moral direction. The children generate and sign a group behavior covenant, have opportunities to earn “gems of goodness” for behavior that reflects positive moral choices, and explore why it is not always easy to follow one’s inner voice and choose behaviors that are good and just.

Toolbox of Faith: Grades 4-5 by Kate Tweedie Erslev
“Toolbox of Faith” invites fourth and fifth grade participants to reflect on qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith such as integrity, courage and love as tools they can use in living their own lives and building their own UU faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses an actual tool as a metaphor for a quality of our faith. These tools include, for example, a hammer (for justice), duct tape (for flexibility), and a mirror (for reflection).

For more information, and to apply to be a fieldtest congregation, contact: fieldtest@uua.org or Adrianne Ross at 617-948-4361

Okay, so these aren’t just holiday bargains. But since we are in the midst of the shopping season, I thought I’d try to put a holiday spin on our early bird registration rates for the upcoming OWL trainings in Lawrence, Kansas and Northfield, Minnesota. Here’s the deal: register now for either of the trainings and save $30 per registration. That’s right, you can save $30 by registering before December 21, 2007 for the combined Elementary OWL training in Lawrence (January 11-12, 200 or by January 2, 2008 for the Combined Jr./Sr. High OWL training in Northfield (February 1-3, 2008). You can find all of the information for these training at the Prairie Star website. You can even register online. Just go to http://www.psduua.org/Workshops/OWLLawrence2008 for the Lawrence training or to http://www.psduua.org/Workshops/OWLNorthfield2008 for the Northfield training.

Here’s the part where I would say that these savings are for a limited time only. But actually, it’s not just about saving money. We need to have a least a dozen participants registered for each training by the end of the early bird registration period, or else we may have to cancel one or both of the trainings. And we’d really, really hate to do that. So, if you’re thinking of sending someone (or coming yourself) to either training, please register as soon as possible. You’ll save money, and you’ll help guarantee that these trainings will take place as planned. Thanks!

When I preached last Sunday in Manhattan, Kansas, I added something to my evolving sermon on the need to take our Principles and Purposes more seriously. It’s a quote from the cover story of the latest issue of Tikkun, an article called “Science and Spirit.” The article’s a recap of a round table conversation among some noted scientists (including George Lakoff) and some of the Tikkun staff, including Michael Lerner. The author, David Belden, is the managing editor of the magazine. Here’s the part that really struck me:

In my denomination, the Unitarian Universalists, we have seven guiding principles. The two that I think underlay the others are:

1) The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
7) Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

I wholeheartedly espouse those principles. Where do they come from? Not simply from a rational argument: rational arguments can be made for and against them and there is no proof. Some people appear to have no worth and dignity and I find good reasons every day for trashing the web of life for my personal gain (e.g., I don’t bother to approve or even know where much of my food comes from). Those principles come from a collective process of spiritual intuition and exchange engaged in by a whole denomination drawing on centuries of uninterrupted spiritual practice and development. They are among the most important things I know in my life and I hold them in common with many other people. I have spent years in a community that cohered around them, and around the daily practices of learning to live them together. They are provisional, in the sense that the process of drawing in more people, more experience, more honest sharing of spiritual intuition, in response to historical developments, may lead the denomination to change the wording or add another principle. How these principles are enacted in daily life is also subject to trial and error, group learning, prayer, meditation, heart–to–heart exchanges, small group process, exchanges with outsiders, and so on. Thus we build our spiritual knowledge.

Rarely have I seen the importance of the Principles and Purposes presented so powerfully in a non-UU publication. It’s rare to see them defended so well in a UU publication for that matter. Belden really gives voice to the way I’d like to see our Principles and Purposes used in our congregations!

So here’s the plan for getting a majority of religious educators in Prairie Star participating in the Reducing the Risk program in general, and the Safety Award in Reducing the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse in particular. The district has purchased 25 Reducing the Risk resource kits to distribute to PSD congregations at a considerable discount (the kits normally cost $50 plus shipping–PSD congregations can order them from the district for $25 plus $5 shipping). In addition to the kits themselves (a DVD set, a training manual, and reference book), the district will also pay the tuition for religious educators to take the online examination required to receive the Safety Award through the Institute of Church Safety.

Completing the program does take an investment of time (I spent most of Wednesday reading the online sessions, taking self-evaluation quizzes and comprehensive reviews, and completing the 25 question final examination). But it’s an investment that’s well worth it. And since I’ve already completed the program, I’m ready to assist any PSD religious educator in the program. So, for $30 total Prairie Star religious educators receive the RTR resource kit, are eligible to enroll in the online seminars of the Institute of Church Safety, and are free to take the final examination needed to received the Safety Award. Again, the goal is to have at least half of the religious educators in Prairie Star trained in this program. For more information, send me an e-mail or call me at (612) 230-3274.

