Unitarian Universalist Youth Conferences

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Unitarian Universalist Youth Conferences, major programs offered within Young Religious Unitarian Universalists, which is the youth organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association within the United States and jointly with the Canadian Unitarian Council in Canada. Often referred to as "cons" or "rallies", they bring together Unitarian Universalist youth and their adult advisors. They are usually held in Unitarian Universalist churches and generally last for about a weekend, with all hours of the day filled with spiritual and other kinds of sharing, including moments of learning, and fun.

Contents 1 Kinds 1.1 Regional Conferences 1.1.1 Regular Conferences 1.1.2 Election Conferences 1.1.3 Specialty Conferences 1.2 National Conferences 1.3 Continental Conferences 2 Conference Activities 3 Notes 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Kinds

Unitarian Universalist Youth Conferences can be sub-divided into three main types: regional, national, and continental.

[edit] Regional Conferences

Regional conferences are conferences held for just the youth of the targeted Unitarian Universalist Association District or Canadian Unitarian Council region^[1] in which it is to happen (note some Canadian Unitarian Council regions work with their sister districts) and they are generally planned by a local youth group with help from their adult advisors and held at their home church over a weekend (from Friday evening to early Sunday morning), with approval from their home church and district/regional planing and governing body (usually referred to as either a YAC (Youth Adult Committee) or a, YSC (Youth Steering Committee)).^[2] Regional conferences can be sub-divided in to three main types based on the purpose of the conference: regular conferences (the most common), election conferences, and specialty conferences.

[edit] Regular Conferences

For regular conferences, the local youth group with guidance from their adult advisors plan and carry out all aspects of the conference, including food, registration, theme, worship and coffee house (i.e. talent show), except in some of the smaller districts where their planning and governing body do this with only minimal input from the host group. Note a regular conference generally has things happening at all hours of the day including in the middle of the night.

[edit] Election Conferences

Election conferences are very similar to the regular conferences but with the exception that the theme centres around the election and re-election of members to the regional planning and governing body and all elements pertaining to the election are handled by the outgoing regional planning and governing body. An example was the Quad QuOM Conference, which was held in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada from April 7-9, 2002.^[3]

[edit] Specialty Conferences

Specialty conferences are usually intentionally much smaller events due to the more intimate nature required to facilitate the theme which is almost always centred around some kind of training (i.e. worship, leadership, youth empowerment, etc.) Examples include Leadership Development Conferences (LDC) and Spirituality Development Conferences (SDC).

[edit] National Conferences

National conferences are conferences which are geared towards all the youth in that given country and are usually run by the country's national youth body in conjunction with the local youth group in the designated city to which the conferences is to be held, and one can last up to a week long. An example of one such con is CanUUdle the annual youth con for Unitarian Universalist youth from all across Canada, run alongside the Canadian Unitarian Council’s Annual Conference and Meeting by Canada's national youth body, Youth Advisory Group (YAG).^[4] The next edition is CanUUdle VII taking place, May 2007 in Vancouver BC.^[5]

[edit] Continental Conferences

Continental conferences, are geared towards youth from the whole continent, and one can last up to a week. An example was Continental Conference or "ConCon" for short, which was open to youth of all Unitarian Universalist Association districts, and the Canadian Unitarian Council's regions. Up until 2004, ConCon was held annually, in a different place in North America each year.^[6] ConCon has not been held since 2004, because of various safety and organizational issues.^[7]

[edit] Conference Activities

These are some of the activities typical of Unitarian Universalist Youth Conferences.^{[citation needed]}

• Ice Breakers (i.e. get-to-know-you games)
• Touch Groups (i.e. small-group sessions)
• Free Time
  • On site
  • Around town
• Worship services (at a weekend-long conference, usually two)
• Workshops
  • Anything from discussion groups to making crafts to music
• A coffee house (i.e. a talent show)
• Late night Games
  • Wink (game)
  • Silent football
• Meals (prepared by volunteers of either youth or adults)
  • At a weekend-long conference, usually five meals
    • Two breakfasts
    • One lunch
    • One supper
    • One dessert (usually a "Love feast": a dessert consumption ritual)^[8]

[edit] Notes

^{9. ^ http://www.uua.org/DIST}

[edit] See also

• Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
• Youth voice
• Youth empowerment
• Youth-Adult partnership

[edit] External links

• YRUU Website
• Church of the Younger Fellowship
• FUUSE: The voice of the RevolUUtion!
• YRUU Spider - YRUU information, historical archives, and resources
• Canadian YRUU Web Pages
  • The CUC's youth page
  • Ottawa UU Youth Group
• UUA District YRUU Web Pages
  • Pacific Central District - Northern California, Nevada, and Hawaii
  • Pacific Southwest District - Southern California, Arizona, Nevada
  • Florida District - Florida, Southern Georgia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
  • Massachusetts Bay District
  • Metro New York District - Southern New York, New Jersey, Western Connecticut
  • Prairie Star District - Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Western Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Western Wisconsin
  • Southwest Unitarian Universalist Council - Most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana; Memphis, TN, Springfield, MO and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
  • Ohio-Meadville District - Most of Ohio, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania
  • Ballou Channing District - Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
  • St. Lawrence District - Northern New York

Unitarian Universalist Youth programming within the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Canadian Unitarian Council
Past: About Your Sexuality | Liberal Religious Youth | Young People's Christian Union | Young People's Religious Union Present: Our Whole Lives | Coming of Age | Young Religious Unitarian Universalists | Youth Conferences

Games of Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
Wink | Kissy Face | Silent Football