Faith In Action: Passing the Torch
Activity time: 0 minutes
Description of Activity
Participants cultivate younger leaders to join them in interfaith work and carry it on for the future.
Nurturing the next generation of leaders is one responsibility of current leaders. Tell the youth they can help ensure that interfaith work continues to happen in your congregation by encouraging younger leaders to take it on. Offer the group these two suggestions:
1. Challenge each participant to reach out to a younger member, perhaps middle school age, and tell them about their own experience about why interfaith work is important to them. Arrange a lunch, a picnic, or simply coffee hour time together when the participant shares what they have been doing. If the group created a mural, participants could show and explain the mural to younger youth and tell them why interfaith work is important. Participants can personally invite younger youth to take part in an upcoming event or dialogue. To let the congregation know about the multi-age relationship-building, take pictures of each meeting and publish them with articles in the congregational newsletter or post them on a bulletin board display or congregational website.
2. Create a chapel service for the religious education community. Involve people who have experience creating worship. Designate worship leaders, perhaps one or two youth and an adult. The Chorus of Faiths group can select hymns and readings familiar to young people and tell one of the UU interfaith stories from this curriculum. For a homily, a few youth might share about their interfaith experiences. At a chapel service, the group might display the mural and ask younger members to close their eyes and picture themselves in the mural as they join with the high school youth to help bring interfaith pluralism to the world. Children and youth could then reflect on what they can do-now or in the future-and be invited to light a candle and share their commitments during the service.