It may not look like much, but it could be one of the most important documents a religious educator can have. It’s the Safety Award in Reducing the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse from the Institute of Church Safety, an online training program from reducingtherisk.com.

I took the training myself yesterday, passed the comprehensive examination, and was rewarded with the above PDF (love the Old English font, don’t you?). Okay, I was rewarded with a comprehensive overview of the issues surrounding protecting our children from preferential and situational abusers, too. Here’s a look at what’s included in the training:

(1) Understanding the Problem of Child Sexual Abuse and the Church

Child sexual abuse can happen in any church regardless of size, location, or affiliation. In this four-lesson seminar, we examine the nature and impact of child abuse, the profile of molesters, why churches are vulnerable, and the legal theories used to prove liability.

(2) Church Liability for Child Sexual Abuse

This three-lesson seminar examines the unique vulnerability of churches to liability for acts of child sexual abuse. The first lesson highlights factors that make churches susceptible to incidents of child molestation. The second lesson looks at the current legal environment and reviews factors that contribute to church litigation. Lesson three examines the most common legal theories that are used to sue churches when child sexual molestation occurs within church settings.

(3) Selecting and Screening Church Staff Members to Work with Children

To ward off potential molesters, and to ensure adequate legal safeguards that rise to the level of reasonable care, every church should implement an effective screening program. This five-lesson seminar starts by reviewing the profiles of child molesters, and then examines the screening process for clergy and paid employees, the use of criminal records checks and other background checks, and concludes with developing an effective screening program for volunteer workers.

(4) Principles of Supervising Children and Youth

This seminar begins by examining the profile of child sexual offenders. It then focuses on the problem of negligent supervision, and explains how key principles can be used to establish a basis for reasonable care. Attention is given to general versus specific supervision, and assessing levels of risk using the concepts of isolation, accountability, power, and activities. The seminar establishes five general principles of supervising children and youth to reduce the risk of child sexual molestation. At the conclusion of lesson 7 is a safety checklist that reviews the material for the entire seminar.

(5) Reporting Child Abuse

This two-lesson seminar reviews legal obligations church staff members may have to report child abuse, and how a church can develop a reporting procedure. Attention is given to understanding the differences between mandatory and permissive reporters, when a report must be made, factors to consider in making a report, and establishing a reporting procedure for church workers.

(6) Responding to Allegations of Abuse

All churches and ministries need to focus on the prevention of child sexual abuse. Realistically no practical prevention strategy is 100 percent effective. An accusation of child sexual abuse may occur in any church. Churches need to develop a premeditated plan or strategy to respond to sexual abuse allegations. This seminar examines nine key issues that church leaders should consider in responding to an allegation of abuse.

Tomorrow I’ll post more about Prairie Star’s plan to have a majority of the religious educators in the district be recipients of the Safety Award.

I made a quick trip down to Cedar Rapids last Friday to meet with some of the religious educators there. Sherry Warren, our PSD Youth and Young Adult Specialist, happened to be in town for a Spirituality Development Training with the youth group from Peoples Church in Cedar Rapids, so she and Lori Allen (PSD Lifespan Faith Development program coordinator) and I were able to have a meeting before the, er, meeting. At any rate, it was great to see the folks in Iowa, and we had a good conversation about the future of Lifespan Faith Development in Prairie Star and in the UUA. I really enjoy getting together with religious educators around the district, so if you’re a DRE in a PSD congregation and would like an excuse to gather some nearby DREs and youth adviser for a weekday meeting, let me know and let’s see if we can arrange a visit!

Most of these meetings include having lunch at the local church staffs’ favorite nearby restaurant. We decided to have ours at Phong Lan Vietnamese restaurant, which is just a couple of blocks from the church. I had the mixed vegetables–not bad. And thanks to Marlene Walker, interim minister at Peoples, for taking this picture of us.

A quick report on last weekend’s workshop by Sally Patton, author of Welcoming Children with Special Needs: A Guidebook for Faith Communities. The turnout was relatively small, but the dozen people who gathered last Saturday at First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis to hear Sally’s presentation were rewarded with a wealth of information on how to make our congregations more welcoming to everyone. If you haven’t read Sally’s book, do. And if you haven’t had a chance to attend one of her workshops, keep an eye out for one and try to attend–you won’t be sorry. I was especially impressed with Sally’s tips for making religious education less like school. Things like: mix age groups; provide more experiential activities; and engage children in storytelling instead of having them read out loud. I’m really, really in agreement with Sally’s number one point in this regard–quit using terms like “Sunday school” and “religious education.” Children and youth are in school five days a week, why the heck should coming to church be more of the same. I wrote a sermon based on the really awful promotion the UUA came out with in the ’90s that featured a girl with her arm around a little boy saying, “It’s like regular school—except nobody flunks.” If that’s all we have to offer children and youth for faith development, then we’re really letting everyone down, not just kids with special needs.

