Neighboring Faith Communities, part 2
A curriculum for grades 6-8
By Dan Harper, v. 0.9
Copyright (c) 2019 Dan Harper
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FIFTH VISIT: New forms of Christianity
Logistics:
— arrange the visit to the Vive Church [C3 Global Church] on Feb. ___
Session 17: Pentecostal expression of the spirit (alternate years: Mormonism)
Session 18: Visiting Vive Church [C3 Global Churches]
Session 19: Talking about the field trip
Session 20: Games and group building
Session 17: Pentecostal expression of the spirit
A. Take attendance, light the chalice — 5 min.
Each week a different young person can light the chalice. Then say the standard chalice lighting words for our congregation.
B. Check in — 10 min.
For check-in, there are three jars of water on the table: one labeled with a happy face, one labeled with a sad face, and one labeled with a question mark. Everyone gets three marbles to drop in the jars. Before you drop your marbles in the jars, say your name. When you drop a marble in the jar with a happy face, you can say something good that happened to you in the past week: “I’m happy because….” When you drop a marble in the jar with the sad face, you can say something bad that happened in the past week: “I’m sad because….” And when you drop a marble in the jar with the question mark you can say something that you wonder about: “I wonder….”
C. Video on Pentecostalism
Say something like this:
“The BBC writes: ‘Pentecostals believe that faith must be powerfully experiential, and not something found merely through ritual or thinking. Pentecostalism is energetic and dynamic. Its members believe they are driven by the power of God moving within them.’ Pentecostalism is the fastest growing group of Christians worldwide. Why is Pentecostalism growing quickly? Here’s a video that explains thwy Pentecostalism is growing so fast around the world:”
After the video, ask for the teens’ reactions. Do you like the idea that Pentecostalism is a religion that’s more about doing than thinking? Do you like the idea that Pentecostalism is a religion that’s warm and gives a sense of family? What do you NOT like about Pentecostalism?
D. Spiritual music of the C3 Church Global
The C3 Church Global, which started in Australia and is spreading worldwide, is an up-dated version of Pentecostalism aimed at urban young people. One of their most important methods of reaching out to young people is their music, which is an up-dated expression of Pentecostal spiritual experience and ecstasy. Here’s a video of one of their worship songs, filmed live in Australia:
Make sure everyone understands the words to the chorus: “He who the Son sets free / Is free, free indeed…” Point out that “the Son” refers to the son of God, i.e., Jesus Christ.
Questions for discussion:
— Ask the teens what they LIKE about music.
— Ask the teens what they DISlike about the music.
— Compare this to Unitarian Universalist music. What do you think of our music?
E. Preparing for the visit:
The C3 Global Church is not covered in How To Be a Perfect Stranger. So to prepare for a visit, here are some excerpts from a BuzzFeed article on Vive Church (called, until recently, C3 Silicon Valley): “…[the church] aims to propagate its gospel by attracting the cool, young people in its own neighborhood…. Lyrics [to songs] are displayed, karaoke-style, on a screen…. The dress code is Wholesome Coachella — maxi dresses, floppy felt hats, brightly colored jeans — and new-comers were handed a little cloth drawstring pouch that included a disposable cup, redeemable for a free cup of Apostle Coffee, sold in a little stand outside the auditorium…. There are all these cool-looking diverse young people jumping around having fun at church….”
Also check out Vive Church’s Yelp.com page, where they have uploaded lots of photos of people at their church — this will give you an idea of what kind of clothes they expect you to wear.
Note that Vive Church is NOT LGBTQ-friendly.
Dress code: __________
Where and how we will be expected to sit/stand/etc.: __________
What we will be expected to do: __________
We also help the young people strategize about how they will behave in the case of longer periods of quiet meditation (e.g., at a Quaker meeting, at a Unity Church). And we talk about how they should behave during the social hour afterwards (e.g., don’t grab too much food, wait until others have eaten, etc.). Sometimes, it can be useful to look at a faith community’s Web site, to see if they have video snippets of services to see how people are behaving, photos showing what people are wearing, etc.
