Faith Development

Children of all ages are always welcome in our sanctuary. The congregation expects and enjoys the laughs, outbursts and occasional escapes of our smallest community members! We also have created a Family Lounge that can be used by families with small children, if they feel more comfortable. It’s equipped with comfortable furniture, toys, a fully equipped changing station and a video feed of the service.

Our children’s programming takes seriously all of the potential, possibility, capabilities and challenges that our children face.  So, our approach to education is to follow where our children lead.  Our programming is part nature exploration, part connection building, part ethical learning, part spiritual practice, and part play.  Our goal is for Sunday morning not to be Sunday “school” but a full and fun exploration of self, community, values and world.  

Our school aged kids do that exploration in an environment with kids across the age spectrum (5-12ish) with activities selected to support multi-age learning.  This multi-age format encourages our younger kids to learn from their peers and their near peers, while supporting our older kids in becoming engaged leaders.  Older kids are offered opportunities to lead, to support younger kids and to take on more challenging tasks.  

Our programming for middle and high schoolers is aimed at helping them explore their world, themselves, their passions and their leadership in our community. We do this through both structured and passion-driven opportunities for learning.  Our youth curriculum is structured so that our young people, between the ages of 12 and 16,  will have the opportunity to participate in at least one year of Neighboring Faiths and a year of OWL, but the exact timing of those offerings varies from year to year.  This year we anticipate offering Neighboring Faiths for our middle schoolers and Our Whole Lives for our 9th and 10th graders.

Neighboring Faiths

Our middle schoolers have the opportunity to explore the many faiths that are practiced in our wider communities.  Through discussion, videos, games, and interviews, our young people explore the values and unique aspects of a variety of  religions (potentially included in any one year is Unitarian Universalism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Christian Evangelicalism, Black Church Traditions, Quakers and/or specific religions of interest to our young people!) Most faith units include a learning experience, a field trip or virtual visit (mosque, temple, synagogue, churches, and more) and a time of reflection.

OWL (https://www.uua.org/re/owl)

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a comprehensive value and ethics based sexuality education curriculum.  It values:

• Self Worth
• Sexual Health
• Responsibility
• Justice and Inclusivity

OWL helps adolescents address their attitudes, values, and feelings about themselves, their sexuality, and others’ sexuality. Participants are guided by trained facilitators through an engaging curriculum that addresses topics most important to young adolescents, including those typically excluded from sexuality education and health classes.  Some topics:  gender identity, body image, puberty, sexual orientation, healthy relationships, social media, and bullying.

Volunteerism and Leadership

We use a youth empowerment model to structure our youth programming.  That is to say, we believe that all our kids and youth have something to teach us and each other, but we are especially aware of the skills, passions and expertise of our youth.  Old youth serve as junior teachers in our classrooms, junior counselors during our camps, and youth leaders in our midst. We support and encourage their leadership through mentorship with our Director of Lifespan Faith Development.