(By the way, I’ve got four extra copies of Sally’s book in the district office, and I’d be happy to send them off to congregations in Prairie Star, so if your PSD congregation didn’t have anyone at the workshop, and if you don’t have a copy of Welcoming Children with Special Needs in your Lifespan Faith Development library, e-mail me at psdlund@earthlink.net and I’ll send a copy to the first four readers who respond.)

The last of the four Tapestry of Faith strands is probably the least understood. After all, the whole shebang is called “Faith Development,” right? Why does there need to be a specific strand with the same name? Here’s how the Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group at the UUA looks at it:

Rather than referring to a specific portion of the vision statement, the LFD Staff Group says, “Together, all of the vision statements of Tapestry of Faith describe the development of a vital, lifelong liberal faith.

“This strand–faith development–emphasizes each person’s religious journey as a participant in a faith community and faith tradition, and each person’s lifelong process of bringing head, heart, and hands to what is of ultimate meaning and value.” Makes sense? So here are the Goals:

• To participate in an evolving and deepening faith
• To experience Unitarian Universalism as a faith with lifelong value
• To be willing and able to engage with life’s challenges and transitions
• To engage in making meaning of life and finding purpose in life
• To affirm life, seeing all life as a gift
• To explore and articulate one’s own faith
• To feel a sense of belonging in a faith community and part of a tradition.

The Elements are:

• Exploring the religious Big Questions such as, Who or what is God? Why are we here and what is expected of us? What is the meaning of life and death? Why do good and bad things happen? Is the universe a friendly place?
• Integrating faith components:
  • What we know (cognitive)
  • What we trust (affective)
  • How we act (behavioral)
• Applying one’s faith to life issues
• Exploring and articulating one’s evolving beliefs and personal faith
• Understanding and utilizing religious language and concepts
• Reflecting, discerning, thinking critically
• Understanding with [Sofia] Fahs that “Life becomes religious whenever we make it so….”

So, what do I think of all these outcomes? If this is what we’re truly trying to do together as a people of faith–life, learn, and grow in the direction of the LFD Vision Statement and these specific Goals and Outcomes–then I’m proud to be part of the team!

Next, I’ll post on the time line for the release of the individual Tapestry of Faith components.

Here are the outcomes for the Unitarian Universalist Identity thread of the new Tapestry of Faith curriculum series, as presented by the Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group of the UUA at last weekends LREDA Fall Conference in San Antonio, Texas. The Goals and Elements for this strand relate to the second, fifth, and third components of the LFD Vision Statement (I’m not quite sure why they’re out of order, though).

• Affirm that they are part of a Unitarian Universalist religious heritage and community of faith that has value and provides resources for living,
• Recognize the need for community, affirming the importance of families, relationships and connections between and among the generations, and
• Accept that they are responsible for the stewardship and creative transformation of their religious heritage and community of faith.

Here are the Goals;

• To be grounded in UU history and heritage
• To understand what Unitarian Universalism is and stands for
• To confidently articulate what Unitarian Universalism is and stands for
• To identify Unitarian Universalism as one’s religious home
• To share a common UU vision, language, and identity.

The Elements include:

• UU history and heritage
• UU Worship, rituals, symbols, and traditions
• Meaning of covenant
• Principles and Sources: understand, articulate, and live
• Universalist legacy of love, faith, hope
• Unitarian legacy of freedom, reason, and tolerance
• Rites of passage
• UU identity (personal, communal)
• UU stories
• UU language
• UU polity.

In some ways, this may be the most difficult of all the strands. Unitarian Universalists are, on the whole, just not very good at talking about what it means to be a UU. That’s not too surprising given our relatively brief existence as a merged tradition, which is why I’m glad that there’s some awareness that we need to include understanding our separate Unitarian and Univeralist legacies here. After all, we didn’t arrive out of the blue as a fully formed religion in 1961.

Here’s what the UUA’s Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group offered at the LREDA Fall Conference regarding the Goals and Elements of the Spiritual Development strand of Tapestry of Faith. The outcomes for this strand are reflected in the first and the seventh elements of the LFD Vision Statement:

• 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, and
• Appreciate the value of spiritual practice as a means of deepening faith and integrating beliefs and values with everyday life.

The Goals include:

• To nurture a deepening spiritual life and spiritual centeredness
• To cultivate individual and communal spiritual practices
• To develop an alertness to the wonder and mystery of existence
• To feel a connection to a larger reality, and
• To experience the sacred through worship, ritual, wisdom of faith traditions, and spiritual disciplines.

The Elements are:

• Spiritual awareness and centeredness
• Spiritual practices/disciplines
• Spiritual wisdom of other faith traditions
• God, ultimate, transcendence
• Sense of (being part of) something larger
• Connection, with other people, nature, universe
• Wonder, awe, mystery
• Beauty, truth, love, joy, and trust in the midst of life’s suffering, brokenness, loss
• Willingness and ability to engage with issues of ambiguity, good and evil, sin, forgiveness, redemption, atonement
• Worship, rites, rituals, sacred texts.

