Children’s Religious Education (RE)

Register for 2019-2020 Religious Education here!

The above link will take you to a form where you will provide registration information for your child. Don’t forget to click the blue Submit button at the bottom when done.

For up to the minute news on activities and items of interest to parents of our RE children, visit our Director of Religious Education’s blog!

Each week, the children in our community join the congregation for the beginning of our Sunday service. After collecting the food donations, the youth are “sung out” by the congregation to their Religious Education classes.

CRE Principles, Mission, Vision

CRE Teachers, Committee, Staff

CRE Curriculum

Principles, Mission, Vision

Our 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.

Our Mission

Through our Children’s Religious Education programming, we encourage our youth to ask questions and explore. We seek to instill in them confidence as they set out on their unique spiritual journeys. We hope to establish a lifelong dedication in our youth to the Unitarian Universalist community at large.

Our Vision

Our Children’s Religious Education Program provides weekly, age-appropriate classes covering introductions to different religions, UU history, UU identity, environmental and global issues, and social justice issues. We welcome new members to our youth program in a way that encourages them to make connections and want to return. We offer opportunities for the youth in the program to make a positive impact on our local and global community, and initiate opportunities for them to connect with other UU youth in our district.

Teachers, Committee, Staff

Our Teachers

Our teachers are dedicated volunteers from the congregation who enjoy sharing with and learning from our community’s youth. Please contact the Director of Religious Education if you are interested in participating in this unique volunteering opportunity.

Children’s Religious Education Committee

The Children’s RE Committee meets with the DRE on the first Sunday of each month. The Committee consists of teachers, parents and congregation members who come together to support and assist with the RE program, provide suggestions, and address concerns.

Director of Religious Education

Our CRE program is staffed by a credentialed Director.
If you have any questions regarding 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, Jessica Dunn Safonof, at 609.965.9400 or by email at uucsjsdre@gmail.com.

Our Curriculum for 2019-2020

Spark

Pre-K through Age 7

This year our youngest learners, those in preschool through age 7, will learn what makes a faith home and explore how and why we welcome others into our lives.

In Creating Home, this fall the children will ask questions about the purpose of having a home and the idea of a home as a place of belonging. Through fun activities, observations of nature, stories of Unitarian Universalist heroes, and wisdom tales from many faith traditions, children will explore the sacredness and the beauty of hospitality as well as the gift of loving relationships that a home can represent.

In the spring, the children will continue their journey with Wonderful Welcome, a Tapestry of Faith curriculum that seeks to help children welcome peers, neighbors, family, strangers, and even nature itself into their faith home. Children will learn how to identify, celebrate, and share their intangible gifts of kindness, love, invitation, covenant, and empathy to develop their sense of belonging to their community, congregation, and the larger Unitarian Universalist faith community.

Ignite

Ages 8 through 10

Children ages 8 through 10 will explore Unitarian Universalist’s seven sources as they work together to discover truth and make meaning in their lives.

This fall, using the Love Will Guide Us curriculum, they will ask difficult questions like “Where did we come from? What is our relationship to the Earth and other creatures? How can we respond with love, even in bad situations? and What happens when you die?” Drawing on the wisdom of different faith traditions and cultures and their own experiences they will explore together what it means to be human.

In the spring, the children will delve deeper into fourteen Unitarian Universalist values using Signs of Our Faith: Being UU Everyday. They will explore the ideas of reverence for life, public witness, the quest for knowledge. They will learn how these values show up in their everyday lives and will come to see themselves as leaders of their faith.

Burn

Ages over 11

More questions are in store this year for youth over age 11. With a focus on developing their Unitarian Universalist identity, youth will explore concepts connected to ethics, such as morality, virtue, sin, salvation, heaven, hell, redemption, forgiveness, guilt, and integrity. Youth will learn to accept, appreciate and celebrate mystery, ambiguity, and contradiction as part of human life and the starting points of religion.

In Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong this fall and Riddle and Mystery this spring, youth will address such questions as “Why do bad things happen? Does God exist? What is the role of God, gods, and goddesses? Is evil or goodness within us and is it something we choose? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How can I know what to believe? and What does Unitarian Universalism mean to me?”

Ultimately, the youth will come to appreciate Unitarian Universalist approaches to faith, morality, and social justice and learn to express their living faith through action.

Kindle

Families with all ages

NEW this year – All ages, family faith development at home.

It’s hard to carve out time for faith-full family experiences. If you have felt overwhelmed by the idea of weaving spiritual exploration into the routine spaces of family life, Soulful Home is here for you. All registered families will receive a themed monthly packet organized around eight family spaces containing ideas and resources to explore our Unitarian Universalist faith together. With family discussion questions, neighborhood adventures, playful activities to do together, stories for bedtime, and mantras/meditations/prayers to share there is plenty each month to create sacred space in your daily life.

Additional resources and materials for Soulful Home activities are available for check out in the family lounge.

Soulful Home can be used by grandparents with visiting grandchildren, families not currently connected to our congregation because of scheduling conflicts or distance, or even adults who want to experience full week faith development at home.

Summer Session

Each summer our RE classes take a break and kids of all ages attending with their parents on Sundays enjoy an activity or craft led by a volunteer from the congregation. Some of the activities and crafts featured have included jewelry making, pottery, cooperative games, tie-dying, and making balloon animals.