|
Outline
- What is Coming of Age?
- What are the Goals?
- Who are the Participants?
- What is the Content of the Program?
- When does it Happen?
- Links - lots of great resource materials
1. What is Coming of Age?
Coming of Age in the Unitarian
Universalist tradition is a program and a rite of passage for youth,
usually in the 12- to 14-year-old age range.
Participation in a Coming
of Age program helps young people make the transition from the children's
program to the youth and young adult communities in our congregation.
Frequently participants in
the Coming of Age program develop a strong group identity that supports
them in staying active with the intergenerational church community at
a time when most adolescents are drifting away.
Young participants investigate
their personal spirituality and are encouraged to develop a sense of
what they believe, through discussion, listening to guest speakers,
and participating in retreats and workshops.
As a group or individually,
social action or social service projects are often part of a program.
Participants learn together about leadership, relationships, and sexuality.
The program generally closes
with a celebratory Sunday service at which the young participants may
share their credo statements and other products of their participation
such as songs, dance, and readings. The adult congregation and the youth
group welcome the young people to expanded involvement.
top of page
2. What are the Goals?
Each new Coming of Age program
may emphasize different goals, so the goals should be reviewed and revised.
Here is an example of one such goal statement.
Participants in the Coming
of Age program will:
- Learn
more about who they are as spiritual, emotional and physical individuals
and about where they fit in the world and our community.
- Learn about growing up and living their principles by working with adult mentors
drawn from the congregation.
- Learn about Unitarian Universalism and their home congregation.
- Mark their passage from childhood into adolescence through activities and
rituals.
- Celebrate their entrance into fuller participation in our community.
-
Have fun together and with their adult mentors or advisers and program coordinators.
- LM
top of page
3. Who are the Participants?
An invitation is issued to
young people aged 12 to 14 years who have been part of the RE
program but have not yet taken part in a Coming of Age program. Consent
and support of their parents is required. In our congregation, we have
had from 5 to 15 youth participants each time the program has been offered.
Other participants include
adult resource persons and mentors or advisers.
An example of a leadership
structure is as follows. One or more volunteers or church professionals
would be responsible for each area. Youth should participate in leadership
as much as possible. Where a minister is available, she or he would
often be responsible for the last three topics. Each area of activity
may be omitted or altered, of course.
- Overall Coming of Age co-ordinator
- Leadership training
- Retreats: organize accommodation, food, activities, supervision
- Coordinator of mentors: recruitment, screening, assignment, supervision, recognition
- Coordinator of adult/youth social and group activities
- Relationships and sexuality (preferably persons with formal Our Whole Lives training)
- Credo development (what I believe - see appendix)
- History of Unitarian Universalism and of our congregation
- Worship and opening and closing ceremonies
See also this
2004 document describing the features and functions of mentors.
Some congregations prefer to have adult/youth pairs work together as
a group. This helps with comfort levels of all ages and personalities.
Pairings usually take place informally during the activity and do not
have to be the same for the length of the program. This will depend
largely on the size and scope of the Coming of Age program.
top of page
4. What is the Content of the Program?
Depending on the resources
available, the program might be two months to eight months in length,
with the topics arranged in any order that makes sense to the organizers
and participants.
The program generally opens and closes with a weekend retreat. Click here
to see a video and read articles from Canadian Unitarian giving details
of opening retreats.
The program continues with
regular evening or weekend meetings. Experience shows that weekly meetings
promote better participation than less frequent meetings. Some congregations
that are not too far apart have organized shared Coming of Age programs.
A closing retreat might often
be in a camp setting where young participants are given challenges such
as looking after their food and housing, gathering fuel, hiking or boating,
or engaging in wilderness spirit quest activities.
In addition to the retreats,
the program includes social time for the group, and group sessions on:
- Leadership skills - group
process, communication, decision-making, conflict management
- Relationships and sexuality
(often based on the Our Whole Lives program)
- Credo - developing a personal
religious position - see details in the Appendices
- UU history and history of our congregation
- Worship and ritual
- Social action, possibly
including a shared social action project or discussion of social action
initiatives carried out separately with the mentors
- Facing challenges, physical
and social
top of page
5. When Does it Happen?
Scheduling a Coming of Age
program depends primarily on availability of volunteers willing to promote
and offer the program, as well as availability of a cohort of at least
half a dozen interested youth. Typically in our small congregation it
takes two to three years between sessions to build up these necessary
elements.
Ideally planning and recruitment
of volunteers should start for a Coming of Age session a year in advance
of its opening.
Other factors considered
in planning include: (a) Other events occurring within the congregation
during the Coming of Age time period, taking into account scheduling
conflicts as well as volunteer burnout from simultaneous programs. (b)
Major school holidays and busy times of the year.
top of page
6. Links: Coming of Age resources for volunteer leaders and for the
DRE and Minister
From UUA
UUA's
COA-L listserv. Highly recommended for DREs and adult leaders.
On this email discussion group, virtually any possible
question about Coming of Age of programs can be and has been raised
and discussed, often with expert contributions from professional
leaders in our denomination.
Compilation
of Coming of Age programs (~1996. 4 MB PDF)
To be replaced by The Coming of Age Handbook.
A resource with workshops on theology, spirituality, history, social
justice, and other topics, along with suggested guidelines for designing
a congregationally unique program, by Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, to
be available in November 2008 from UUA Bookstore.
CUC presentation
on Coming of Age programs
(~4 MB PDF, 35 slides with great pictures)
Coming
of Age program outline including goals, learning methods, community
celebration and other topics (<80 KB PDF, 7 pages)
From Unitarian Congregation of Saskatoon
Checklist for
coordinators of Coming of Age programs
Invitation
to parents and CoA registration form (2008. MS Word)
Description of mentor function (2004)
Brochure,
schedule, registration for closing retreat (2004. 235KB PDF)
Credo writing: outline for parents (2008)
Evaluation
form for parents, youth, and leaders (2004)
Other resources
Words To Live By: Creating a Personal Credo by
Judith A. Burch (2004 MS Word).
Contact information to purchase a 10-session curriculum for youth and young
adults.
top of page
|