How can Our Whole Lives work with our regular church school program?
There are several factors to consider as you integrate Our Whole Lives into your Religious Education (RE) program.Decide as a congregation, an RE Committee, and a professional staff what level(s) of Our Whole Lives to offer. If there is a tradition in your congregation to offer sexuality education in grades 7-9, build on that tradition with trained teachers and committed parents and youth. Assess the interest and energy in offering other level(s) of Our Whole Lives, perhaps with young people in grades K-1 or grades 10-12. Discuss the possibilities with colleague(s), committees, and parents, and decide accordingly. Do not feel you need to introduce all levels in one or two years.
Our Whole Lives programs are flexible and can be adapted to your program needs. The programs for K-1 and grades 4-6 are eight-session courses and can therefore be scheduled between or after two regular semester programs. The high school level is a series of 14 workshops that can be integrated into youth group or classroom settings throughout the year, or grouped into weekend retreats. Similarly, the 14 adult workshops provide great flexibility in the number and schedule of sessions. Our Whole Lives for Grades 7-9 is the most substantial curriculum, offering 27 sessions for a full year of programming. However, some congregations adapt this level to meet as few as 12 times.
Some congregations offer Our Whole Lives on Sunday mornings and expand the time frame for the junior and senior high programs with the endorsement of participants, parents, teachers, and congregation. When Our Whole Lives is offered Sunday mornings during regular church school time, alternative programming needs to be offered for newcomers and children and youth who will not be participating in Our Whole Lives. Some congregations offer the Our Whole Lives youth program on a Sunday evening or weekday evening. Some congregations cluster their Our Whole Lives for grades 7-9 with neighboring congregations and offer a combination of weekend programs.
Most congregations schedule their Our Whole Lives program(s) in their religious education classrooms or youth group meeting place. But some small congregations find that meeting in a teacher's home is preferred. Clusters of congregations often rotate the meeting space among participating congregations or meet at a retreat center or a Unitarian Universalist (UU) camp or conference center in the area.
Our Whole Lives benefits from commitment on many levels of congregational leadership. There needs to be financial support to purchase the curriculum materials and train teachers at every age level. Lay leaders and professional staff need to lead the way in advocacy and education, assessment and evaluation. Support of parents, commitment by teachers to be trained, and commitment by participants to attend are critical. It is important to infuse the Our Whole Lives philosophy and values in all aspects of congregational life—education, worship, social responsibility, caring, fellowship. We can celebrate the intersection of sexuality and spirituality in our UU congregations!
Last updated on Monday, June 4, 2007.
