2059 Only a Few Children
What do you do if you have only a few children and youth
in your Sunday school or religious education program? According
to the Rev. Dan Harper, who just completed a year as the interim
director of religious education at Church of the Larger Fellowship
(CLF) and the Rev. Helen Zidowecki, the new acting director
of religious education at CLF, small religious education programs
can be just as successful as large programs.
Harper began by asking participants to brainstorm a list
of the strengths of small religious education programs. One
participant pointed out that in small congregations, children
and youth have better opportunities to get to know adult role
models. Another participant said that it's easier to tailor
programs to specific children. One participant who had grown
up as the only child in a small congregation, indicated that
it was a great formative experience for her.
Generally speaking, small religious education programs can
respond better to the needs of individuals. Several participants
added that small programs are more fun for volunteer teachers
and youth advisors, too. "I really get to know each child,"
said one participant, "and I prefer that." Another
participant pointed out that his teaching team "got really
bonded together as a group." Harper replied, "Yes,
it's like a small group ministry for the teachers."
Zidowecki and Harper emphasized that small and tiny religious
education programs can actually offer the best opportunities
for children and youth to grow spiritually. Harper described
a small church in north central Massachusetts with 25 members,
2 children in the Sunday school, and one member of the youth
group. "Those children get to know every adult in the
congregation," said Harper, and the adults benefit as
well. "At church picnics and barbeques," said Harper,
"there's competition among the adults to see who gets
to sit next to the children." He added that those two
children "have really blossomed in that church."
Zidowecki offered her own example, of a small church in Norway,
Maine. "We had four youth in the youth group," said
Zidowecki, who bonded together as a group, were active in
the church, and began to attend district youth conferences.
"Two of them even served on the district youth adult
committee," gaining valuable leadership experience in
the process.
Harper and Zidowecki acknowledged the challenges facing small
and tiny religious education programs, especially those without
professional leadership. "The biggest challenge is curriculum,"
said Harper, and knowing which curriculum resources to use.
But Church of the Larger Fellowship has developed a comprehensive
curriculum plan for use by families and small religious education
programs that is available online through the CLF Web site,
www.uuclf.org
 .
Another problem is the expectations of new families that
Sunday schools will have many children and closely-graded
classes. Small congregations will have to help new families
understand the strengths of small religious education programs.
Youth may need more time with other Unitarian Universalist
youth, but that can be provided through district youth events
and summer camps and conferences. Both Zidowecki and Harper
indicated that congregations can find solutions by thinking
creatively.
Harper identified several other resources that small religious
education programs find useful, including the services of
district staff, uu&me magazine for children,
and the Between Sundays Web site, www.uua.org/clf/betweensundays.
Harper pointed out three publications that are especially
useful to small religious education programs: “Starting
from Scratch: How To Begin Your Own R. E. Program for Children
and Youth,” “Religious Education at Home”
(a CLF publication), and “We Believe,” a curriculum
developed by the UUA and CLF that is designed especially for
tiny religious education programs. (All these publications
are available through the UUA bookstore, www.uua.org/bookstore.)
Resources and handouts from the workshop will be available
on Zidowecki’s Web site: www.hzmre.com
.
"I've had my best religious education experiences in
small and tiny programs," said Harper. He added, "I'll
sum up this workshop in one sentence: small religious education
programs are absolutely the best, the most fun."
Reported for the web by Dan Harper
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