Rebuilding, cont.

A quiet but heartfelt thanks here to all of you who have reached out to me so generously this week to say you were touched by my sermon last Sunday about rebuilding our denomination’s broken bridge between youth and adult engagement in the community of our faith. It’s been heartening to say the least – perhaps most of all when the message I received from some consisted of just two small words: “I’m in!”

I wanted to share with you that our Young Adult Covenant Group met for the first time this past Monday, and they are off to a very auspicious start. If you are between the ages of 18 and 35 and would like to be part of this group, please drop me an email (msheldenuce@gmail.com) and I’ll connect you. While some of our covenanters have been with us for some time, many are new to our congregation — I can’t wait for you to meet them.

There is a great deal of work already on our plate for the Lifespan Learning Council and for our Children & Youth Program Team, but I cannot help but think this should be within the scope of our mission, both congregationally and denominationally. The problem is, as I’ve said, both large and complex, so perhaps a slow launch is best. But look for me in the coming months to be reaching in to our community to bring people into conversation about how we might do useful work together in bridgebuilding. I have some ideas brewing, and I want to hear yours as well, along with the history of what’s been tried before, and what the sense of need might be here and now. Let’s put our heads together to figure out what it will take to get to ten lilypads.

In the meantime (where we actually live), below are some of the sources referenced in my sermon, along with some resources for bridgers. If you missed my sermon on Sunday and want to know what the fuss is about, it will eventually be posted as a video (though I shudder to think of it) – or if you’d like to read it without all the blubbery mess, just drop me an email (msheldenuce@gmail.com) and I’ll send it along to you. And thank you for thinking about what it will take to actually bridge our UU young people.

Sources:

Kate Tweedie Ersley, Full Circle: Fifteen Ways to Grow Lifelong UUs, UUA, 2004: https://www.uuabookstore.org/Full-Circle-P16733.aspx  I have asked Margaret Shaklee to stock this at the Book H as well.

Emily Parker, “Beyond the Bridge: A Study of Unitarian Universalist Emerging Adults,” Juniata College Department of Religious Studies, Senior Project, 2018: https://sites.google.com/view/pbsp

Pew Research Center, “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” Pew Forum, 2015: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

Resources:

Blue Boat Blog for Youth and Young Adult Ministries: https://www.uua.org/blueboat

Campus UUs Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CampusUUs

Church of the Larger Fellowship: A Congregation Without Walls: https://www.questformeaning.org/clfuu/

UUA Hub Map for Young Adult and Campus Ministries: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?ll=26.35232093157663%2C-93.72255200000006&msa=0&z=3&mid=1uDIuwXAUt0ja7sHp4a2SaRoLnuo

Unitarian Universalist Association College and University Campus Ministry resources: https://www.uua.org/college

Unitarian Universalist Association Young Adult Ministry resources: https://www.uua.org/young-adults

 

© August 16, 2018
2018-11-19T18:49:01+00:00

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