Faith Without Borders: Educating for Faithful Global Citizenship

Global map showing the lights of civilization.

Learning about the lives and experiences of people around the world, developing understanding of complex global issues, and studying methods of effective international engagement are a few of the ways that we can provide educational opportunities.

Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations are invited to use the following check-list as a way of evaluating the inclusion of Educating for Faithful Global Citizenship in their international engagement.

  • At least one Adult RE opportunity each year involves a Sixth Principle theme.
  • Multi-generational curricula designed by the International Coucil of UUs (ICUU), the UU Partner Church Council (UUPCC) and other international U/U organizations are regularly used.
  • Our newsletter and website regularly include information about our congregation’s international engagement and other issues of faithful global citizenship.
  • We’ve offered the “Faithful Engagement: How UU Congregations Meet the World” workshop.
  • We’ve included selections from the “Faith without Borders” bibliography in our book/film/covenant group programming.
  • We subscribe to and share information from newsletters and email lists of UU groups like the UU United Nations Office (UU-UNO), the UU Service Committee (UUSC), the UUPCC, Project Harvest Hope, etc.
  • We participate in educational opportunities offered by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) International Resources Office (IRO).
  • The congregation annually hosts a speaker/workshop from a UU international organization.

If your congregation fulfills two or more of these examples of educational offerings, you’re well on the way towards integrating this aspect of international engagement.

Please consider choosing one or two additional elements to grow into over the next 1-3 years.

If there are other ways in which your congregation is Educating for Faithful Global Citizenship, please share them with the UUA’s International Resources Office (IRO).

Educating for Faithful Global Citizenship: Resources

Visit the International Resource Office for updates and web links to materials.

I. From the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU)

ICUU Website

  • The Garden of Unitarian-Universalism was written to help Unitarians and Universalists everywhere gain a broader and deeper understanding of our shared faith. It was written so that Unitarians and Universalists worldwide might recognize the diversity of our faith and also what unites us. An additional aim of the curriculum is to help U/U individuals connect with one another around the world.

II. From the UU Partner Church Council (UUPCC)

UUPCC Website

  • Adult Courses and Handouts
    • History of European Unitarianism Course (six sessions) developed by Jeanne Kocsis and Flora Majumder, Northampton/Florence MA
    • Our Transylvanian Roots (three sessions) for a congregation deciding whether to form a travel group to visit their partner developed by Ruth Gibson, Denver CO
    • List of Selected Dates in General European and Transylvanian History
    • Quiz for History of European Unitarianism Course
    • Bibliography on European Unitarianism
    • "Crowns and Dreams—A History of Queen Isabella of Transylvania"
      Sermon by Kendal Gibbons
    • The Gulbrandsen and Schulz Report to the 1990 General Assembly
      Natalie Gulbrandsen, Weston, MA, and William Schulz, New York, NY
    • Four Short History Skits for use in Adult Education courses on Transylvanian history or theology
      Kinga Zsigmond, St. Paul, Transylvania
  • Curricula for Children and Youth
    • Who Are Our Partners Around the World (6 lessons for Middle school children and Elementary Children (ages 8-13)
      Developed by Betsy Williams
    • A Mural of Our Church
      An Partner Church Exchange Project for children and youth, ages 5-12 or 5-17
      Developed by Mary Tripp, Fairfax, VA
    • A Partner Church Sunday
      Four lessons for classes of Grades K-8
      Developed by Gabrielle Farrell, St. Louis, MO
    • Around the Church, Around the Year
      Our Partner Church—Lesson #21: "Our Favorite Objects"
      Revised for use by partner churches by Ruth Gibson, Denver, CO
    • Travel in Time
      Two new PCC lessons "The King Who Listened to His Mother," and "Visit to a Transylvanian Village"
      Developed by Ruth Gibson, Denver, CO
    • Including Your Partnership in Coming of Age Classes
      How To Including Your Partnership Connection in Curriculum for A Coming of Age Class
      Developed by John Dale, Atlanta, GA
    • Children in the Philippines
      Developed by Susan Quisel (RE Director of the UUCP)

III. The UU Global Literacy Project—A program of the International Convocation of Unitarian and Universalist Women (ICUUW)

ICUUW Website

  • The Global Literacy Project—written by Rev. Dorothy Emerson—provides a process and Internet-based resources for educating ourselves and each other in global and cultural literacy, encouraging participants to:
    • Examine how we are connected with others around the world
    • Explore the impact our connections have on others
    • Consider ways to be in right relations with people in our global village
    • Learn about U*U and United Nations organizations that are working globally to improve women’s lives
    • Consider what we know and what we need to know to be effective global citizens
    • Strengthen our U*U global village network
    The program may be used by individuals, families, congregations, women’s groups, and other organizations. There are six two-hour sessions, with time in between for individual exploration and reflection.

IV. From the UU Service Committee (UUSC)

UUSC Website

  • Program Fact Sheets
    • Values in Action: The Sharps
    • Rights in Humanitarian Crises
    • JustWorks
    • Water Rights
    • Gulf Coast Response
    • Labor Rights
    • UUSC Coffee Project
    • Tsunami Relief
    • STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign
    • Fair Trade
    • Burma
    • Guatemala
    • India
    • Mexico
    • Central Africa

V. From the UUA’s International Resources Office (IRO)

IRO Website

VI. Miscellaneous

Educational materials about the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals are available at the UN’s Cyber Schoolbus website.