I have to say that I love the religious “favor” of these Goals and Elements. As persons of faith (and I believe we are), we all need to be able to use words like sin, forgiveness, redemption, and atonement if we’re are going to make our faith intelligible to those who think we’re some sort of cult or New Age group.

The Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group’s presentation at LREDA Fall Conference included a breakdown of the various outcomes for each of the “strands”: Ethical Development, Spiritual Development, Unitarian Universalist Identity, and Faith Development. While admitting that the strands are, indeed, overlapping (interwoven), there are some specific outcomes in each individual strand. For this post I’d like to share with you the Goals and Elements of the Ethical Development strand:

This particular strand is built on the fourth and third components of the LFD Staff Group’s Vision Statement, “Nurturing children, youth, and adults who…”

• Realize that they are moral agents, capable of making a difference in the lives of other people, challenging structures of social and political oppression, promoting the health and well-being of the planet, acting in the service of diversity, justice and compassion, and
• Accept that they are responsible for the stewardship and creative transformation of their religious heritage and community of faith.

The Goals are

• To live out one’s values
• To want to make the world a better place
• To be passionate seekers of justice and peace
• To be good stewards of the environment, and
• To have a moral basis for deciding right and wrong

The Elements include

• Values, ethics, character development
• Right relationship/right action
• Stewardship and citizenship
• Acceptance/affirmation/celebration of diversity
• AR/AO/MC understanding and action (anti-racism/anti-oppression/multicultural)
• UU heritage of moral agency

I’ll post more on the other outcomes in the next few days–and I’ll put together a rundown of release dates for future Tapestry of Faith curricula.

For the next few posts, I’d like to share with you some of the information the members of LREDA heard at their Fall Conference in San Antonio last weekend. The presenters were from the Lifespan Faith Development Staff Group at the UUA, and they gave us all a pretty good rundown of what to expect from the new Tapestry of Faith curricula series that’s being rolled out. Here’s something from a presentation they did on outcomes:

Through surveys, focus groups, and other feedback, Unitarian Universalists identified four desired outcomes for children, youth, and adults in religious education programs. These outcomes are four strands woven through Tapestry of Faith. Far from mutually exclusive, these outcomes are interdependent and interactive:

• Ethical Development
• Spiritual Development
• Unitarian Universalist Identity
• Faith Development

Most of the outcomes are built around the Lifespan Faith Development Vision Statement for Tapestry of Faith, so I thought I’d repost it here, then add more content from the presentation in follow up posts.

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;
• Realize that they are moral agents, capable of making a difference in the lives of other people, challenging structures of social and political oppression, promoting the health and well-being of the planet, acting in the service of diversity, justice and compassion;
• 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 with everyday life;
• Experience hope, joy, mystery, healing, and personal transformation in the midst of life’s challenges.

I’m skipping out of the LREDA Fall Conference a day early, but I’m bringing back lots of good information about the UUA’s new Tapestry of Faith curriculum series. I’m really excited about how adaptable this series is going to be. First off, most the the components will be free and available online (some components, like the new Coming of Age resource, will be published in book form only). You’ll be able to download individual sessions or entire curricula in RTF format, which means you’ll be able to open them and a Microsoft Word doc and make as many tweeks as you’d like. And I’m all in favor of congregations being able to tweek curricula to fit their individual needs. Adaptability is the second great thing about this series. You can use them in a Rotation Sunday School model, a graded classroom model, a Small Group Ministry model, or whatever other model that might work best for your congregation. The very best news, as far as I’m concerned, is that some of the curricula is designed to be used with multiple ages, opening the door for some genuine multigenerational faith development experiences. I’ll post much more on this once I get back home and catch my breath!

The tag line for the original version of this blog was “So, just what does the Lifespan Program Director of the Prairie Star District do?” And even though the tag line for this version is different, my primary purpose for blogging it to let the folks in Prairie Star know what I’m up to. As I mentioned in my previous post, right now I’m in San Antonio, Texas for the Liberal Religious Educators Association’s Fall Conference. It’s traditional for the Program Consultants of the various UU districts to meet the day before the conference to talk about various issues concerning religious education and faith development. Here are a few of the topics that my colleagues and I (along with Harlan Limpert, the UUA’s Director of District Services, a.k.a. “Fearless Leader”) discussed:

• The changing role of Program Consultants in our districts
• Collecting statistics regarding the effectiveness of hiring religious educators for the first time
• Guidelines for non-LREDA religious educators in our smaller congregations
• An update on last summer’s Youth Summit in Boston, along with possible effects it will have on our district youth programming
• Relationships between UUMA (UU Ministers Association) and LREDA chapters in some of our district
• And a bunch of stuff about the national ad campaign, the “Voices of a Liberal Faith” DVD, and Association Sunday

The conference officially starts today, and it looks like a good program to me. We’ll be learning more about the UUA’s new faith development curriculum series called Tapestry of Faith. I’ll keep you posted!

