A Safe Space for Children
Are you looking for a safe space to bring your children on Sunday mornings where they can grow socially, emotionally and spiritually? Please consider joining us on a Sunday morning. Enrollment is available at any time during the school year. Please join us in person or look for the registration link coming soon.
This year we all worked together, even the adolescents, to “Build Bears of Wholeness.” We built teddy bears together and took them out monthly to add badges representing parts of our learning and our values. The badges included “Grow your Dreams,” “Listen to Life,” “Fostering Community” and “Share Your Blessings.” Everyone received bears, everyone received badges and everyone shared ideas and values about what went into being a whole person.
The Youth specifically met and started a mural that had the elements of “Air, Earth, Water and Fire” as part of the “Sing to the Power” curriculum. We shared songs that supported the values we learned each week like, “community” and “kindness.”
Our RE program grew this year as compared to the last 4 years. The RE Sunday school program grew from 3 to 9 children this year, and the youth program was consistent in numbers compared to last year with a total of 8 youth. We had a successful OWL program for 7 youth, and we had the addition of 2 toddlers in the nursery on a regular basis with 2 of our older youth serving as babysitters.
Next year we will continue to work to grow interest in the programs and support the youth and families in attendance at church. The RE children, kindergarten and up, will explore the “World of Wonder.” According to the program notes, “Children are born with an ability to feel wonder and our world is full of amazing plants, animals, spaces, processes, textures and patterns that can awaken it.” (uua.org) We will focus on how we can support those ideas and learn about “Sustainable Middleboro” and how we can be involved.
The youth will be meeting biweekly and exploring how “Love Connects Us.” The curriculum shows how we UUs are “moved by love and gathered in spirit” and that “we embrace our responsibility toward one another and the world at large.” “We encourage one another’s search for truth and meaning. We strive to be active in peace-making and other efforts to improve the world.” (uua.org) The youth will also be encouraged to be engaged with “Sustainable Middleboro.”
The Nursery will continue to operate with Niko Pucillo-Dunphy as Lead Teacher and Jesse Hoyle as the second in charge.
Ideas being explored for the upcoming year are running the “Coming of Age” curriculum, Parent Coffee Hour, running an adult “OWL” program and new ideas for outreach and volunteer opportunities as well as family social activity opportunities.
Kelly Lownds, Director of Religious Exploration
Religious Exploration
at UU Middleboro
Sunday school is back in person this year!! Church starts at 10:30 and we will be meeting during the church service, downstairs after the Message for All Ages around 10:45. We will have registration on September 10, and our first class will be on September 17. Our older youth will meet on Sunday evenings every other week. More to come on this!
This year we are Building a Bear of Wholeness. What does it take to make a home? This year we will think about this and what purposes and functions our home serves for both humans and animals. We will explore concepts of belonging, the role we play in our home and our community, and we will think about our faith home. Our faith home, much as our family home, offers joys, protection and responsibilities. Each month we will add items to our build a bears.
Religious Exploration at UU Middleboro works to allow our children and adults to freely explore together what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist. We ask questions and search for answers together in an open and nurturing environment. We draw our curriculum from the Tapestry of Faith. Using out seven principles and six sources, we journey together to love one another, be fair, care for the earth, understand democratic principles, encourage continuous learning and work towards a world that is peaceful, fair and equitable. We are a safe congregation, and we CORI the teachers and helpers in our program. Registration for RE is recommended, but all are welcome to try out our classes and spend time with our wonderful youth and teachers.
We don’t forget the parents either! We have a monthly parent coffee hour that we hold virtually the second Sunday of the month at 11:45 after the church service. Please join us!
- We believe that each and every person is important.
- We believe that all people should be treated fairly.
- We believe that our churches are places where all people are accepted and where we keep on 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 vote about things that concern them.
- We believe in working for a peaceful, fair and free world.
- We believe in caring for our planet earth.
