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Lifespan
Religious Education
Religious Education is a life-long process that starts in the nursery
and continues through a wide variety of lessons, activities and
workshops for children, youth, young adults, adults and families.
Exploring religious truth, meaning and
experience is central to Unitarian Universalist faith, and faith
development is central to our liberal religious education.
The St. Lawrence District is committed to helping
our congregations enhance their religious education offerings. We
encourage you to explore the many resources and links on this website,
and to read the message from Debby Herman below.
SLD Lifespan Faith Development
Staff
Program Consultant for Lifespan Faith Development &
Gould Librarian
Debby Herman
503 Rhodes Rd., Apalachin, NY 13732
(607)484-0720
pherman1@stny.rr.com
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Youth Coordinator
Jody Brown
818 Oak St., Syracuse, NY 13203
(315) 476-0447
jfb523@gmail.com |
Young Adult & Campus Ministry Consultant
Elayne Mosher
(607)431-2345
lavender8green@yahoo.com |
SLD Religious Education
Committee
2007-08
Chair & representative for the Central NY and
Capital/Metro Clusters
Lisa Horne
93 Elm St, Oneonta, NY 13820
(607)432-7323
Lisa.horne@hotmail.com
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Training Coordinator & representative for the Southern
Tier Cluster
Jacki Thompson
308 Utica St., Ithaca NY 14850
(607)272-0446
lepican@unitarian.ithaca.ny.us |
Secretary & representative for the Western NY and
Rochester Area Clusters
Anne Hibbert
412 Capen Blvd, Amherst, NY 14226
(716)831-8016
chickadee46@roadrunner.com |
Member-at-large & representative for the North Country
and Mohawk Valley Clusters
Jan Hutslar
335 North Woods Rd., Hermon, NY 13652
(315)379-0427
Janhutslar@yahoo.com
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Liberal Religious Educators
Association (LREDA) contact people
Chair of the LREDA Seaway Chapter
Sylvia Bass-West
2030 Aldersbrook Rd., London, ON N6G 3N3
(519)472-7073
Sylvia@cuc.ca
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Good Officer of the LREDA Seaway Chapter
Jan Gartner Weinstein
20 Fletcher Road, Pittsford, NY 14534
(585)381-2130
Janw@rochesterunitarian.org |
Dear
Religious Educator,
Welcome!
The Lifespan Faith Development Consultant and the
members of the St. Lawrence District Religious Education Committee wish
to extend a warm welcome to all religious educators in the district. We
on the district staff and RE committee would like to offer you
information, training and support that has proven invaluable to many.
We know from experience that it can be very
isolating to be the sole religious educator in a congregation, but
together we can do much more. As part of the St. Lawrence District, we
serve the religious educators and religious education programs of
upstate New York, from Buffalo to Albany, Plattsburgh to Binghamton –
and even one congregation located in Athens, PA. The Religious Education
Committee is made up of experienced volunteers, and thanks to the
generosity of our member congregations, the RE consultant is now a key
member of the district leadership team.
What are the services we offer you?
• Information and support through
cluster representatives. Each of the seven clusters of
congregations in the St. Lawrence District has a representative on the
District REC who regularly contacts the religious educators in her
cluster to offer leads on trainings, tips on resources, or just plain
moral support as needed. You should feel free to contact your cluster
representative, or any other member of the district RE Committee, or the
Lifespan Program Consultant (PC), at any time. We are all here to help!
• Gould Library. One of our
most popular services is our lending library of RE materials. The PC
administers the library, and mails an updated catalog in late September
or early October every year.
The
catalog can be downloaded by clicking here. We encourage you to
carefully review the listings, and consult with the PC to find curricula
and other resources that will help to meet your programming needs.
• Training. You don’t need to
reinvent the wheel! Various trainings, from short workshops to
weekend-long seminars, will broaden your knowledge, deepen your skills,
and extend your professional network. We start off the year with our
annual R.E. Fall Ingathering, which provides a wonderful opportunity for
networking and sharing of ideas with your colleagues within the
district. Especially important for Directors of Religious Education
are the Renaissance Modules developed by the UUA and offered throughout
the U.S. and Canada. We offer one per year in the St. Lawrence
district, and you are strongly encouraged to attend our offerings as
well as out-of-district modules when possible. The New DRE Workshop, a
very valuable resource for incoming religious educators, is generally
held every fall. We also offer a teacher training for one of the Our
Whole Lives curricula each year, usually in the spring. Check the
district
calendar for our upcoming trainings, as well as the
UUA website for a
listing of all scheduled Renaissance modules and O.W.L. trainings.
• Scholarships. Not all
congregations provide the professional development support needed to
attend the above educational opportunities. We are fortunate in being
able to offer some financial assistance in these cases. Our
scholarship application form is included with all of our mailings, and
may also be
downloaded here.
• Services of the Program Consultant for
Lifespan Faith Development. The PC is responsible for providing
congregations with information and support in developing, maintaining
and growing their religious education programs for all ages. This is
accomplished through email and phone consultations with religious
educators and lay leaders, as well as through on-site visits to lead
workshops or meet with committees. The PC works with individual
congregations and clusters of congregations to provide services.
Central to the role of the PC is her support for the career cycle of the
district’s religious educators: assisting with the search and hiring
process; connecting our religious educators with each other and the
broader UU world; providing training, visioning, resources and support –
and finally assisting with exit interviews and smooth transition
processes at the end of the cycle. The PC also works with and supervises
the District Youth Coordinator and the District Young Adult-Campus
Ministry (YA-CM) Consultant, and collaborates with the district’s
Religious Education Committee. Please see the
Youth-Adult
Committee (YAC) and
YA-CM
webpages for more information about the services provided by these staff
members.
• Beyond the District. In addition
to the services offered by the district, you will want to access other
important sources of information and support. Check “Resources
for Religious Educators” on this site for a comprehensive listing of
online and printed resources, training opportunities and professional
resources. We strongly encourage our religious educators to join LREDA
(Liberal Religious Educators Association), and to become involved with
our local Seaway chapter. One of LREDA’s many services is its Good
Officer program – the organization appoints and trains experienced
religious educators to serve as counselors for colleagues in need of
help with professional problems and concerns. Jan Gartner, DRE for the
First Unitarian Church of Rochester, is the Good Officer for our local
chapter.
The St. Lawrence District Lifespan RE
team would love to hear from you at any time – please contact us with
your questions and creative ideas! We send you all our best wishes for
a productive and joyous year in your congregations.
In faith,
Debby Herman, SLD Program Consultant for Lifespan
Faith Development
and members of the SLD Religious Education
Committee
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