A vital Unitarian Universalist religious education program begins with a church-wide vision, followed by solid support from the adult members of the congregation before it ever reaches the children, youth and young adults. This support comes through thoughtful planning, dedicated volunteerism, open inclusion in church programming, and a supportive budget and adequate facility provisions.

A vital Unitarian Universalist religious education program contains elements of a caring, trusting and safe community, a climate of creativity supported by a stable organizational foundation, and provisions for clear, open and accurate communication. It is important that a church organization offer this community while understanding that the sense of acceptance and belonging are key elements for a successful volunteer program. Once that acceptance is established, true community and caring can blossom. When a stable organizational foundation is provided, an opportunity for creativity and risk-taking can exist. It is absolutely essential for a successful religious education program to provide dependable and open communication at all levels.

A vital Unitarian Universalist religious education program exudes a spirit of creative energy while hanging from a frame of largely invisible structure. A successful education program cannot survive on spirit, creativity and energy alone. These elements may appear to exist alone when carefully planned and formed to fit in the invisible structure. This structure needs to be carefully planned and produced so as not to obstruct or restrain the creative and open-ended learning environment. Creativity can be chaos without direction; likewise, structure can be stifling without space for creativity.

A vital religious education program offers varied curricula and guidance for children and youth to freely explore, contemplate, reflect, debate and form their own religious philosophies. The program leadership must include participation of the young people. Leadership needs to listen, observe and evaluate the needs of the children and youth. If the religious education program has successfully provided the elements listed above, it should be a given that the philosophies of the children and young people will flourish.

A strong Director of Religious Education co-creates, listens, balances, directs, models, supports, appreciates, communicates and articulates the goals and activities of the religious education program. As a Director of Religious Education, I attempt to look at an existing situation, listen to the religious education community, receive and balance input, define goals, guide the direction of decisions, model professional behavior, and continually evaluate. I encourage the active membership to look at their goals and formulate ways to attempt to reach those goals. I encourage using flexible time lines in all areas of programming and suggest working committees break into task subcommittees. On-going evaluation is essential throughout the full process. A dynamic Director of Religious Education needs to constantly offer support in all areas of the religious education programming.

Finally, two of the most important aspects of my current work as Director of Religious Education are providing careful consideration and appreciation for volunteers and keeping a sense of humor in all situations. The Director of Religious Education reads the pulse of the church as a whole in order that the religious education program stays in touch and in tune with the heart of the church, thus providing a vision for the future.