Welcome To Our Children’s Faith Formation Program!
Our Faith Formation Program is designed to encourage young people to be religious seekers grounded within our Unitarian Universalist tradition, and contained within the framework of a loving and supportive church community.
Our goal is to nurture the spiritual lives of children and youth toward a deep faith that will help them find meaning, community, and purpose throughout their lifetime.
While we offer faith formation classes and programs for young people from birth through high school, we also believe that parents are the primary religious educators of their children, and as such, we encourage parents to actively use the resources offered here at church at home.
Talk about what you hear in church on Sunday morning. Read sacred stories together. Say grace before meals. Teach Faith Formation classes. Deepen your own spiritual life and share it with your children. Come to church as often as you can, and bring your children with you!
Worship
Children are doing important faith formation work as they learn to be worship and participate in the life of our congregation. Babies, children and youth are all warmly welcome in worship at all times.
Most Sundays, children in Pre-K through sixth grade will join in worship with the whole congregation for the first fifteen minutes of the service before going to their classes. On many Sundays throughout the year, we do not have Faith Formation classes and instead have opportunities for whole-congregation worship in our sanctuary.
Teachers
Faith Formation teachers at UUAC are volunteers from our UUAC community. We believe that teaching is a ministry to our faith community, as we grow and shape young Unitarian Universalists and ourselves in the process. All classes are team-taught, and many teachers say that they learn a lot about Unitarian Universalism through teaching our children’s Faith Formation classes!
Classes & Curriculum
Faith Formation classes for young people in pre-K through 6th grade run from 10:45-11:45 most Sundays. To see when our Faith Formation classes are happening, check our Faith Formation Calendar.
Our curricula have been selected from materials created by the Unitarian Universalist Association or by Unitarian Universalists who have published independently. Contact our Minister of Faith Formation, Rev. Joanna Lubkin with any questions.
We rotate class offerings on a two year cycle. This year, we will offer:
NURSERY: (BABIES-AGE 3)
A loving church community cares well for its youngest members. Our Nursery is available for children who are younger than three. There is a nursery coordinator and a second youth or adult to care for this group.
SPIRIT PLAY: PRESCHOOL-GRADE 1
This Montessori-based curriculum teaches children the stories of our faith tradition and stories from other faith traditions. We provide a thoughtful space and a choice of activities to encourage children’s emotional, spiritual, and intellectual growth.
OUR WHOLE LIVES: KINDERGARTEN-GRADE 1
K-1 Our Whole Lives helps young children identify their attitudes, values, and feelings about themselves, their sexuality, and others’ sexuality. It addresses age-appropriate topics, including Our Wonderful Bodies; Healthy Bodies, Safe Bodies; Families; Families and Feelings; Babies and Families; Birth of a Baby; and Celebrations! In addition to a parent meeting and a parent‐child orientation, parents are welcome to attend any or all of the workshops with their children. Homelinks keep parent‐child communication open.
FREE TO BELIEVE: GRADES 2-3
Free to Believe asks “What does it mean to be a Unitarian Universalist?” This curriculum explores UU principles through hands-on activities, stories, games, songs, and discussions, and explores answers offered by UU sources to big questions about life and death, spirit and God, and the beginnings of world and life.
JUSTICE SEEKERS: GRADES 4-5
Justice Seekers focuses on how peace-building and justice-making is core to our Unitarian Universalist values and principles. This curriculum has a focus on immigration and racial justice and empowering young people to be agents of change and voices for justice within their communities and the world.
HOW WE DO UU: GRADES 6-7
This course uses monthly themes to invite middle schoolers to explore the spiritual practices and values-based decisions that help one lead a grounded UU life. Activities range from stories to movement-based games to craft projects, and teachers can adapt as they go to meet the needs of a particular group.
For information about our 7th-12th grade faith formation programs, see here.