N.B.: Hillsong is another Pentecostal-based world-wide church that has a strong music ministry and a similar style of worship. Hillsong’s music is more widely known; sales of their music provide a substantial part of Hillsong’s income. A visit to a Hillsong church would be a good alternative to a visit to a C3 Global church. Here’s a sample Hillsong worship song.
F. Closing circle
Stand in a circle. Hold hands. Go around the circle, and everyone says one thing they learned today. Then everyone says the unison benediction together:
Go out into the world in peace
Be of good courage
Hold fast to what is good
Return no one evil for evil
Strengthen the fainthearted
Support the weak
Help the suffering
Rejoice in beauty
Speak love with word and deed
Honor all beings.
Leader resource: What is Pentecostalism?
Many Unitarian Universalists aren’t sure what Pentecostalism is, and may confuse it with fundamentalism and evangelicaism. Therefore, it would be a good idea for leaders to spend a little time reading up on the subject before teaching this unit.
The best place to begin is the Harvard University Pluralism Project article “Fundamentalism, Evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism” online here. The last two paragraphs of the article give a quickie overview of Pentecostalism, but you should at least skim the whole article so you get a sense of the differences between fundamentalists, evangelicals, and Pentecostals.
If you have more time, the BBC has an excellent, though lengthy, article on Pentecostalism here. If you have limited time, read the first section, “Introduction,” including the subsections “Pentecostalism,” “Denominations and a movement,” “Bible-based,” “The day of Pentecost,” and Growing strongly.” Also of interest to Unitarian Universalists: Pentecostals do not baptize babies, they do child dedications instead; and there are Pentecostals who hold a unitarian theology, i.e., they do not believe in the divinity of Jesus.
Session 18: Visiting the C3 Global church
As families arrive on the morning of the visit, one teacher checks in each young person, and makes sure they have a signed permission form (unless their parent is going on the trip). The other teacher engages the class in conversation about what they might expect, and what to look for when they arrive at the place they’re going to visit. All this may happen in the parking lot, depending on your schedule. However, if there’s time, go in to the classroom and light a flaming chalice and do check-in. This helps center everyone.
Then split up into cars, and drive to the place you’re visiting. Plan to arrive so that you have time to park, and so that you will have at least ten minutes from the time you set foot on the doorstep to the beginning of the service. Ideally, you will have made a contact at the site you’re visiting, and they will welcome you; if so, you should arrive at the time they ask.
After the service is over, attend the social hour (if there is one) for 10-20 minutes. Then back into the cars, and head back to the parking lot for parent pick-up.
Session 19: Talking about the field trip
A. Take attendance, light the chalice — 5 min.
Each week a different young person can light the chalice. Then say the standard chalice lighting words for our congregation.
B. Check in — 10 min.
For check-in, there are three jars of water on the table: one labeled with a happy face, one labeled with a sad face, and one labeled with a question mark. Everyone gets three marbles to drop in the jars. Before you drop your marbles in the jars, say your name. When you drop a marble in the jar with a happy face, you can say something good that happened to you in the past week: “I’m happy because….” When you drop a marble in the jar with the sad face, you can say something bad that happened in the past week: “I’m sad because….” And when you drop a marble in the jar with the question mark you can say something that you wonder about: “I wonder….”
C. Processing the field trip experience: “What, so what, now what”:
i. “What happened?”: 5-10 minutes
Teachers prompt the young people to collectively give a narrative account of what happened on the trip: What happened when we arrived, what did you see and hear? What happened next? And next? What people did you meet? Etc. (If there are young people or teachers who did not attend the field trip last session, this is a chance to tell them what happened on the trip, in some detail.)
ii. “What was important?”: 5-10 minutes
This is based on the classroom poster.
— Feelings:
Stand up if this is how you felt at any time during the service:
Peaceful
Excited
Hopeful
Worried
Cheerful
Sad
Comfortable
Uncomfortable
…any other feelings?
— Music and arts:
Values voting: think about the music used in the service (and describe the music to anyone who did not go on the field trip). “If you really liked the music, go to this side of the room [point], if you really didn’t like it go to the other side, or you can stand somewhere in the middle.” Then ask people at the extremes and/or in the middle to what the music made them feel like.
