If money weren't an issue....

Religious Education

from Sonja Lamicela, DRE

If money weren't an issue....

I've been asked before “If money wasn't an issue what would you do in your RE program?”

I think to myself...hmmm...

·         I'd hire a consistent well trained child care provider for the nursery so that new parents could go to the service and revive their spirit for the hard work of parenting.

·         I'd have a team of at least three people trained for every level of OWL(Our Whole Lives), our comprehensive Unitarian Universalist Sexuality Education Curricula for K-1, 4-5, 7-8, High School, Young Adult and Adults.

·         I'd have the most up to date curricula available to our teaching teams

·         Maybe I'd even take our teachers on a team building cruise to Bermuda each fall

·         I'd send our Youth on Short Term Mission trips so that they can have transformational  experiences that affect their long term social action visions.

·         I'd bring in trainers for our RE teachers to learn more about including children with special needs and Unitarian Universalist history.

·         I'd buy a Star Trek  food synthesize so that every child could have a perfect snack that tastes like cream puffs but is as nutritious as kale.

·         I'd provide transportation to families who are struggling for gas money or a functioning car to get to church.

·         I'd hire sign language interpreters and teaching aids for our special needs children to ensure inclusion for everyone in our Sunday School.

·         I'd build on a “Children's Chapel” so that all of our children could worship in one space several times per year.

·         I would expand our  lending library of spiritually based parenting books to help parents through the sticky parts of raising UU children.

·         I'd have several classes every week for adults to explore their UU faith in a study or discussion format so that everyone could find something that fit their schedule and their needs.

·         I'd give every child a copy of each of our hymnals so that they can explore our music at home.

·         I'd set up a fund to send all of our Youth and/or families to UU camp each summer.

·         I'd send all of our graduating Seniors to General Assembly to claim their voice in the larger movement.

·         Maybe I'd even take all of our middle school children on a World tour to Boston and New Jersey to see our headquarters and where we started in the US and Transylvania and India to see UU churches in other parts of the world.

These are a few things that come to my mind.  What would you dream if Money was not an obstacle?