What does it take to raise a lifelong Unitarian Universalist? Plenty! Certainly more than any one group—be it a family, a congregation, or an entire association—can provide. Each group, however, has a role to play, and if we’re going to take our commitment to raising lifelong UUs seriously, we need to understand the relative importance each group plays in developing the faith of children, youth, and adults.

It all starts with the family, of course, which is a mixed blessing for Unitarian Universalists. Most of the children who participate in our religious education programs come from more-or-less stable family environments—that’s good. But other than a few parenting courses that were developed in the 80s and the 90s, the UUA hasn’t given our congregations too much guidance in the area of family programming. And, sadly, Pat Hoertdoerfer—the one staff member at the UUA who actually has the word “family” in her title—is retiring at the end of this church year.

Now this doesn’t mean that families are being abandoned by the UUA (the new curriculum currently being developed will have components for everyone—including parents), but it does mean that if we are going support families interested in raising their children as lifelong UUs, we need to be creative. Fortunately, we here in Prairie Star have creative energy to burn; so much so, in fact, that I sometimes refer to our district as The Prairie Star Power and Light Cooperative!

As I travel around the eight states that make up Prairie Star, I’m finding a groundswell of support for new initiatives that bring families of all formations together, either in small groups, like the Family Chalice program at the First Universalist Church in Minneapolis, or in larger communities, like the new Wednesday night programs that are taking root all over the district. Small or large, these programs help families develop a shared liberal religious identity, an identity that says, “We are a Unitarian Universalist family—and we’re proud of it!” And since the energy and commitment for these programs is coming from our congregations and not from the district or the UUA, that identity is much more tangible. It’s something that everyone—children, youth, and adults—can see and feel whenever they gather together as part of a multigenerational community of faith.

So what does it take to raise lifelong Unitarian Universalists? Parents who want their children to develop and articulate a liberal religious identity…congregations that are committed to providing time, energy, love, and support to families of all formations…district resources to help religious professionals develop and maintain faith development programs for all ages…and the presence of a larger association of congregations to constantly remind us that we are not alone.

Maybe your congregation has been putting some creative energy into new family programs. If so, please consider sharing your ideas with other congregations in the district. Just drop me an e-mail at plund@psduua.org or give me a call at 612-230-3274 and let me know what family programs are working in your congregation.

Go out into the highways and byways. Give the people something of your new vision.You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not Hell, but hope and courage.  Do not push them deeper into their theological despair, but preach the kindness and everlasting love of God.

Consistently, a majority of children move through RE and stay in the denomination, and High quality life span programming in congregations. These were the top two priorities for both the congregational leaders (ministers, religious educators, board presidents) and the lay district volunteers who responded to the Prairie Star District Evaluation and Vision Survey back in 2002 (the same year, incidentally, I was hired as Lifespan Program Director). On the surface these priorities may not sound remarkable—but they are. As far as I can tell, Prairie Star is one of the only entities in contemporary Unitarian Universalism that has explicitly expressed a desire to see the children and youth who are raised in our congregations become lifelong Unitarian Universalists. What’s more, the second priority demonstrates a clear understanding of how and where this process of developing lifelong UUs might take place—through lifespan programs within our congregations.

 

This emphasis on the role of congregations in shaping the future of our living tradition has been adopted by the Unitarian Universalist Association as well. In a report last fall, President Bill Sinkford shared with the UUA Board of Trustees the Headquarters staff’s new mission statement: “to provide visionary leadership and resources to build and support vital congregations so UUism and liberal religious values thrive the world.” I like the sound of that. So much so, in fact, that I’d like to offer it as a model for a new Lifespan Program Area mission statement, something like: “to provide visionary leadership and high-quality lifespan program resources to congregations in Prairie Star District so that a majority of their children and youth will stay in the denomination.”

 

With that in mind, I’ve been looking into what resources are needed for congregations to develop lifelong members of a faith tradition. The good news is that we have an abundance of the most important resource—people; specifically, families and mentors. The bad news is that all too often we do little (or nothing) to fully develop this resource. Fortunately, Prairie Star is in an excellent position to begin moving toward this new vision. We’ve grown again over the last year, and perhaps more importantly, we’ve avoided the steady decline in Religious Education enrollment that the UUA as a whole has suffered recently. In fact, our RE numbers were up in 2004 for the first time in two years.

 

So, what’s next? For my part, I’m assembling a group of religious professionals—ministers, religious educators, and youth advisors—who are responsible for the lifespan programs in their congregations to ask that very question: What’s next? Do we continue to provide the same services we’ve been offering for the last however many years in hopes that our growth in adult membership will continue and that our RE enrollment won’t follow the national trend and lapse into decline? Or will we follow a new vision that takes seriously the priorities set by both congregational leaders and district volunteers and begin to offer new programs and new resources that help congregations strengthen families and connect Unitarian Universalists across the generations?

 

Of course this isn’t a matter of either/or, it’s a matter of both/and. We can continue to support our current district programs and we can begin to offer new programs that will help Unitarian Universalism in the Prairie Star District not only survive, but thrive. For example, PSD Lifespan Program Intern Dawn Cooley and I have been adapting a “Church Census” to help congregations assess their family ministry needs. And Committee on Religious Education member Kimberly Beyer-Nelson and I have been exploring the use of online adult religious education opportunities designed to help congregations deepen the faith and strengthen the commitment of their members.

 

When I first spoke to you, the people of Prairie Star, back in 2002 at the Annual Conference and Meeting in Ames, Iowa, I told you that I wanted to see Unitarian Universalism move from a collection of come-outers to a community of stay-inners. Keeping a majority of our children and youth in our tradition—that is, approaching lifespan faith development with the intention of raising lifelong Unitarian Universalists—is the best, maybe even the only, way I can imagine us doing so. The mission of the Lifespan Program Area of Prairie Star is to provide visionary leadership and high-quality lifespan program resources to congregations in Prairie Star District so that a majority of their children and youth will stay in the denomination.