— Social norms:
Free-for-all discussion: Who was the most important person (or people) in this service? Could you tell who was in charge of the faith community? Who was friends with whom — were there cliques, could you see an in-group and an out-group, or did everyone seem to get along with everyone?
— Polite & impolite:
Brainstorming: On a flip chart, make 2 horizontal headings: Clothing; Behavior. Starting with clothing, brainstorm a list of what people were wearing — what was the most common thing to wear (for males, for females, any other genders)? Next go to behavior, and brainstorm a list of things you could and couldn’t do in the service, and at social hour. Finally, see if you can think of anything else that was considered polite or impolite.
iii. “Now what?”: 2-3 minutes
Imagine our congregation wanted to work on a social justice project with the field trip site. Try to come up with 2 or 3 social justice projects you think we might possibly cooperate on. (You should have the class look at the church’s Web site — there is no evidence of any social justice work.)
D. Bonding games
Yup, it’s time for more fun and games. Ideas for games here.
E. Closing circle
Stand in a circle. Hold hands. Go around the circle, and everyone says one thing they learned today. Then everyone says the unison benediction together:
Go out into the world in peace
Be of good courage
Hold fast to what is good
Return no one evil for evil
Strengthen the fainthearted
Support the weak
Help the suffering
Rejoice in beauty
Speak love with word and deed
Honor all beings.
Session 20: Games and a video
A. Take attendance, light the chalice — 5 min.
Each week a different young person can light the chalice. Then say the standard chalice lighting words for our congregation.
B. Check in — 10 min.
For check-in, there are three jars of water on the table: one labeled with a happy face, one labeled with a sad face, and one labeled with a question mark. Everyone gets three marbles to drop in the jars. Before you drop your marbles in the jars, say your name. When you drop a marble in the jar with a happy face, you can say something good that happened to you in the past week: “I’m happy because….” When you drop a marble in the jar with the sad face, you can say something bad that happened in the past week: “I’m sad because….” And when you drop a marble in the jar with the question mark you can say something that you wonder about: “I wonder….”
C. Games
We have found that it’s good to break up this course with occasional sessions where we play games or do group-building initiatives. So this session, do some games and activities to help improve group cohesion. You can find suggestions for games here.
D. Video on spiritual healing
Say something like this: Though we usually don’t think of yoga and meditation as being religious, scholars of religion often study them as alternative forms of spirituality. Alternative spiritualities don’t require a belief in a supernatural being, or membership in a formal faith community. Yet in many ways, alternative spiritualities do the same thing as organized religions: they help people to stay centered, and they help people make sense out of their lives. Here’s a video that looks at spiritual healing practitioners who provide alternative spiritual practices in Long Beach, California:
After the video, say something like this: Many people in the United States think that if you’re religious, you have to believe in God, you have to go to church (or some equivalent of church), you can only belong to one religion, etc. Yet if you look at religions around the world, this is clearly incorrect. Many Buddhists in southeast Asia do not believe in God. Traditional Navajos do not have any religious equivalent to a church with weekly gatherings for worship. In Japan, many people feel equally comfortable in a Shinto temple or a Buddhist temple. So religion does NOT require belief in God, or going to church, or belonging only to one religion.
With that in mind: How are yoga and meditation LIKE religion? How are they UNLIKE religion? And if religion is not about believing in God or going to church, what IS religion?
To conclude the discussion, say something like: Don’t expect to come up with a final answer to any of these questions — scholars are still debating these questions, and no one has the final answer. In fact, it’s entirely possible that there is no definition of religion that includes everything that we call religion!
D. Closing circle
Stand in a circle. Hold hands. Go around the circle, and everyone says one thing they learned today. Then everyone says the unison benediction together:
Go out into the world in peace
Be of good courage
Hold fast to what is good
Return no one evil for evil
Strengthen the fainthearted
Support the weak
Help the suffering
Rejoice in beauty
Speak love with word and deed
Honor all beings.