All of church is religious education.
We all have something to learn from each other.
All of church teaches us something, from how people are greeted when they come in the door to what decor lines the hallways to the governance structure itself. People of ALL ages have things to learn from and teach each other: history; how we want to be treated; organizing tactics; recipes; how to share; ideas about justice. In church, we learn to be something greater than the sum of our parts.
Some things that are important to me, that I hope our congregations are thinking about:
Where is the congregation in its anti-racist, anti-oppression, multicultural work?
How often do we interact as a multigenerational community?
How are decisions made? Who makes them? Are they transparent?
What is a family? What do families need? Have we asked?
How often do we refer to the Principles/Values, and in what contexts?
Who are our leaders? What do they look like? How old are they? What are their backgrounds?
Are worship services accessible to people of all ages and classes?
How often do we talk about money? How often do we talk about generosity? How often do we talk about resources?
How engaged is the congregation with the UUA? How involved is the congregation with interfaith partners?
Why are we Unitarian Universalist? What does being Unitarian Universalist mean to us?
Children—and adults—learn from ALL of church, not just in the classroom, and none of us are empty vessels just waiting to be filled up with knowledge. We all have something to teach, just as we all have many things to learn.