First Unitarian Church of St. Louis | Religious Education for Children

9:00 am [3 & 4 years old] - 11:00 am- [3, 4 & 5 years old]
Windows On The World
The primary goal for this age group is to introduce the children to Sunday School classes, increase their comfort with the church environment and provide an arena for the children to discover their growing capabilities. As the children mature, they explore their growth as individuals within a community and look at our values regarding diversity, cooperation and service. The classes are a warm and fun environment where children sing, hear stories, create art, cook, and grow within the congregation.

9:00 am [5 & 6 years old]
A Discovering Year
This group continues to explore their growth as individuals within a community. With an emphasis on empathetic relations, the children look at their ability to create a better world. Using some of the best in modern children’s literature, the children explore Unitarian Universalist values around diversity, cooperation and service.

First & Second Grade

9:00 am
Creating Home - Meeting Islam - First Bible Stories
This program helps children develop a sense of home that is grounded in faith. The group will ask questions about the purpose of having a home and the functions a home serves, for us as humans and for other animals. The program speaks of home as a place of belonging and explores the roles each of us play in the homes where we live. The program introduces the concept of a "faith home" — your congregation — which shares some characteristics with a family home. Like a family home, a faith home offers its members certain joys, protections, and responsibilities. In addition the class is introduced to some of the concepts of Islam and explore the meaning of some accessible Bible stories.

11:00 am
Treasure Hunting and Teddy Bear Sundays
In this class, the children search for the meaning of life by hunting for treasure. Each week they explore a Unitarian Universalist value and add items (that represent the week’s principle) to a class treasure chest. In addition, one Sunday a month is Teddy Bear Sunday. On these days the children bring their stuffed animal friends to church and hear a Buckingham the Teddy Bear story that explores UU values and personal emotions.

9:00 am
Moral Tales
Every day our children go forth into a complex world where they are often faced with difficult decisions and situations. Moral Tales attempts to provide children with the spiritual and ethical tools they will need to make choices and take actions reflective of their Unitarian Universalist beliefs and values. As Kevin Ryan and Karen Bohlin suggest in their book, Building Character in Schools (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999), stories such as the ones woven throughout Moral Tales can activate and inform children's learning about how to make moral choices.

History of Religious Thought
This class begins their exploration of religion by going back to the very beginning of religious thought, then travels forward through the history of religion. They learn about magic and make their own cave paintings, pretend to be hunters and gatherers as they explore Goddess worship, explore the concept of Karma and look at the Abrahamic religions. The group also examines how religions influence one another and are concerned with similar issues by comparing flood myths from around the world. They conclude the year with a focus on the development of Unitarianism and Universalism. After the completion of this class the fourth grade children are honored with the gift of an engraved Bible during the Religious Education Sunday Service.

Programs for young people in middle and high school are held at 10:00am, between the two morning services. This way, families with younger children can attend either service and attend an activity or 10:00 o’clock coffee hour while their older child is participating in their group. Youth who are waiting for younger siblings during church services can attend church, help out with projects like Sandwich Making, assist in a classroom, or socialize — with parental permission — in their classrooms.

10:00 am
Why Do Bad Things Happen — Focus on China — Jesus and His Kingdom of Equals

This class explores the age-old question “Why do bad things happen?” They look at ancient and modern religious explanations for the difficulties of life. In addition, they look at modern religious practices and visit several other religious institutions. The group also spends extra time to focus on the religions that developed in China.

In addition to their curriculum, sixth and seventh graders, participate in a series of clubs. Each youth can select a club in which to participate. Clubs meet once a month during class time. The clubs offer an opportunity for leadership development and are an active manner for the youth to express their UU values. Potential clubs are: Gaia (gardening, recycling, and working with the Green Sanctuary Committee etc.) and Take a Bite out of Hunger (sandwich making and other education and social action projects dealing with hunger issues). These clubs give the young people a fun way to interact with the rest of the church community.

10:00 am
The purpose of the Coming of Age program is to foster and support our young people as they enter adolescence and begin the process of developing a mature identity; to develop a group of peers who will support one another through high school in an honest and gentle manner; to develop healthy and lasting relationships between youth and adults; and to recognize the growing independence of and to encourage and to help formulate youth development in such a direction that they become individuals capable of facing the challenges of life and to experience life’s joys.

This group of young people have the opportunity to focus their thoughts on their religious beliefs and attitudes and develop the skills to articulate them. Working with adult mentors and as a group, they read and discuss a variety of authors in the UU arena, compare beliefs and experiences with those of other religious traditions, engage in social action projects, take field trips and have fun. At the end of the year, the members of the class are honored by delivering their affirmation/belief statements to the congregation during a Sunday morning service. This is a wonderful opportunity for the young people to clarify their values and religious understandings as they enter the grown-up world with its many pressures and decisions.

3 Key Elements of Exploration

Belief and Values Clarification

class/group discussions

mentor discussions

minister discussions

journaling

Examination of Faith Tradition

development of Jewish and Christian Theology

development of Unitarian and Universalist Theology

visit UU churches in the area

participate in congregational activities

Personal Growth and Responsibility

Social Action projects

service to the congregation

physical challenge, i.e. high ropes course

preparation and presentation of Affirmation Statement

The year for this group culminates with a trip to Boston. This trip is an opportunity for the young people to visit the locations where Unitarianism first developed in this country. It is also a lot of fun! The trip is funded through parent contributions, support of the congregation, and various fundraising activities.

(PLEASE NOTE: Parental permission is required for young people to participate in this program. A parent orientation is scheduled for the afternoon of November 21st. Young people who do not participate in the program or who start attending once the session has begun may join with the fifth and sixth grade class, attend church services, or serve as an assistant in a Sunday School class.)

Please contact our Religious Educator through if you have questions about the program or if you would like to receive a prospectus on our Religious Education program for children, youth, and families. You can download our Religious Education Registration Form to fill out at home and bring with you on Sunday morning.

Education and Classroom Study