Rather than taking the third, I was preaching on the third last Sunday–in Rochester, Minnesota. About two weeks ago I got a call from Carol Hepokoski, the minister there (and a professor of mine when I was at Meadville Lombard). She wanted to know if I was free to preach on September 30. I was and more than happy to make the 90 minute trip from Saint Paul to spread the good word. Or good words. I titled the sermon “Acceptance and Encouragement,” and it was all about how we should be 1) using our principles as tools to assess how we’re doing in our spiritual journeys, and 2) using the third principle (acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth) as the number one principle for assessing what we’re doing together as a religious community. I mean, if we’re not accepting one another and encouraging each other in our spiritual journeys, then what are we doing?

At any rate, I mentioned a few resources during my sermon (mainly books from the UUA about the Principles and Purposes) and some folks asked that I post them on my blog. So here they are:

Our Seven Principles in Story and Verse: A Collection for Children and Adults
Kenneth W. Collier
Creative responses to the seven principles, each one illustrated with a story, a poem and a brief essay. For all ages, for worship and individual reading.

With Purpose and Principle: Essays About the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism
Edited by Edward Frost
A short history of the Principles and Purposes followed by essays from present-day UU leaders including John Buehrens, Marilyn Sewell, Earl Holt and Barbara Merritt. Excellent for use in new-member classes, as well as for those seeking insight into this essential piece of our living tradition.

Stories in Faith: Exploring Our UU Principles and Sources Through Wisdom Tales
Gail Forsyth-Vail
Stories in Faith is an invitation to begin a unique spiritual journey, one in which stories help us to develop our faith and make meaning in our lives. This is a distinctly Unitarian Universalist collection of wisdom tales. Nineteen in all, the stories are culled from many cultures and traditions and presented using the seven Principles and six Sources as a framework for reflection and further exploration. Forsyth-Vail offers thoughtful advice for respectfully approaching materials from a culture other than one’s own and encourages engagement with wisdom tales as an opportunity for lifelong inspiration and spiritual growth.

The Seven Principles in Word and Worship
Ellen Brandenburg, Editor
The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism continue to be plumbed for meaning, depth and inspiration. This elegant volume presents fresh perspectives from seven ministers who joined the ministry after the Principles took their current form. Here are essays, prayers, chalice lightings, litanies, meditations and worship readings on each Principle–helping us reflect on their significance and the ways they call us to ethical action and deeper spirituality.

All of these books should be in every congregation’s library. Heck, they should probably be in every UU’s library! At any rate, I don’t have an action shot from last Sunday, but I do have a picture of the Wanted Poster they had taped to the main entrance. (You can find more photos from my Rochester set here.)

I was in Lawrence, Kansas over the weekend to do a presentation at the Unitarian fellowship there. It was basically a day devoted to getting the congregation on board with Our Whole Lives, the UUA’s (and UCC’s) comprehensive sexuality education program. I delivered a reflection at their early “spiritual” service, then did a presentation on what OWL’s all about. In between the two services there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the fellowship’s new addition, and after the second service there was a potluck, featuring some pretty tasty barbecue pork. After the potluck I participated in a panel discussion about the congregation’s commitment to the OWL program, and it looks like we’ll be offering a training for combined Elementary OWL in Lawrence next year. It also looks like there may be an adult OWL class in the fellowship’s future. All in all, it was a fun weekend (you can see a photo set from Lawrence here.)

As part of the presentation, I did one of those mock church sign photos you can do online ( www.churchsigngenerator.com). It got a pretty big laugh when it showed up during the PowerPoint presentation. Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

I’ve got a few more things to post from my notes for the presentation I gave in Texas a couple of weeks ago. This one is about the fourth trait of a connected community: They establish clear limits and expectations. I think it may be one of the traits with which some Unitarian Universalist might have a hard time. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that a lot of UUs want a “hands off” approach toward themselves and their children, something like, “I left my previous church because they tried to tell me what to believe, and I not going to stick around here it there’s going to be a lot of do’s and don’ts!” But every community needs some grounds rules, and if a community is trying to be intentionally multigenerational (something I hope all of our congregations are trying to do), then there needs to be some ground rules for every generation. So here are some thoughts from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (author of Optimal Experience and Flow) about the kind of context that helps children and youth thrive:

There is ample evidence to suggest that how parents interact with a child will have a lasting effect on the kind of person that child grows up to be. . . . The family context promoting optimal experience could be described as having five characteristics. The first one is clarity: the teenagers feel that they know what their parents expect from them—goals and feedback in the family interaction are unambiguous. The second is centering, or the children’s perception that their parents are interested in what they are doing in the present, in their concrete feelings and experiences, rather than being preoccupied with whether they will be getting into a good college or obtaining a well-paying job. Next is the issue of choice: children feel that they have a variety of possibilities from which to choose, including that of breaking parental rules—as long as they are prepared to face the consequences. The fourth differentiating characteristic is commitment, or the trust that allows the child to feel comfortable enough to set aside the shield of his defenses, and become unselfconsciously involved in whatever he is interested in. And finally there is challenge, or the parents’ dedication to provide increasingly complex opportunities for action to their children.

