ARE Approach

Learning can be “informational” or “transformational”. Informational learning fits into the container of how one frames the world. Transformational learning begins a disorienting dilemma that requires a change in that container. Stories, either read or told, are a good way to provide an emotional hand-hold for engaging with the issue.

There are many very important issues about which we need to educate ourselves. However, to keep from having an ARE program that is “an inch deep and a mile wide,” ARE strives to offer opportunities that invite a deeper growing for the participants.

Activities sponsored by the committee during the past year include: book discussion groups; presentations on immigration and world music; a parents’ group; and UU-101 and UU Exploration, discussion groups about Unitarian Universalism.

Intergenerational Work

At UUTC, we work toward inclusion of all age groups in educational activities. Stories are also a useful way to do intergenerational work. People of different generations can relate to a story from their own situation.

Library

Feel free to visit UUTC's library. Books and other materials in this library are available on loan to UUTC members and friends. Here is a sample of titles acquired in June 2010 that might be of interest to you:

• Caresharing: A Reciprocal Approach to Caregiving and Care Receiving in the Complexities of Aging, Illness or Disability, Marty Richards
• Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning, Scotty McLennan
• A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-First Century, John A. Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker
• Serving with Grace: Lay Leadership as a Spiritual Practice, Erik Walker Wikstrom
• Stone Blessings, Robert Walsh
• “They Take Our Jobs!” and 20 Other Myths about Immigration, Aviva Chomsky
• Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals, John A. Buehrens

Annual ARE Program Cycle

New program ideas can be presented to the Adult Religious Exploration Committee for sponsorship. The ARE committee will organize and prioritize these in their monthly meetings, usually held on the first Thursday of every month. To present an idea to the ARE committee, please review the ARE Program Criteria, then submit this form.

For more information please contact the Directors of Religious Exploration.