KICKING OFF WHOLE CHURCH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 2026-2027!

Now that we have a more established foundation of safety and have “set the stage” for the kind of Religious Education opportunities we see ourselves growing into, I’m so excited to shift focus this year to relationship building and Whole Church RE programming development. Thank you to all of those who filled out the Whole Church Religious Education 2026-2027 Survey! Pastor Isa and I have reviewed your feedback and are in the process of prioritizing and planning along with the RE Team and Community Team. Here is what has come together so far:

RE REGISTRATION

If you have not yet registered your children using the RE REGISTRATION FORM in Breeze, this is your gentle reminder. Note: registration is less about enrolling your child in attending RE sessions, and more about providing safety information that RE Staff and background-checked volunteers can access in case of any emergency involving your child while on UUFM grounds. It helps us to consider and look out for the safety and inclusion needs of the young people in our community. 

We have new materials for making new name tags for our children and youth as we kick off a new church year!

NEW! WOVEN FAITH: LIVING OUR VALUES

UUFM has signed up to participate in the pilot year of a new theme-based resource developed by the UUA, Woven Faith: Living Our Values. 

“This theme-based, whole church series also supports congregational shared ministry by equipping lay leaders and religious professionals alike to weave together a shared message. An organizing principle of Woven Faith is that the congregation is the curriculum; that is, that the whole environment—accessibility, worship, fellowship, RE classes, leadership development, caring ministries, justice work—all inform the Unitarian Universalism we learn and absorb. Woven Faith provides avenues to incorporate our UU values more intentionally into the fabric of our congregational lives.”

I attended an orientation to the materials on August 22nd, and have begun reviewing the first month’s packet and selecting elements to use in our programming beginning this September. I am very excited to use their One Room School House RE classroom curriculum in UUFM’s Sunday RE Sessions this year. This curricular series offers materials for all of the same things that Soul Matters does (Sunday Service materials, Small Group materials, RE classroom materials) – and more! For example: they offer ideas for All Ages Fellowship Activities, a couple of which I have already been preparing to implement for September, as well as ideas for Boards and Committees (in our case, Teams). 

I am so inspired by these materials and look forward to exploring them together!

SEASONAL ALL AGES EVENTS by the RE TEAM 

The RE Team has noted that the needs, schedules and bandwidth of families have fundamentally changed and remain in flux in our current socio-political landscape. We’ve reached out in multiple ways – and will continue to do so – to try and get feedback from folks about what kinds of opportunities to connect are needed to meet the moment we are in. Some folks are saying low-key, low-demand intergenerational gatherings. Some folks say they have no idea what they need or what would work for them. There are many more we haven’t heard from. One thing that seems increasingly likely is that Sunday RE Sessions are no longer the best way for us to meet the needs of families. We will still offer them, but other options for connection are necessary.

For super low-key, low-demand gathering opportunities, we encourage folks of all ages to check out the Events Team’s Monthly Board Game and Movie Night. The Events Team is also in the process of starting a regular Craft Night – so keep an eye out for that!

In addition, the RE Team plans to host seasonal, intergenerational events this year, the first of which will be Trunk or Treat on October 17th from 2-4pm. We hope to make these seasonal events an annual ritual; something we can all look forward to. More information coming soon about Trunk or Treat, and about the events for Winter, Spring and Summer. 

These times aren’t easy to navigate for any of us. You are not alone. The RE Team is here for you, and we’ve got some ideas to try out with you all as we navigate these times together. 

OUR WHOLE LIVES SEXUALITY EDUCATION

The OWL class for grades 7-9 that we had planned to offer this year in collaboration with First Congregational and Manhattan Mennonite did not meet minimum enrollment to be offered as originally scheduled. In order to allow for more recruitment time and in response to some of the feedback from families that are interested but found the 25 separate sessions to be too challenging to fit into their schedules, we are in the process of rethinking the format and timing – perhaps doing a summer camp version. More information will be shared as the facilitators make new plans.

We are also in the process of coordinating and/or training facilitators for the other OWL curriculum age groups so that we can get these offerings on the schedule. The current and upcoming generations of OWL facilitators are lacking in male/masculine representation. If you are a male/masculine identifying person that is interested in being trained to facilitate any of the OWL curriculums, please let me know! More information to come.