Our Whole Lives (OWL)
​​UUCB offers OWL programs and makes a point of sending facilitators for training to support this. We have been offering this since AYS and have been involved in piloting many of the programs. Currently we have classes for the youngest through middle school. OWL for 1st/2nd grade & 4th/5th grade will run January-February 2016 and repeat again in the 2017-2018 school year. OWL for 7th/8th grade will run September 2016-March 2017 and repeat again the 2018-2019 school year. This past year we did an adult OWL class. Although the class was requested, it was challenging to get time commitments from participants.
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU - High School)
The primary focus of YRUU is building a strong community (e.g. by playing games, cooking together, and going on camping trips) where youth have friends their age and adults they trust. The group also discusses important issues facing the world and learns life skills needed after graduating high school. The youth connect with other generations by volunteering in the church (we hold a biannual Elder Tech Help Day) and share ideas with the whole congregation by planning and running a worship service each spring. The youth connect with other UU youth groups in the MidAmerica region by attending CONs.
Adult Religious Education (ARE)
The Adult Religious Education program of the congregation seeks to bring a collaborative approach in offering a range of faith development opportunities to our adults. Bloomington has a particularly rich pool of resources and resourceful people, both from within the congregation and from the larger community, to draw from in shaping our learning experiences. Some of our past offerings include classes addressing spirituality, Unitarian Universalism, social justice, World Religions and other opportunities for local resource-people to share their own particular gifts and areas of knowledge. The team remains open to discovering new ways to engage this dynamic and exciting ministry within the congregation.
Coming of Age​
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The Coming of Age program at the UU Church of Bloomington is designed for 9th graders (and sometimes 10th graders) to explore their own relationship to Unitarian Universalism and to consider what they believe at this point in their lives. Each youth works with an adult mentor, and the group gathers monthly, creating an intergenerational community that can continue to provide strong ties to the congregation after this important year. As in many UU congregations, the youth share their personal credo statements in an inspiring service each April or May. At that service, the congregation celebrates their Coming of Age and invites the youth to become full members if they choose. Past Coming of Age youth and their mentors have one or two reunion events each year to foster continuing connections.
All About RE at UUCB​
UUCB strives to be welcoming to children and families by offering opportunities for children to develop strong communities and to learn with one another. Our youngest children explore meaningful stories in Spirit Play classes. Older elementary kids use curricula offered through Tapestry of Faith, created by independent curriculum writers, and developed in-house. Each year, over 75 volunteer teachers and advisors are trained and supported by our RE staff team.
The Religious Education program at UUCB is attentive to the need for families to have quality connections with each other and the congregation. Our RE activities are designed to foster these connections across generations.
​Click to learn more about the preschool through 8th grade Religious Education Year.
Young Unitarian Universalist Middle Schoolers (YUUMS)
YUUMS at UUCB works to provide a bridge from primary RE to YRUU. We introduce the kids to UU culture, including social justice work, participating in cons, and building community. Through student-led weekly meetings, we create a sense of connection that can last into young adulthood and beyond. This year we've been looking at family through the lens of UU. We explored central questions of family through student-led inquiry and media study. Our hope is that this topic is not only highly relevant in our current social dialogue around the expanding understanding of family, but also developmentally useful for our middle school youth as they continue to grow into young adulthood.
Religious Education Consultant Report on UUCB
In early August 2015, Nancy Heege, consultant of UUA's MidAmerica Region, visited UUCB at the request of the Board and Ministers. She was invited to evaluate our Religious Education program and the processes we had for governing that program. Members of the congregation had raised concerns over recent directions of the RE program which ongoing conversation had been unable to resolve. It was decided an outside perspective would be useful in providing input to help resolve those concerns as well as evaluate our processes around RE governance and conflict resolution.
Nancy's report can be viewed electronically.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