“Teenagers feel that they know what their parents expect from them.” I think the same is true of our congregations. Unless our children and youth know that we do have certain expectations of them, then they might start buying into the bad press about Unitarian Universalism: you can believe whatever you want to believe here, we’re an “anything goes” religion, etc. So I love these five “c’s”: clarity, centering, choice, commitment, and challenge. I think they provide a great heuristic (a replicable method or approach for directing one’s attention in learning, discovery, or problem-solving) for measuring the quality of our religious education and youth programs.

I’m continuing to post the notes from my recent presentation to teachers in Dallas. Here’s a very quick summary of the results of the Hardwired to Connect report I’m mentioned in my last post. The authors claim they are making a “New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities” (I call them “connected communities”). Their major claims are:

First, a great deal of evidence shows that we are hardwired for close attachments to other people, beginning with our parents and extended family, and then moving out to the broader community.

And

Second, a less definitive but still significant body of evidence suggests that we are hardwired for meaning, born with a built-in capacity and drive to search for purpose and reflect on life’s ultimate ends.

In order to offer our children the kind of environment they need to make those connections, the report lists these 10 components of a Connected Community:

• [Connected] communities include children and youth.
• They treat children as ends in themselves.
• They are warm and nurturing.
• They establish clear limits and expectations.
• Their core work is performed largely by nonspecialists.
• They are multigenerational.
• They have a long-term focus.
• They encourage spiritual and religious development.
• They reflect and transmit a shared understanding of what it means to be a good person.
• They are philosophically oriented to the equal dignity of all people and to the principle of love of neighbor.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again–I believe that these 10 qualities are the definition of a healthy, vital congregation. They are, essentially, the qualities our congregations need to embody in order for us to do the work we’ve set before ourselves, especially anti-racism/anti-oppression work, moving youth ministry to the center of our collective mission, and getting over our 1% a year growth pattern so we can truly reach all those who would benefit from being part of our living tradition.

Well, I’m back in Minnesota now, but I’ve got a couple of more posts about the information I shared during the teacher training in Dallas last Saturday. I talked a bit about the Hardwired to Connect report, using some passages from a sermon I gave last year. Here’s the gist of it:

According to Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities (a report by The Commission on Children at Risk), the “mental and behavioral health of U.S. children” is deteriorating.

We are witnessing high and rising rates of depression, anxiety, attention deficit/conduct disorders, thoughts of suicide, and other mental, emotional, and behavioral problems among U.S. children and adolescents.

According to the report, these “rising rates of mental and emotional problems among American young people raise a red flag about how well we are nurturing our kids.”

While many American young people are thriving, many more are not, and there are worrisome signs that as a society we are losing rather than gaining ground. Notwithstanding sustained increases in material well-being and important medical advances in the ability to treat depression and other mental disorders, the rate of serious mental and emotional disorders among American children and youth has been rising steadily. Eight percent of high school students have clinical depression, 20 percent report having seriously considered suicide during the past year, and, according to the Surgeon General, 21 percent of 9- to 17-year-olds have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder that will cause at least minimum impairment. A recent study of mental health problems among college students at a large Midwestern university found that over the past 13 years, the number of students being seen for depression doubled, the number of suicidal students tripled, and the number of students seen after a sexual assault quadrupled.

“Numerous studies,” says Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids, “show that privileged adolescents are experiencing epidemic rates of depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse–rates that are higher than those of any other socioeconomic group of young people in this country.”

I’ll say more tomorrow about ways we can remedy this situation. But for now, here’s one of those “me in action” shots I’ve been promising…

I’m in Dallas, Texas this weekend to do a presentation at the North Area Texas UU Religious Educators teachers training (that was this morning), and to preach at the First Unitarian Church tomorrow. I really enjoyed the training this morning–a terrific group of teachers from around north Texas. They do this every August, I believe, and it’s something I’d like to see happening around Prairie Star. I’m sure the congregations in the Twin Cities area could support something like this, as well as the congregations in Iowa and Kansas. At any rate, I had a good time, got to see some old friends, and met some wonderful folks who are volunteering their time and energy to be a caring presence for the children and youth in the congregations here. I promised the participants that I would post some of the quotes read during the presentation, which I think I’ll do over a series of blogs this week. Here’s the first set–definitions of faith, spirituality, and religion. It’s from an essay called “A Neuropsychological Perspective on Spiritual Development,” by Andrew B. Newberg and Stephanie K. Newberg, and it can be found in the Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence.

