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Welcome to the
First Church Unitarian
Religious Education Program
9:00 am and 10:45 am Family Worship
Service
9:10 am and 10:55 am Sunday School Classes
Director of Religious Education
Laurie Bilyeu, DRE (email)
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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 impose religion upon them in the form of arbitrary rules, but to awaken the conscience, the moral discernment.
In a word, the great end is to awaken the soul; to bring understanding, conscience, and heart into earnest, vigorous
action on religious and moral truth, to excite and to cherish spiritual
life.
Discourse for the Sunday
School Society
by Rev. William Ellery Channing
Children's Religious Education at FCU
Nursery 
Children under 3 are cared for in the nursery. Childcare is provided
for both services.
Worship 
Children and youth participate in congregational worship for the first
part of the service every
Sunday morning. Children experience being in community with the larger
church through opening words, the opening hymn, sharing the covenant
and children's time.
In addition, family services take place on several occasions
during the church year; opening
Sunday, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Religious Education Sunday in June.
Sunday Morning Programs 
Children in pre-school through grade 7 participate in religious
education classes taught by
volunteers from our church community. Our programming is centered
around the following four themes.
- Unitarian Universalist Identity:
Children and youth have the opportunity to explore our principles and
purposes, as well as our Unitatrian and Universalist history and
heritage.
- World Religions: We believe
that learning about other religious faiths, traditions
and cultures, will lead to greater understanding of our differences as
well as greater recognition
of our common bonds.
- Bible Literacy: Biblical
themes, stories and references are central to our culture.
While we do not teach scripture as law, we feel it is important for
children and youth to have
and understanding and appreciation of biblical traditions.
- Social Justice and Caring for Our Planet:
We believe it is important to educate our
young ones about issues of social justice, and environmental concerns.
Providing opportunities for
children to participate in service and social action projects is
central to this theme.
For Our Youth 
- OWL (Our Whole Lives):
Comprehensive Sexuality Education
- Coming of Age: Youth will
alternate years, participating in the OWL program
the first year, followed by Coming of Age, the 2nd
year.
- Youth Group: Teen helpers are
welcome to assist with our Sunday morning children's program.
Special Events for Children 
The special events draw upon children from all age groups to work
cooperatively. They include:
Annual
Sleepover in the Church - the children love this (the adults who
participate have yet
to figure out why). 
Hanukkah Light and Latkes
Celebration 
Christmas Holiday Party 
Christmas Pageant 
Religions Education Sunday
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E-mail: webmaster@fculittle.org
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