Religious Education

At MVUUF Religious Education for the children and youth consists of curricula that aims to raise the big questions and give kids the context within which to learn to answer them for themselves. Our current location encourages us to work together with all age groups. We encourage parents to be involved in the children’s program although it is not required. The program is taught by certified teachers and other caring adults including parents.

We have programs for preschool to elementary school children currently and hope to have some teen/youth programs and some teens to help us get that started!

We explore the seven Unitarian Universalist principles and we teach from a variety of Unitarian Universalist curricula including: Chalice Children (Preschool to 1st grade), We Believe (Grades 2-5),and Carry the Flame (grades 4-7). We play games, have a snack create art and learn about kindness and caring for each other and ourselves.

Life Span Faith Development

UU’s believe in the lifelong search for truth and meaning. We have a number of opportunities for adults to gather in small groups or educational class settings to continue learning, sharing and enriching each other’s lives with their spiritual stories.

Our Goals

In Religious Education, we want to help you give your children a grounding in a wonderful liberal religion. We have 37 Sundays from September to June (if you attend every Sunday) to help our children develop a sense of what religion is all about.

First, we would like our children to be part of an extended community where they feel welcome, are valued for the gifts they bring and the people they are. “Do unto others” is the big rule. This is a community where questioning the mysteries of life is valued. It takes time to develop a sense of belonging.

We want our children to feel part of the Unitarian Universalist tradition. We want our children to know the tenets of the church and be able to articulate what it means to be a UU. Free thinking, questioning, and personal discovery are the order of the day. We want our children to be proud that they are part of this liberal faith. It takes time to develop a sense of pride.

We want our children to know other religious faiths and to celebrate the ideas brought to the world by other cultures and religions. We want them to develop tolerance for ideas and people that are not part of their everyday life. We want them to know that they could use ideas from other faith traditions and blend them into a personal theology. This is a religion that allows for personal growth and diversity. It takes time to understand and appreciate.

We want our children to develop a social responsibility consciousness. We want them to feel they can make a difference in this world. We want them to know that there are people and causes out in the world that cry out for assistance and that they can and should reach out. It takes time to work on social responsibility projects.

UU’s want our children to have a place to think and talk about life’s issues-getting along with others, death, peace and war, we give them a safe forum in which to explore ideas and to get input. Children need places to think out loud and to gather ideas and feedback. Church should be one of those places. It takes time to talk and to listen.

We want our children to expand their pool of friends to children and adults that are UUs. We want them to link up with people who are humanists and value this faith, who think it is important and has meaning in their lives. We want them to listen to different ideas of spirituality and develop their own ideas and feelings about spirituality. It takes time to connect and develop ideas about spirituality.

We hope you will join us. Let’s get started on the education that will be a meaningful gift for a lifetime.

Other Resources

A Card created by Children of the Fellowship

This artwork, made by the children of the Magic Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, was used by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) as their annual Christmas card in 2004. We are proud to help with the fine work of the UUSC around the world.