Faith Exploration for Children & Youth

The purpose of our Faith Exploration program is to empower and enable children and youth as they set out to discover their own truth and understanding of the world. While parents and guardians are the most important guides of religious education and faith exploration for their children, our programs support parents in this important endeavor. We want our children and youth to grow up to become the best people they can be. While we don’t have specific doctrines, we do have 7 principles which in children’s language are:

1. Each person is important
2. Be kind in all you do
3. We’re free to learn together
4. We search for what is true
5. All people need a voice
6. Build a fair and peaceful world
7. Respect the Earth, our home

Our children learn about our faith traditions from our Unitarian and Universalist heritage and our 6 sources.
The sources of our faith in children’s language:

• The sense of wonder we all share.
• The wise people of long ago and today whose lives remind us to be kind and fair.
• The ethical and spiritual wisdom of the world's religions.
• Jewish and Christian teachings which tell us to love all others as we love ourselves.
• The use of reason and the discoveries of science.
• The harmony of nature and the sacred circle of life.

Before the pandemic, our children 1st through 12th grade met in their classrooms after spending time in the worship service. We provided nursery care for children 4 years and younger. Our vibrant program nurtured the lives of children and youth in their faith exploration. They were empowered to become free-thinking individuals - knowing and respecting themselves and others, contributing to their community and developing their own spiritual paths informed by our principles, sources, and mission.

We offered a summer camp for children called Wizard Camp and opened it up to members of our greater community.

Our congregation now meets on Zoom on Sunday mornings. Our Director of Religious Education for children, youth, and families worked with other religious educators in Florida to put together an on-line program that many children and youth enjoyed. The formal program for our children, youth and families came to an end when our DRE resigned. Jenn Blosser and her family made a decision to move up north. We thank Jenn for all her dedicated service to our children and youth.

We are now faithfully discerning next steps for our program. These challenging times are giving us an excellent opportunity to think about how we start up our new program when we do come together. Our mission is to love, to grow and to serve. We are dedicated to this mission as a beloved community for all ages. We have a Faith Exploration Program Task Force now in formation. We know our values, principles and sources of our faith will be our focus in the design. Our goal is to expand into a robust and vibrant program for children, youth and adults who want to be part of a diverse Unitarian Universalist Community.