A Summit on Faith Formation in this Moment

On Oct 3-5, the UUA hosted “Exploring New Models of Religious Education and Faith Formation: a Summit on RE” as part of the Meet the Moment framework addressing these three questions:

1. What is the moment we are in?

2. What are the most urgent needs and important opportunities of this moment?

3. How do our UU values call us to respond?

On Friday night, participants were in small groups to discuss the moment we are in and the needs and opportunities. On Saturday morning, we led them through an exercise to map the ecosystem of their congregations. On Saturday afternoon, they engaged the question about responding to the moment. Some folks did a more general brainstorming and idea generating practice, while others did a deep dive into some of the emerging models. We also created materials which can be used in a Sunday Service. You can find all the notes, videos, and other materials below, and we would love it if you would keep using them!

Below are all the links and resources shared from this event

Find all the links below along with other resources shared for this event in this main event folder.

Event Materials –

Friday night materials (link to Google Folder)

• Friday Night recording (1hr 15min YouTube video)
• Check the folder (link above) for the word cloud we created together that night and the chat

Saturday materials (link to Google Folder)

• Saturday Opening recording (42min YouTube video)
• Mapping Your Ecosystem exercise recording (33min You tube video) Exercise Graphic/Worksheet (this is the online PDF version of the exercise. For the in-person version check out the in-person facilitator guide)
• You can view the New and Emerging RE Models Map. Here is a guide to the map to help you better navigate it. This is a work-in-progress! We have added all the data from the Saturday breakout rooms, as well as the needs and opportunities identified on Friday evening. We are still working on creating connections between elements so the map can be used in various ways.
  • This version of the map is showing only the resources and models folks said they needed easier access to.
• You can add to the map!
  • Use this form to add information about a model, such as features, benefits, challenges, etc.
  • Use this form to add a Model that we haven’t put on the map at all yet. (Or reach out to Erica Baron at ebaron@uua.org to discuss)
• Use this form to add a resource, either an existing resource or one you want that doesn’t exist yet.
• Most of track A was spent in breakout rooms, so the recording is not available. However, here are the ideas that came out of this Saturday afternoon session.
• Track B recording (46min YouTube video)
• Check the folder (link above) for the chat and other resources shared throughout the day.

Sunday materials: “A Piece of Fertile Ground” worship service, ready for you to adapt & share with your congregation!

• Folder of downloadable RE Summit Sunday Worship elements
• Fillable Order of Service template (please download and edit)

Here are the items we sent out ahead of time (including materials for Sunday worship). You are still invited to check them out if you haven’t yet!

Spring 2025 Wave cohort: “Whole Church Religious Education” with Lenore Bajare-Dukes, Joy Berry, and Natalie Briscoe

Old event info —

Come one, come all to a big conversation about lifespan faith development, religious education, and ministry to families that responds to the current moment and your particular context! Considering the very big picture, to plans for specific activities or models, and everything in between, we want everyone who cares about the world of RE to come share what you know, learn from each other, and help us map the landscape of innovations that are working.

Who is invited?

Everyone who cares about lifespan religious education, adult faith formation and/or family ministry in UU congregations. This includes (but is not limited to): Professional Religious Educators, Ministers, Congregation Board Members, RE Committee Members, Parents, Youth, other staff, and more! We will also give you ways to engage younger children in the conversations.

Participants will:

• Reflect in small groups about the current context within and around our congregations and what that means for how we do religious education, faith formation, and/or ministry to children, youth, and families.
• Be introduced to a variety of modes and models that congregations are using for RE/faith formation/family ministry, including the opportunities for faith formation that already exist in many facets of congregational life.
• Share and learn about how to find and use the resources that currently exist for different ways of doing RE/faith formation/family ministry; and help identify resources that would be helpful but do not yet exist for potential future development.
• Develop deeper shared knowledge about 1 or 2 of these models/modes, and imagine how they could be further developed and applied in our own congregations.

What are we doing?

Friday, October 3 – Meet the Moment Grounding

Choose to attend 7-9 pm Eastern*or 7-9 pm Pacific* on the registration. 

You will be in small groups with people of different roles to ground the weekend in the current context within and around our congregations by exploring the questions:

• What is the moment we are in?

• What are the most urgent needs and important opportunities of this moment?

Saturday, October 4 – Responding to the Moment

One gathering for everyone: 6 am – 10:30 am Hawaii | 8 am – 12:30 pm Alaska | 9 am – 1:30 pm Pacific | 10 am – 2:30 pm Mountain | 11 am – 3:30 pm Central | 12 pm – 4:30 pm Eastern

You will explore a variety of models for engaging faith formation, religious education, and ministry to families. You will hear about the innovations that are sprouting up in UU congregations, learn about new curricula and other resources, and consider what might grow best in the soil of our own congregational contexts. Bring your ideas, your questions, your challenges, your resources, and your love and care for the work of faith formation.

Sunday, October 5 (or after) – Bringing it Home — Worship Service

You will receive a suite of video / script resources to use in your congregation on Sunday, October 5 (or any Sunday after that). This includes both a worship service and some coffee-hour/workshop activities to engage your community.

“A Piece of Fertile Ground”
Every year gardeners plant seeds–not to control what will come, but out of faith that transformation and growth will follow. What unexpected gifts are growing in our religious education garden? In this time when UUs stive to “meet the moment” — when growing empathy, equity, and interdependence in children, youth, and adults is so vital — we will practice, sing, and wonder together: what gifts might grow when we let go of “shoulds” and cultivate liberal religious education with wild abundance? We join other Unitarian Universalist congregations coming together for this service as part of the national RE Summit.

Copy the iCalendar (ICS) link address to subscribe to this event (or download the file to import it) in a program which supports the iCal format.