The Chicken or the Egg? 

It’s a classic question: Which came first? For those of you who are scientifically-minded, you can find the answer here or in this short video. 

So what does this have to do with Faith Formation, you ask. As I think about programming for next fall, especially for our children and youth, I struggle with my version of this question: Which comes first? A programming plan or the volunteers? 

I could spend countless hours making plans (let’s call it the eggs) for each age group from preschool through high school, and then cross my fingers and hope I can find the 25 volunteers (the chickens) to make it happen. OR I could try to get as many volunteers (chickens) that I can and THEN make the plans (eggs) for the year. Just for the record, our beloved volunteers are not chickens! This analogy is meant to be humorous and yet get the point across. So what are the possible consequences in each scenario? Would one make more sense than the other? 

In the first scenario, I might waste a lot of time making the eggs and then need to change it if I don’t get enough chickens, which would then take more time. I could also change the ages of each group so that I wouldn’t need as many chickens. If we look at it from the perspective of parents and their children though, this doesn’t seem as desirable. There is quite a difference  between a six-year-old and a twelve-year-old, so it’s not ideal to have them together all of the time for many reasons. While having them together periodically is good, they also need time with their peers, just like adults do. 

In the second scenario, it would take time to find chickens before making the eggs, although perhaps not as much time. The pros to this are that I would know exactly how many chickens I had and could then determine the age-range for each of the groups for the children and youth.  

Another analogy comes from Field of Dreams, with the saying, “If you build it, they will come”. This would align with the first scenario above of making the eggs and then finding the chickens. The movie romanticized this nicely, didn’t it? And while part of me loves to indulge in the romance of this approach, I have struggled with it every year of the 26 that I have been a religious educator. Some years it works out awesomely, some years it doesn’t.  

The pandemic has changed this too. It feels like starting from chicken scratch over and over. I keep trying new ways of approaching and doing things in hopes of finding the golden egg. I’m sure many of you feel this way too – in your jobs, in your social life, in your daily life. My dream is for UCE to be the golden egg – the place where everyone’s life is enriched, nurtured, tended to – so that we can be our best selves out in the world. The world needs this as much as we do. 

As I muse the chicken or the egg dilemma over in my mind, I have decided to get the chickens first. And then together we can make the golden egg.  

In Faith, 

Kathy Underwood,
Director of Lifespan Faith Formation