Multigenerational Faith Development

Midwest Leadership SchoolBeloit, Wisconsin

July 22, 2008

More Than Numbers

•Numerical Growth•Maturational Growth•Organic Growth•Incarnational Growth

Maturational Growth

This growth is in stature and maturity of each

member, growth in faith and the ability to nurture

and be nurtured.

Line

Infants

ChildrenYouth

Young Adults

AdultsElders

Circle

Infants

Children

Youth

Young Adults

Adults

Elders

Community

All persons, both children and adults, need

community.

Community

Children are like canaries in a coal mine.

Hardwired to Connect

We are hardwired for close attachments to other

people, beginning with our parents and extended

family, and then moving out to the broader community.

Hardwired to Connect

We are hardwired for meaning, born with a built-

in capacity and drive to search for purpose and reflect on life’s ultimate

ends.

Connected Community

It treats children as ends in themselves.

Connected Community

It is a social institution that includes children and youth.

Connected Community

It is warm and nurturing.

Connected Community

It establishes clear limits and expectations.

Connected Community

The core of its work is performed largely by non-specialists.

Connected Community

It is multi-generational.

Connected Community

It has a long-term focus.

Connected Community

It reflects and transmits a shared understanding of what it means

to be a good person.

Connected Community

It encourages spiritual and religious development.

Connected Community

It is philosophically oriented to the equal dignity of all persons and to the principle of love of neighbor.

Strategies

Strategies are used by those who have the time to reflect and make connections between the situation as it stands and the changes and outcomes desired.

Tactics

Tactics are the activities of people who have neither the luxury of time nor perhaps the benefit of a thoroughgoing look at the situation as a whole.

Lifespan Faith Development

Vision StatementWe envision children, youth, and adults who…

Vision Statement

affirm that they are part of a Unitarian Universalist religious heritage and

community of faith that has value and provides resources for living;

Vision Statement

know that they are lovable beings of infinite worth, imbued with powers of the soul, and

obligated to use their gifts, talents, and potentials in the service of life;

Vision Statement

accept that they are responsible for the stewardship and creative transformation of their religious heritage and community of

faith;

Vision Statementrealize that they are moral agents, capable of making a

difference in the lives of other people, challenging structures of social and political oppression, promoting

the health and wellbeing of the planet, acting in the service of diversity, justice and compassion;

Vision Statement

recognize the need for community, affirming the importance of families,

relationships and connections between and among the generations;

Vision Statement

appreciate the value of spiritual practice as a means of deepening faith and integrating

beliefs and values with everyday life;

Vision Statement

experience hope, joy, mystery, healing, and personal transformation

in the midst of life's challenges.