Dear friends,
For the next six weeks we are going to experiment with keeping our young people in worship with us. This is an experiment about how we live into our mission. We are very excited about running it, and we look forward to sharing in this learning experience with you. We’d like to start off by telling you what has motivated us to run this experiment, and about what some of the benefits will be.
In the past our children have not been in worship with us very much, and we’ve begun to think that that was a mistake, and that we would like to do things differently. We believe that Sunday morning worship is the heart of our religious community, and we want to have everyone together for this time of spiritual grounding.
We also have noticed (and read about) how much family life is changing in the 21st century. We are aware that there is often not enough family time and time for rest. We want to offer families a place and a time to be together, and share in worship together -- an opportunity to notice, as a family, what is most important in life.
As UU’s we believe that we should to try to make the world a better place. And it is important to feed ourselves, so that we are strong and resilient as we deal with what is happening in our own lives, and in the world around us. Offering everyone a chance for spiritual grounding, helps us all be ready for this challenging world.
A major (and long term) motivation for this shift comes from the growing awareness that generations of children who primarily spent their Sunday mornings in church school do not have a strong connection to worship or to the practice of having a shared spiritual life. Religious Education theorists think that this disconnect is contributing to the fact that more and more young adults stop attending and don’t (ever) come back to church. We want our young people to feel that this congregation (and any UU congregation) is a place for them - a place for connection and spiritual grounding. We want our young people, when they’re sitting in our sanctuary, to have a sense of familiarity and belonging, so that they may carry that with them through their lives.
Now...on to what we think some of the gifts of this experiment will be!
Learning from other congregations who have begun to do this, one of the great gifts they see is stronger cross generational relationships. Having relationships with people much older or much younger than ourselves gives us a valuable and important perspective on this life we share.
Another gift of a shift such as this is that Religious Education can be more meaningful and purposeful for all involved. During this brief experiment, there will be some programming for young people during coffee hour time (be on the lookout for a “girl power” book group, mask creating, a children’s choir - all happening in the downstairs rooms). If we continue this experiment next year, or expand it into the future, there will be more structured Religious Education programming, outside of our worship service. This will result in more consistency amongst the Religious Education leaders, more consistent and better anticipated attendance, and the ability to expand programming to include more ages.
Finally, this experiment, and this culture shift, will ultimately make worship more available to a larger variety of people. By being more intentional and co-creative about worship, we will be able to provide a variety of worship experiences. Kendra, Linsey-Jean and FUUSE young adult, Doc, have been planning the next weeks together and have already noticed that we are being more intentional in worship planning, and we are looking forward to making our worship services available to a much larger variety of people. This will result in us being more welcoming to all. We will be more welcoming to people of all ages, all abilities, and all backgrounds. And we think that this will help us extend our welcome to people of different classes, races, and cultures.
We look forward to participating in this experiment with you, and appreciate your willingness to join us. We are excited to learn from it, and to grow into our mission in this way. We will certainly be making ourselves available for conversations about this. Please note the two times at the bottom of this letter that are already on the calendar for such conversation. Bring any questions, comments, or ideas, and help us navigate this experimental shift!
Joyfully,
Rev. Kendra & LJ Francoeur
New opportunities to discuss and to engage in RE at FUUSE
‘All Ages Worship’ Conversation Times:
Sunday, April 8, 11:00am-12:30pm
Tuesday, April 24, 6:30-8:00pm
*and at least one more will be scheduled for May
April Children and Youth Coffee Hour Projects
Following the services in April, come downstairs to the RE Rooms for snacks and ongoing creations for our Universe Story!
April 1: Mask making
April 8: Paper mache Mother Earth
