The All Souls
Religious Education Program
is a diverse group
of children, youth, and adults
who covenant together to:

encourage and support our
children’s spiritual and ethical growth;

provide an open, safe,
and compassionate community;

offer young people a place
to explore Unitarian Universalism;

support a natural development
of religious faith based
on direct experience.

Adopted by the Religious Education Committee of All Souls Church, Unitarian, 2009

[photos by Bob Bonner]

Welcome to Religious Education

“God’s greatest gift is a teacher,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.
While his words make for a pithy quote, they also express a core tenet of Emerson’s Unitarian theology: the belief that education is at the heart of the religious life. Like most Unitarians of his time, Emerson believed that each human being was endowed from birth with God-given powers and capacities. The entire point of the spiritual life was to develop one’s capacities in order to better serve God and one’s fellow human beings. It was the teacher’s role (and the preacher’s!) to help individuals discover and develop their capacity to bless the world.
At All Souls we seek to imbue our children with a sense of their inherent worth and of their capacity to bless the world with acts of justice and compassion. We provide a foundation for life-long religious exploration by exposing them to the world’s religious traditions, grounding them in strong ethical values, and encouraging them to follow their conscience in all matters.
I hope our religious education community will be a blessing to you and your children. If we can be of assistance to your family please don’t hesitate to call upon us.

The Rev. Rob Hardies
Senior Minister, All Souls Church

Gabrielle Farrell
Religious Educator
Lifespan Education and Family Ministries

Nikevia Thomas
Children’s Religious Educator

TBD
Youth Ministry Coordinator (part-time)

Cheryl Ann Jones,
Children’s Music Educator (part-time)

Constance Ofori, Childcare Provider
Kimberly Adams, Childcare Provider

The Religious Education Committee embodies congregational responsibility for the religious education for children and youth by articulating directions and supporting the professional and volunteer staff in realizing the goals of the program.

Meeting once a month with the Religious Educator, Family and Lifespan Ministries and the Children’s Religious Educator, committee members articulate the direction and design of the religious education program by listening to parents and congregants, planning and implementing religious education events, supporting training sessions and working with other adults in the wider congregation to build a religious community. We offer you a glimpse of the program here but encourage you to download a full brochure for more complete listings and information.

Carolyn Fowler-Smith (2011) CHAIR
Jennifer Smith (2011)
Emily Koechlin (2012)
Marie Moll-Amego (2012)
Helen Fox (2013)
Lynn Arneson (2013)
Kysseline Cherestal (2013)
Marisa Osorio (2013)
Shelley Finlayson(2013)
Alaina Briceland-Betts (2011)

A Glimpse…

• Nursery Care
• Two professional caregivers provide childcare and supervised play for infants (0-23 months) in the Nursery (lower level in the room at the rear of the Dining Room). Parents are scheduled to help in the Nursery twice each year. Remote hearing devices and vibrating pagers are available.

• Very Young Learners (two- and three-year olds)
• This activity‐based class, which meets in the Hamele Wing (#2), engages in small‐group activities and individual interaction around the monthly themes explored in the worship service. Music is an important component of this experience.

• Young Learners (four- and five-year-olds)
• Spirit Play – a multi-sensory approach of wondering , learning centers, stories, and a community of children, teachers, and parents – provides a place where Young Learners can, at their own pace,
ponder the abiding questions of life: Why are we here? What matters to me? What is important to others? How can I be the best person I can be?

• Primary and Intermediate Learners
• Classes are grouped across three grade ranges in an effort to model mixed-aged learning communities. Primary classes include Kindergartners through 2nd graders while Intermediate classes include 3rd through 5th grade. These mixed-aged classes help develop different skills for children, including leadership.
• The morning typically includes a story in Children’s Chapel or Story for All Ages with the children then separating to discuss and “play with” the story. The stories, gathered to relay the arc of UU faith-in-action, convey ultimate inclusion—or, in children’s language—”you can’t say you can’t play.” Children learn concepts and language through a multiracial, multicultural lens. Children are encouraged to articulate their developing individual faith.

• Middle School Learners (at 11:15 am)
• After attending the first 15 minutes of the service in the Sanctuary, Middle School Learners move to their classroom to engage stories of radical inclusion throughout UU history and present times. The stories and some exercises, at an age-appropriate level, are taken from the curriculum, You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, a multiracial, multicultural examination of UU theology and faith-in-action.

• High School Learners (9th through 12th graders; 11:15 am only)
• This group, advised and taught by adults, meets Sunday morning for learning, fellowship, worship, and social justice work. Integration with the adult community is encouraged and promoted. Participants are encouraged to direct their own learning.

• Coming of Age (at 9:30 am)
• Open to those in 9th grade or older, this every-other-year offering is a rites-of-passage learning program beginning in October and culminating in a service presented to the congregation in May 2011. The program, revised considerably from previous years, also includes a five-day trip to Boston with the senior minister (timing to be determined). Please contact Gabrielle Farrell for more information
• Chapel Choir (and religious music education). New! This year, a music educator will visit program groups (two years old through Middle School) two Sundays each month to teach music and hymns of our religious tradition. Additionally, on the second and fourth Sundays, there will be choir rehearsal where anthems for Chapel will be rehearsed and performed when ready. Children interested in the Chapel choir should be able to read lyrics. Information about the choir will be shared in email and other church communication.

Parental Responsibilities

Involvement. RE is a cooperative venture. The community expects you to volunteer by:
• committing to helping other parents in your Family Ministry event;
• helping in the classroom two or three times a year per child;
• teaching or otherwise serving the program every two or three years;
• learning the names of your children’s teachers;
• reading the church newsletter and church e-mail; and
• attending family-friendly events as able.

Support. Registration fees account for only 25% of the RE program budget (which does not include staff salaries). The program therefore depends on the financial pledges of its members and friends. All families are encouraged to contribute during the church’s Generosity Campaign.

Attendance. The religious development of your child depends largely on simply being here. Regular attendance creates a relationship to the church integral to spiritual growth. Belonging is paramount. All children, at some point and for various reasons, express reluctance to attend. When you demonstrate an “attitude of cheerful expectancy” and steadfastness about weekly attendance, your child learns what is important to you about their growth. We encourage your family to make church attendance a priority.

A word from Gabrielle…

We welcome you with the traditional greeting of the accomplished and fabled tribe of Africa, the Masai. Kasserian Ingera meaning “how are the children?” Even warriors without children answer “All the children are well.” This exchange occurs daily, over and over, at each new meeting.
How are the children?
All the children are well.
This response means that the daily struggles of existence do not preclude proper caring for the young, that life is good, that peace and safety prevail, that the young are protected. It says: We know for what we woke this morning. The answer grounds the Masai’s daily life, reminding everyone of the reason for their community.
The pages here are full of evidence that the All Souls community similarly asks and answers this question.
To this we dedicate the year.
Indeed, Kasserian Ingera.
All the children are well. Let it be so.
Welcome!