Religious Education for Children and Teens
Welcome to the UUCSJS Religious Education Program!
Each week, the children in our community join the congregation for the beginning of our Sunday service. After collecting donations for the food pantry, a women's crisis center and a local animal shelter, the children are presented with a special message or story and then are "sung out" by the congregation to their Religious Education classes. The youth are divided by their school grade into the following four classes:| Spirit Play Grades Pre-K to 1st | Traditions With a Wink Grades 5 to 7 |
| Spirit of Adventure Grades 2 to 4 | Coming of Age Grades 8 to 10 |
SpiritPlay - Grades Pre-K thru 1st Grades
SpiritPlay is a storytelling religious education program. During each class, the storyteller relates a story while presenting visual cues (small objects, pictures) to the children as a way to help the children remember the story.
Spirit of Adventure - Grades 2-4
Not the traditional Sunday School class, Spirit of Adventure includes activities like dissecting a computer, building cantilevered architecture using graham crackers, interviewing a sports coach, eating smoked oysters, and singing Jingle Bells in “dog” language –- all while exploring the lives and values of influential Unitarian Universalists.
Traditions With a Wink - Grades 5-7
This curriculum teaches an understanding of UU faith that can replace the vague “We can believe anything we want to” statement with: “We come from a long tradition of questioning and searching. We come from a long tradition of loving kindness and good works. We have powerful stories and visions of hope.” The UU traditions taught in this curriculum include: the way we create services of celebration and memory, the place of Science and Reason, the different ways UUs create community, our tradition of good works, our music and hymns, our Purposes and Principles, and our roots in Judeo-Christian culture.
Coming of Age - Grades 8-10
As youth prepare to leave childhood, Unitarian Universalists congregations honor this transition with a Coming of Age ceremony. The Coming of Age class will explore theology, spirituality and history through discussion, drama, music, writing and art. Youth are encouraged to define their beliefs and put their faith into action. This course includes workshops for youth, social action projects and culminates in the spring with a rite of passage service.
Our Whole Lives - Grades 4-6
Our Whole Lives is a sexuality education curriculum that helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture.***The classes are scheduled for Thursday evenings beginning in September 2011.
***Children’s participation in the OWL program requires a mandatory parent orientation a family commitment as well as attendance to all classes.
"The great end in religious instruction, is not to stamp our minds upon the young,
but to stir up their own . . ."
-- William Ellery Channing
If you have any questions about the UUCSJS Children's Religious Education Program, or would like to register your child for our Children's RE classes, please contact the Director of Religious Education, Heidi Jannsch, at (609) 965-9400 or by email at sjsdre (at) gmail.com.
| Children's RE Mission and Vision |
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Replenishing the Environment: Volunteers from our Children's RE program spend a windy afternoon planting native plants in the marsh. |
| Summer Sessions: The kids enjoy a nature walk with Kim Peters and Jack Miller. |
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Our classes are based on UU Principles:
- We believe that each and every person is important.
- We believe that all people should be treated fairly.
- We believe that all our churches are places where all people are accepted, and where we keep learning together.
- We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.
- We believe that everyone should have a voice about the things that concern them.
- We believe in working for a peaceful, fair and free world.
- We believe in caring for our planet Earth.