“Our open and welcoming congregation connects hearts, challenges minds and nurtures spirits while serving and transforming our community and the world.”
When considering those words of our congregation’s mission, it is evident we take them to heart in Religious Education. And we are able to offer this type of full, enriching program only because of the large group of volunteers who help make it successful.
The skill and dedication our volunteer leaders provide the children and youth is truly amazing. We see thoughtfulness from the teachers when planning and enacting the lesson or activity; our teaching teams are tuned in to the needs of their students and use their expertise and heart to navigate hiccups. The independence, creativity, and capability our volunteers have shown to implement our RE program this year has been tremendous. We have a talented and committed bunch of folks serving in RE!
People like Bob Roepnack, Mariah Wright, Mike Horak, Ann McLellan, Wendy Fletcher, Gordon Clark, Kay Aler-Maida, Will Jernigan, Melissa Murphy, Langdon Martin, Nancy Bragg, Jon Miles, Jodi Clere, Judy Harper, and Mike Neelon, to name more than a few. You likely recognize these names not only because they might be your friends or who you sit next to during worship service or covenant group, but because many of them have other integral roles in our congregation as well: Board members, Buildings and Grounds team, Earth and Social Justice Ministry, covenant group leaders, musicians, and more. AND they volunteer in RE.
The time and energy of about 80 volunteers make Religious Education happen here each year. Because of them, our RE program is strong, meaningful, and laying a foundation for growing new UUs in a world that desperately needs them! We provide age-appropriate, thought-provoking curricula and materials; we seek to honor the individual while being in community together; and we connect children with adults, parents with adults (!), and all of us together.
“When children know there is a whole community of adults working within our principles to wonder together and make change in the world, they can feel empowered to know they are not alone on this journey.”
— Melissa Murphy, 4th Grade, Love Connects Us
This is our community and we are full of gratitude for our volunteers! We hope to see all of them at our RE volunteer appreciation event at the end of May!
p.s. Want to join us in Religious Education? We have a solid volunteer roster started and are recruiting now to round out the teaching teams for 2018-19. (It’s not as difficult as it sounds, and we hear all the time that it is meaningful to the adults too!) Or try it out by volunteering for 1-2 Sundays this summer — leaders and assistants wanted. Find out more here and contact Kim or Jen with questions or to sign up.