Faith
A neuropsychological perspective posits that all human experience is ultimately processed by the brain. The brain therefore can only provide a “secondhand rendition” of external reality. If this is the case, then human beings always have to have faith in their interpretation of the external reality as it is processed by the brain. Faith, in some sense, is absolutely essential for the human brain to function properly so that it assumes that the world as it is perceived and interpreted represents a reasonable one-to-one correlation with what is actually “out there.”

Spirituality
The feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors that arise from a search for the sacred. The term “search” refers to attempts to identify, articulate, maintain, or transform. The term “sacred” refers to a divine being or Ultimate Reality or Ultimate Truth, as perceived by the individual.

Religion
Religion and religiousness not only contained the preceding criteria, they also included a “search for non sacred goals (such as identity, belongingness, meaning, health, or wellness).” Religiousness also implies that the mean and methods of the search “receive validation and support from within an identifiable group.”

I gave these definitions this morning because I think they do a good job of putting faith and spirituality in the context of religion. Here’s the comment I made about them: “You can have faith and spirituality without a religion. However, if you have a religion, it encompasses those things as well. So when we talk about religious education, we’re talking first and foremost about the things that specifically deal with “religiousness.” But questions of faith and spirituality are part of it, too.” So we teach about Unitarian Universalism, our Principles and Purposes, World Religions, etc. but we are always dealing with issues of faith and spirituality no matter what the curriculum because faith and spirituality are part of any religion.

I followed up those definitions with another definition of religion from another essay in the Handbook called “The Relationship Between Moral and Spiritual Development,” by Lawrence J. Walker and Kevin S. Reimer: “Central to the teachings of all religious traditions are moral guidelines for living a good life and for interacting appropriately with others.”

More from the presentation (and some photos) later.

Okay, so it’s not the same as the Lakes District in England, where Unitarian writer Beatrix Potter lived, but it is lovely. I’m talking about my trip to the Iowa Lakes region last weekend–to Okoboji, specifically, where I preached at an emerging congregation there. I had a wonderful time, in spite of arriving just five minutes before the service began (I got lost in a cornfield somewhere in southern Minnesota…thanks, Google maps!). I was greeted at the door of the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center by a member of the fellowship, and was made to feel right at home (I hope all visitors are greeted that way!). I’m sorry I missed the coffee hour, which takes place before the service, but I was pleased to be a guest of the congregation at a buffet that immediately followed the service. As I mentioned to one of my table mates, one of my favorite definitions of church is: gather the people, break the bread, share the stories. To that, I would add, and change the world. At any rate, you can see pictures of the trip on my Flickr page (here), and you can download a revised copy of the sermon I preached (Losing My Religion). I’ll be preaching this version in Dallas, Texas this coming Sunday. Whoo-hoo!

Check out “Midweek church nights build spirit” at the UU World. As the title suggests, it’s all about the trend toward midweek (usually Wednesday nights) programming in UU congregations. One of the congregations mentioned is Prairie Star’s own Unitarian Church of Davenport, Iowa. Here’s what the Rev. Roger Butts has to say about Davenport’s programming:

Programming in Davenport, Butts says, is all about faith development. Recent programs included a class called Living the Questions. “We try to make sure that everything we offer gives material for daily home reflection,” he says. “This reminds us that what we do is not just about our brains, it’s about growing our hearts.” On a recent Wednesday twenty-two children under 5 were in the nursery while their parents were attending workshops—and some of the children’s parents were community people drawn to the church by a program called Love and Logic for Parents.

You know I’m thrilled by the “Love and Logic for Parents” workshop, especially since it draws people from the wider community. Focus on faith development and family. Sounds like the way to go to me!

I’ve just received a preliminary report on the UUA’s Youth Summit (the culmination of the Ministry To and With Youth process) from my colleague in the Central Midwest District, Dori Davenport. The gist of Dori’s report is this: “At the end of our five day Summit, we came away with one overarching theme: We ask for a fundamental shift in Unitarian Universalism–a shift to a multigenerational, congregation-based youth ministry in which youth ministry is central to the articulated mission of the UUA.” To which I say, Whoo-hoo! This is good stuff, and I agree with it whole-heartedly. Multigenerational, congregation-based youth ministry–yes! Youth ministry central to our mission–yes! I’m going to be blogging more on this over the next few weeks, specifically about what I consider to be one of the more useful approaches to youth ministry these days. It’s an adaption of the Youth Ministry & Spirituality Project that I’m calling “Spirituality & Service: Youth Ministry for the Whole Congregation.” Stay tuned….

