2014 The UU Answer to Vacation Bible School

Sponsor: Metro New York District

About five years ago, Jocelyn Dorgan, a member of the religious education committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, New Jersey, says that she was looking for a summer religious experience for her children, who were then three and six years old. "I wanted to provide for them the same Vacation Bible School experience that I enjoyed when I was a child," she said. She was looking for the fun and camaraderie of Vacation bible School, but with a Unitarian Universalist perspective.

"I went to Chris Reed, our minister [of religious education]," she recalled. Rev. Chris Reed knew that the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Morristown, New Jersey, had developed a one-week summer program with a focus on nature, rather than a focus on the Bible. "That's how the idea for Earth Spirit Week was born," said Dorgan.

Dorgan noted that Earth Spirit Week was also an excellent way for her congregation to reach out the the local community. Nearly half of the forty children who participated one summer had not previously been a part of the congregation, and a number of those began coming to Sunday school in the fall.

Reed spoke briefly on the larger context of of Earth Spirit Week. She began with the theological context. "We used to hear about ecofeminism in the 1970's and 1980's," she said, and in recent years ecological theology has increased in importance. "Our understanding that the earth is sacred is becoming more and more a part of who we are as Unitarian Universalists."

Reed said the context of community was also important. "There is a way of spending time together" in Earth Spirit Camp that is different from a weekly Sunday school. "When they spend three hours a day, five days a week together, they come there in the morning, and they're ready to see their friends," said Reed.

This sense of community extends into the rest of the year. "This camp has done wonderful things in the context of the congregational year," said Reed. Along with the friendships, the participants in this intensive summer program develop a repretoire of songs, activities, and shared memories. "It's a tie-in to the year, and an enrichemtn of the year."

Reed also pointed out that the Earth Spirit week proved to be an excellent way of developing lay leadership in religious education. "They have become religious educators," Reed said of the volunteers who run the program. "They have brought such an enrichment to the religious educational life of the congregation."

Dorgan gave an overview of the logistics of the Earth Spirit Week. "We run this as a half day program," she said, "it's designed to be that way." The program is run by volunteers, and Dorgan said, "we do rely very heavily on the parents of the children who are enrolled to get this thing going."

The congregation charges $50 per child for the week-long program. Children from ages 4 through 10 may participate, with a new "junior counselor" program for eleven year-olds. The children are divided into three basic age groupings: 4-5 year olds, 6-7 year olds, and 8-10 year olds. Earth Spirit Week is typically scheduled for five days in the second week of July, from 8:45 a.m. to noon.

"Each morning the children start with an opening circle," said Dorgan. "It's an oppoortunity to say hello, to reacquaint themselves with each other." The opening circle also ties into the thems of the week, and the theme for that day. After opening circle, the children go off with their age group to their usual meeting place. There, the adult leader gets the children thinking about the theme. After a snack, the children rotate through three activity centers -- music, crafts, and another activity -- each of which helps reinforce the theme. Each day ends with a closing circle, where the children sing an earth-themed song from the Unitarian Universalist hymnal.

Dorgan said she and other members of her congregation write their own curriculum. "There was really no curriculum available to us." They have written a new curriculum for each of the last four summers. She said it's "a nine month process" to develop each summer's curriculum. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton will be printing the four curriculums by late summer. Consult their website <www.uuprinceton.org> for availability and to order.

Reported by Dan Harper; edited by Jone Johnson Lewis

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St. | Boston, MA 02108 | 617-742-2100