Tapestry of Faith: Windows and Mirrors: A Program about Diversity for Grades 4-5

Alternate Activity 3: UU Partner Churches

Materials for Activity

  • Newsprint, markers and tape
  • Optional: Paper and pencils, crayons or markers for cards or letters
  • Optional: Information about Unitarian Universalist Partner Churches

Preparation for Activity

  • Visit the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council website and choose materials to share with the group.
  • Find out about your congregation's Partner Church activities. If appropriate, invite your minister or a lay leader to come talk with children about how your congregation participates.

Description of Activity

Say, in your own words:

The Unitarian Universalist Association Partner Church Program connects Unitarian Universalist congregations in the U.S. with congregations outside the U.S. to provide assistance, encouragement and partnership. These congregations in India, the Philippines and Hungarian-speaking areas of Romania represent minority religious communities, often facing misunderstanding and sometimes persecution because of members' religious beliefs.

Tell the children that Partner Churches outside the United States may include people whose beliefs are not exactly the same as theirs, but who, like Unitarian Universalists in the United States, choose freedom of conscience in matters of faith.

If your congregation has a Partner Church, tell the children how the congregation participates and brainstorm ways the group can become involved. Guide them to think of ways they could help the Partner Church children, for example, by sending cards, letters or emails to them or by holding a bake sale to raise funds for school scholarships.

If your congregation is not active in the program, make a commitment to initiate a Partner Church relationship. Lead the children to petition the larger congregation. Brainstorm reasons why you should support a Partner Church, and then write them down in a letter to your congregational leadership.