100+ Ways to Create a More Multigenerational Faith Community
100+ Ways to Create a More Multigenerational Faith Community
Created by Jennifer Nichols
10/15/08
- Offer basic classes on Unitarian Universalism to all ages (discreet, age based/developmentally appropriate AND together, i.e. mixed age groups for Chalice Class and Heritage Tours etc.)
- Offer theologically based, spiritually challenging classes for adults beyond UU 101.
- Do the same for youth and children.
- And maybe a class or two for all ages.
- Worship all together – yes for a full hour! And every week!
- Offer church activities (including worship) on Wednesday evenings (or Tuesday or Monday or Friday…)
- Train folks aged 14+ as worship associates and use them.
- Invite someone under age 40 to be on the worship arts committee (board, RE Committee, social justice committee, you get the idea).
- Create a Coming of Age program for 12 and 13 year olds.
- Offer membership to youth as soon as they come of age.
- Expect that families will attend every Sunday.
- Explain why it is important to have steady attendance.
- Expect your minister(s) to minister to every soul in the building.
- Expect your community to let the minister(s) minister to every soul in the building.
- Create rich experiences for middle school age kids to come together and bond (quality learning opportunities with concrete answers about our faith – this age WANTS black and white, fun youth group opportunities, COA, OWL, etc.)
- Welcome folks who grew up UU.
- Tell each other your stories.
- Ministers take responsibility for ministering to every soul in the building..
- Invite children (people) of all ages into at least part of your worship service every week.
- Plan social justice activities appropriate for folks of all ages and abilities.
- Ask children and youth to offer services at your service auction.
- Embrace and incorporate experiential, exciting, spiritually meaningful worship elements in your weekly services.
- Train folks of all ages to be greeters and ushers.
- Instead of coffee hour for adults, establish a snack hour (or community time or social time) for all ages with a variety of snacks and drinks.
- Establish a dedicated education hour so that folks of all ages can learn (separate Sunday school from the worship hour!)
- Give a full hour each Sunday to teaching our faith to folks of all ages
- Learn the names of 5 new people each month who are not of your generation.
- Sing together
- Play together
- Eat together.
- Establish a senior bridging program (not just one Sunday).
- Have a senior bridging ceremony.
- Invite seniors to bridge from youth community to the community of lifelong UUs and entire community (not just young adults).
- Invite your friends
- Use music with multigenerational appeal
- Give little hymnbooks to families with children
- Give activity booklets related to the service to children but available to all.
- Repeat hymns often in worship and other activity time so folks learn them by heart.
- Be intentional about including folks without kids all the time.
- Use accessible language.
- Create a standard series of classes, activities and events on faith formation and repeat every year (or semester, or month…)
- Give teens opportunities to teach.
- Give children and youth opportunities to sit on committees.
- Have intentional mentoring ( by age, interest, length of time as a UU) with trained mentors.
- Teach folks how to run a church.
- Teach all levels of OWL.
- Offer a variety of learning opportunities. (theology, book study, common interests, spiritual practices, social justice)
- Have multigenerational small groups (covenant groups, chalice circles, ...)
- Meditate together.
- Consider multiple learning styles when planning worship.
- Consider multiple learning styles when planning events.
- Play games together.
- Go caroling each winter.
- Have pancake breakfasts.
- Have a Decades service.
- Establish a multigenerational pen pal program.
- Pay attention to life transitions and celebrate them or provide support (divorce, retirement, marriage/commitment, sandwich generation, graduations, change jobs, etc).
- Teach life skills (relationships, money, family relations, etc.).
- Recognize and lift up those who DO church.
- Celebrate together (every little thing!)
- Make space for everyone at worship.
- Make space for everyone in worship.
- Knock on doors in your neighborhood and ask folks to come to church.
- Include all ages in becoming/being a Welcoming Congregation.
- Work on becoming a diverse, multicultural, non-racist, non-oppressive faith community together.
- Celebrate holidays together (Thanksgiving meal for those without other family around, Halloween festival, Christmas, etc.)
- Spread the Good News if Unitarian Universalism.
- Work in lateral relationships with other UU churches.
- Partner with community organizations to make the world a better place.
- Offer Neighboring Faiths as a multigenerational class always taking care to relate your experiences back to our faith and using it as a way to examine our shared values and beliefs.
- Invite high school youth to participate fully in “adult” RE.
- Attend district and continental events to widen your UU horizon.
- Ask for stewardship testimonials from all ages.
- Make sure your care team knows when kids and youth are in need pastoral support.
- Care for one another.
- Communicate well and in many different ways
- Create an entire community covenant, then practice calling yourself and others back into covenant.
- Be intentional about presence of alcohol (people in recovery and those under age can be unintentionally excluded).
- Make sure your building and grounds are accessible.
- Print large print orders of service
- Make sure high chairs are available at community meals.
- Keep your building and grounds neat and tidy.
- Make sure nursery and toddler areas are very clean and safe.
- Older folks sponsor babysitting nights for young couples to go out.
- Have more handicap parking spaces than the law requires.
- Have a protection policy in place and follow it.
- Teach folks how to articulate our faith
- Set high expectations regarding attendance, responsibility and membership.
- Create a clear path to membership (more than signing a book).
- Let your children know you want (nay expect) them to become members.
- Use multiple sources of media.
- Talk about and act upon your shared values.
- Project your order of service.
- Everybody wear nametags, please!
- Everybody gets to take part in the offertory.
- Have multiple formal singing opportunities (youth choir, children’s choir, adult choir, multigenerational choir).
- Create a multigenerational orchestra.
- Create opportunities for your minister(s) to be in relationship to the children and youth.
- Introduce movement in worship services.
- Develop a liturgical year so that the minister, DRE, and lay leaders are all using the same ideas on any given Sunday. Repeat. Then again.
- Let children (well anyone really) create art during the service in relationship to the subject. Collect, frame, and sell at the service auction.
- Understand when outside help is needed and call for it.
- Allow all ages to provide services to the church.
- Expect the children in your church to become lifelong UUs. Make your mission to raise lifelong UUs.
- Ask your nominating committee to consider ALL people of membership age and nominate them (even youth and young adults!)
- Stop being territorial (yes, I’m talking to you DRE, YRUU member, Minister, committee chair, etc.).
- Recognize that children raised as Unitarian Universalist are often more spiritually mature than older folks coming to us from other religions or non-churched. Adjust how you treat them, your expectations of them, and what you offer them.
- Approach everything and anyone that is different with respect and humility.
- Be prepared for and institutionally mature enough to give up some norms in order to be a multigenerational faith community.
REMEMBER: EVERYTHING we do is faith development.
ALL we teach is Unitarian Universalism.
Your CONGREGATION is the curriculum.