Our Philosophy

We believe that children and youth have an innate sense of spirituality, and our role as adults is to provide an atmosphere conducive to spiritual growth, ethical development, and relationship-building.  Our adult facilitators aim to engage each student and provide age-appropriate activities that encourage reflection upon spiritual principles.  Our program is dynamically evolving, reflective of the interests and passions of the children and youth who participate.

As Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing said in 1837,

The great end in religious instruction, is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth; not to form an outward regularity, but to touch inward springs; not to bind them by ineradicable prejudices to our particular sect or peculiar notions, but to prepare them for impartial, conscientious judging of whatever subjects may be offered to their decision; not to burden memory, but to quicken and strengthen the power of thought. (adapted)

Goals of Our Religious Exploration for Children and Youth

• To help each child develop a sense of purpose and a respect for his or her own unique worth.
• To help the child understand and respect the unique worth and dignity of other people.
• To stimulate the child’s awareness and comprehension of our Unitarian Universalist religious tradition, to broaden each child’s perceptions of what religion can mean and of the many roles of a liberal church.
• To foster sensitivity to and appreciation of the wonder we find in the physical world.
• To help each child explore the difficult questions so as to enlarge his or her insight on life, and to launch each child on a pursuit of personal religion.
• To provide experience with worship.
• To offer a community to which the child can appreciate belonging, and to nourish the feelings “I am glad to be alive” and “I am glad to be a Unitarian Universalist.”