Our leadership is just ourself. — Claudette Colvin, civil rights activist

A community is like a ship: everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm. — Henrik Ibsen, playwright

This session sets a stage and expectations for children to grow in Unitarian Universalist leadership. Participants share what they already know about leadership. They discover ways they can become faithful leaders in Unitarian Universalism and in other communities to which they belong.

The Faith in Action activity introduces a chart of revolving, shared leadership duties to use throughout the program. It is highly suggested that you include this Faith in Action in this or another early session.

This session also introduces the stoles children will wear, beginning with this session, to symbolize that they are a Unitarian Universalist worship leader. See the Program Introduction, Before You Start, for guidance on obtaining, decorating, and working with the stoles.

Goals

This session will:

• Show that accepting leadership can be a sign of our faith
• Propose that everyone can be a leader in their own way
• Name qualities of a good leader
• Introduce stoles as a symbol of participants' accepting a leadership role.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

• Understand leadership as a sign of Unitarian Universalist faith
• Recognize a variety of signs of leadership, and understand there are many different ways to be a leader
• Become familiar with congregational leaders and opportunities for leadership in the congregation
• See themselves as leaders
• Accept a stole as a sign of their own developing leadership in the context of this program.