InterConnections Tipsheet

Scholarships and other assistance are available to help send youth and young adults to General Assembly 2012, which will take place June 20–24 in Phoenix, Ariz.

The Youth and Young Adult Ministries blog, Blue Boat, has a list of resources provided by each district within the Unitarian Universalist Association. New this year, youth and young adults may make one application and be considered for scholarships from both the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and the General Assembly Planning Committee. Resources include “Get There” grants that defray the costs of transportation and food. These can help pay for bus rentals or car pooling for groups of youth or young adults and for box lunches and other meals at GA.

Grant applications received by March 31 will be given priority.

Blue Boat, the blog of Youth and Young Adult Ministries within the Unitarian Universalist Association,  is highlighting a collection of videos and other materials that will be useful to individuals and groups working on personal and social transformation. The collection, God Bless the Whole World, is a free online collection of videos, audio files, articles, and courses on social justice, spiritual activism, and environmentalism, which are useful in starting discussions not only among youth and young adult groups, but in other groups as well.

Blue Boat also has other resources for youth and young adult groups, including articles and videos on youth leadership, campus ministry, and social justice.

As part of a UUA-wide effort to make it possible for more youth and young adults to attend the “Justice” General Assembly this June in Phoenix, the UUA’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries and the General Assembly Planning Committee have launched the “GA Accessibility Project.”

Congregations interested in learning how to bring more youth and young adults to GA this year can find information on the Youth and Young Adult Ministries blog, Blue Boat. That information includes GA program listings, how the GA youth and young adult caucuses operate, available scholarships and grants, as well as information on affordable housing and transportation.

Later this winter the accessibility resources will include information on fundraising and youth safety.

Youth leaders responsible for planning social justice trips with youth will want to pick up a new book, Journeys of the Spirit: Planning and Leading Mission Trips with Youth.

The authors are Jennifer McAdoo and Anne Principe, two Unitarian Universalist religious educators from New England who, between them, have organized mission trips to Central America, Romania, Massachusetts, Maine, the Texas border with Mexico, and New Orleans.

The book covers how to determine what type of mission trips to do and why, and goes on to explain team-building and fundraising and how to share the trip upon returning home. It also includes testimonials by veteran UU social justice activists, including the Rev. Richard S. Gilbert, on their various experiences with mission work.

The book, published by the Unitarian Universalist Association, is $15 and is available at the UUA Bookstore.

During his years at the UU Fellowship of Ames, Iowa, (ending last spring) the Rev. Brian Eslinger wrote scripts for Christmas Eve productions by youth. The scripts are now collected in the book Winter Play: Scripts to Inspire Seasonal Celebrations, which is available for free from the fellowship. More information is available at www.uufames.org/winterplay.

Tandi Rogers Koerger, program specialist for the UUA’s Pacific Northwest District, writes on her blog, “Putting Religious Education in its Place,” about the year when there were only two youth in her congregation’s youth group. The previous year there had been 18, but 16 graduated.

In a piece titled “Cheese Fries,” she says “Our congregation made a bold decision. They funded the two-member youth group as if they were the rowdy 18.” Koerger said she and the youth hung out that year, doing things like debating the UU appropriateness of current musical lyrics, and eating cheese fries at Denny’s.

Koerger says both youth are now in their 20s.

“They look back at our youth group year with just the three of us and are grateful that the congregation saw them as legitimate and worthy of the effort. Religious education is implicit in the decisions we make as a congregation, including fiscal decisions. Religious education is nestled in those leaps of faith and small actions that say, ‘We see you. We need you. You are worthy.’”

Congregations interested in nurturing youth groups are invited to use a new guide that will help them explore the UUA’s Youth Ministry Working Group Report.

The Youth Ministry Working Group was established in 2008 and charged with recommending a framework for youth ministry in congregations and across the Association. The Working Group report is the culmination of a multiyear process involving thousands of UUs at every level of the Association.

The 24-page report offers both specific suggestions and a call for a broad culture change in congregations in order to nurture youth ministry. Said Erik Kesting, the UUA’s Youth and Young Adult Ministries director, “The goal is for congregations to discuss the report and recommendations and make some changes in their youth programs and/or adopt new programs.”

April 20, 2010, is the deadline to apply for scholarships for youth and young adults to attend General Assembly this June in Minneapolis. The UUA will pay the GA registration fee and up to $500 of other expenses for applicants who can demonstrate need.

Find out more here or by emailing youth@uua.org, youngadults@uua.org, or calling 617-948-4350.

Do you know a young person who is interested in Unitarian Universalism and journalism? UU World is now accepting applications for its summer internship program in Boston. This is a great opportunity to gain valuable experience working on both print and online publications at UUA headquarters.

Ideally a summer intern would be available to start in mid to late May, but dates and hours are negotiable. Read more at uuworld.org or email Assistant Editor Sonja L. Cohen for more information.

From March’s InterConnections feature story, now online at UUA.org:

The Rev. Krista Taves believes children belong in worship. With adults. For more than 15 minutes.

And for the past three years that’s what has happened at the 100-member Emerson Unitarian Universalist Chapel in Ellisville, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. For fully the first half of every service, all children are in attendance. They take part in singing and candle lighting and are there for a prayer, the offertory, and a story before being sung out to their own children’s chapel.

Having children in the service for this long has been nothing short of transformational for Emerson, says Taves. But change didn’t happen without hard work.

Go to the full article.