I stuck around Rockford, Illinois for a few months after my internship to be their summer minister, which meant that I had to preach a sermon around the Fourth of July. I made some crack about this being the reason ministers took the summer off–so they wouldn’t have to wrack their brains trying to put together a sermon that celebrated the United States in spite of our history of oppression and aggression. I’m not quite sure what I ended up preaching about myself, but I’m sure it wasn’t as thoughtful as what Rabbi Michael Lerner and the folks at Tikkun magazine have come up with. Check out their Interdependence Day Celebration [PDF], which was published in the latest issue of the magazine. As they say, “There is much worth celebrating in American history that deserves attention on July 4th, despite the current depravity of those who lead this country, though the celebration-worthy aspects of our society are rarely the focus of the public events.”

I know it’s a little late for this year’s celebration, but I think it would be great if congregational leaders could have material similar to the Tikkun stuff available for families to use on their own, material that put the holiday in a liberal religious/spiritual progressive perspective. Even better, congregations could plan to hold thier own Fourth of July celebrations. The idea of summertime being downtime in our religious communities is due for some serious reconsideration. Just because 19th century Bostonians needed to beat the heat and escape to Maine in the summertime doesn’t mean we should continue the practice. Helping families live their liberal faith on a daily basis is a 24/7/365 obligation. That doesn’t mean religious professionals need to be on duty all the time, but we need to constantly be using the technology available to us (like blogs) to share our faith and strengthen our families.

I mentioned earlier that one of the GA web reporters stopped by the workshop Jennifer Nichols-Payne and I presented last Thursday in Portland. I was hoping that there’d be a write up on the UUA website so I could point folks there for information on the Congregation Census, the family ministry survey tool that we adapted for Unitarian Universalists. (The original version was for strictly Christian congregations. By the way, Dawn Cooley was working with me as an intern at the time, and she did an excellent job making sure the survey was truly UU. Dawn also recently delivered an award winning sermon at GA, which you can see here. Just scroll down and click on the video for Saturday morning’s worship: “Worshipping Together, Witnessing Together”; there’s about four and a half minutes of nothingness before the service starts so be patient…or fast forward). So Dawn definitely made the cut!

In lieu of a fancy write up on the workshop Jennifer and I did, I thought I’d hard the PowerPoint presentation we used. You can find it below, or at this nifty website called SlideShare. It’s under the title “Congregation Census.” I’m going to write more about the Census in the next issue of my electronic newsletter for Prairie Star religious educators, youth advisors, and other folks interested in faith development. In the meantime, take a look. If you want more information on the Census, please post a comment here and I’ll get in touch with you.

I just received the following e-mail from Jesse Jaeger, Director of Youth Ministry (new job title) at the UUA’s Office of Youth Ministry (new office name). It’s worth reading if you work with youth:

Hello All,

I would like to introduce you all to some changes in the Youth Office.

New Position: First of all, please join us in welcoming Darrick Jackson. Darrick is filling the newly created position of Assistant Youth Ministries Director. Darrick just graduated from Andover Newton School of Theology and will be ordained into the Unitarian Universalist ministry this fall. He will be taking on more of the day to day management of the Youth Office including supervising the Youth Ministry Associates. Darrick will also be supervising the Office of Youth Ministry while I am on sabbatical this fall.

New Office Name: The Youth Office will soon be the Office of Youth Ministry.

New Job Title: You might have noticed that Darrick has the job title “Assistant Youth Ministries Director.” My present title is changing to Youth Ministries Director. As an Association we have an increased awareness of our work with youth as a ministry. These title and name changes (including the change from Youth Programs Specialist to Youth Ministry Associates) all underscore this shift in understanding. [Jessica York, the new Youth Programs Director, oversees youth curriculum development in the Curriculum Office of Lifespan Faith Development, not the Youth Office. Hope that clears up any confusion.]

Summary of who will in the office next year:

Jesse Jaeger: Director of Youth Ministry (on Sabbatical from September 14th returning January 2nd)

• Overall management of the office.
• Focus on implementation of recommendation from consultation on youth ministry.

Darrick Jackson: Assistant Director of Youth Ministry

• Overall management of office while Jesse is on sabbatical.
• Supervision of Youth Ministry Associations.

Rek Kwawer: Youth Office Assistant

• All the same amazing things she does right now.

India McKnight: Youth Ministry Associate (Starts July 16th)

• Support for the Chrysalis Training Program.
• Support for General Assembly Youth Caucus.

Sara Eskrich: Youth Ministry Associate (Starts July 16th)

• Support for the YRUU Leadership.
• Support implantation of recommendation from the consultation on youth ministry.

This will be the group that will carry us through next year as we work to transform how we do youth ministry in our movement.

Beth Dana and Laura Manning will be leaving the Youth Office in August. Keep an eye out for how we will be honoring the amazing work they have done here. We will be holding parties later in the summer.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Jesse Jaeger

Jesse C. Jaeger
Youth Ministry Director
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St.
Boston, Ma 02108
jjaeger@uua.org
www.uua.org/yruu
617-948-4359 (work)
617-367-4798 (fax)

This may not seem like much, but acknowledging on the associational level that the work we do with youth is ministry bodes well for the future.