To celebrate
Unitarian Universalism.
This is the church
of the open mind.
This is the church
of the helping hands.
This is the church
of the loving heart.
- UU curriculum
“Treasure Hunting”
Our religious education program encourages open inquiry into life’s questions, involvement in social action projects, and respect for individuals, our community, and our world.
Our Director of Religious Education is Michelle Coté, who can be reached at RE@fpc-stow-acton.org.
Sunday mornings begin with everyone gathering for Family Worship in the Sanctuary. Starting September 13, 2009, there will be two Sunday services, at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.
The Nursery is open during the Family Worship time and children ages 3 and under may be dropped off prior to the service. “A Story for All Ages” or an anthem by the Children’s or Youth Choir is included before children and youth proceed to their classrooms with their Religious Education teachers. All of the children gather for a "group snack" prior to the end of classes. Parents must pick up their children by 10:15 a.m. for the first service and by 12:15 a.m. for the later service.
Several times throughout the year we have Multigenerational Services, where families are invited to attend the entire service together and Religious Education classes are not offered (see RE Calendar). The Nursery is available during these services for young children as well as infants. Periodically, we offer special RE Enrichment Days, Sunday morning programs in which children of all ages participate together in a thematic group activity. We also host a variety of kid friendly special events.
Our classes follow a Pillar Approach. Each year classes for all grade levels cover the same set of themes (pillars) at the same time throughout the year. The Pillars change from year to year and are repeated every few years. Over the past several years, our Pillars have included:
- (2010-2011) Learning & Living as a UU, Social Justice (PLANNED)
- (2009-2010) World Religions, Caring for the Earth
- (2008-2009) Judeo-Christian Roots, Diversity
All children who attend our program must be registered, but we encourage new families to visit a few times before registering. We also ask that a photo permission form be filled out for all children in our program, indicating parent's wishes regarding photos that may be taken of their children during church events. Please visit our registration page for the required forms.
Ours is a cooperative program run almost entirely by volunteers. Please visit our volunteer page to find out more about our many volunteer opportunities.
For Children
- Church school for preschool children (age 4) through grade 6 is offered Sundays during both of our services. Children attend class from about 9:15 (after a short time in the Sanctuary with their families) until 10:15 for the early service, and about 11:15 until 12:15 for the late service. Classes from Pre-K through Grade 4 meet downstairs in Fellowship Hall, across the parking lot. Grades 5-6 meet in the Parsonage, east of the parking lot and beyond the carriage shed. Please speak with our Director of Religious Education or any teacher for assistance in locating an appropriate classroom for your child.
- Nursery care is available for children age 3 and under from 9:00 until 10:15 (early service) and 11:00 until 12:15 (late service) each Sunday (although children may be picked up right after services end, if desired). The Nursery is located to the rear of the vestry on the lower level of the main church building. The Nursery is supervised by our Child Care Coordinator with assistance of volunteers.
- Several children’s choirs are offered as well. Please visit our music page to learn more about our music programs.
For Youth
Please visit our youth programs page for more details on our youth programming.
- Youth in grades 7-8 attend classes on Sundays from 11:15 (after a short time in the Sanctuary with their families) until 12:15. Classes for grades 7-8 meet in the Parsonage. In addition, we offer a Junior Youth group.
- Senior youth in grades 9+ attend services with their families in the Sanctuary twice a month, and may attend a discussion group on the other Sundays during our 11:00 service. For the 2008-2009 year, the topics in our discussion group focused on controversial moral issues such as illegal immigrants, drug legalization, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, gun control, and other topics of interest to the group. We also offer a Senior Youth group.
- Our Coming of Age program provides a spiritual program for youth in transition from adolescence to young adulthood.
- We offer an OWL (Our Whole Lives, Sexuality and Our Faith) program to our 8th graders in conjunction with other UU churches in the area.
