Religious education
Click here to view selected previous
years’ RE resources (PDF).
Consider giving your religious education classes ownership over how
the congregation runs their Guest program. When one DRE did this,
she found that the boys in her program wanted to put on Guest skits,
while the girls wanted to do a special chalice lighting during the
Guest Sunday service.
Special events
Hold a children's event around the book, "
If the World Were a
Village: A Book About the World's People" by David J. Smith and Shelagh Armstrong. One congregation found
that by doing this, the
book's message -- "together we are more" -- seemed to connect with
congregations who have a strong commitment to shared ministry.
Help your congregation's youth members hold a hunger meal at a Sunday
morning service during your Guest program.
Creative activities
Create your own Guest. This activity is a great way to help younger
religious education students bring life to Guest at Your Table. Have
each child draw their Guests, then cut them out and glue them to poster board. When finished, the children should
bring their cut-out Guests home with them, preferably on the day the
families bring home their Guest boxes. Once home, the children can
keep their Guest at the table with the family's Guest box.
Materials you'll need:
- Paper
- Poster board
- Scissors
- Glue
- Markers, crayons, paints, colored pencils
Hold a Guest pageant where children dress up like people
from countries in which UUSC works, and point out each country on a
large map.
Guide the children in creating a Guest collage. One group
made a huge collage on 17-foot-long banner entitled, "People Helping
People." They presented it to their congregation while the pianist
played "Let There Be Peace on Earth."
Create original Guest boxes. Have religious education
students make their own boxes using Chinese take-out boxes decorated with
markers, glitter, feathers, etc. The students will have fun making
the boxes and the congregants will enjoy the little works of art at
their table.
Annual project. Have an RE class adopt Guest as their annual
project. One fifth grade class chose migrant farm worker families as
the issue for which to raise money.
Use Stories of Hope, which is easy to
read for younger participants.
Hold a bake sale. Each RE class can take turns selling or
making 25-cent snacks for coffee hour. You might even use the
proceeds to help send a child to a JustWorks camp, or to help
purchase UUSC youth memberships.
