Youth Religious Education
Welcome to First UU Church of San Antonio! We are so glad you are here.
Our Youth Religious Education program offers a variety of activities and classes for all ages staffed by trained volunteers. Classes begin every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. Exact programming may vary due to Covid 19 risk assessments and other factors. Masks and social distancing are encouraged for all indoor activities.
Family members are always welcome to attend classes with their children to help them adjust to the new surroundings. Once you and your children feel comfortable, feel free to take part in one of our Adult Religious Education classes or get some coffee and chat with other church members on the patio or in the lounge. After a couple of visits, you can complete our Registration Forms, which gives you access to weekly emails, social media groups and other offered services. We will also ask you to read and sign, with your child, our Children’s Covenant document.
Nursery, Worship, Playground, and High School Youth Social Time
Nursery: Childcare is provided for infants – 3 year olds in room 401 by two staff members each Sunday from 9:15 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. You may choose to leave your children for some or all of the time, and you are also welcome to stay with them in the nursery area if you choose. Your children may also accompany you to adult RE classes or worship, if you would like to keep them with you.
Worship and Playground: Children and youth are welcome in the Sanctuary for 11:00 a.m. worship. There are “worship notebooks” in the foyer with some coloring pages and activities for them to help keep them occupied. After the “wisdom story” children ages 4 through grade 5 may remain with you in the service or be escorted to the playground where supervision will be provided. You can sign them in for the playground on the clipboard in the foyer before the service. Middle and high school youth are invited to stay in the service with their families or friends.
High School Youth Social Time: High school youth will have the option to have a “hangout/social time” twice a month from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. There will generally not be any scheduled programming during this time, but games and some activities may be available. We will provide adult supervision in the high school youth room (Room 604) on those days. On other Sundays, the youth are invited to attend the worship service. They may not hang out on campus unsupervised.
Children and Youth Religious Education Classes
The children and youth religious education classes take place every Sunday from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.
Preschool and Elementary Religious Education: Our PK – 5th grade classes will be following the “Soul Matters” curriculum this church year (September to June). Soul Matters is a theme-based ministry which includes worship themes, adult small group discussions and religious education resources. Each theme will be explored churchwide for a month. The lesson plans for each age group will vary and provide age appropriate activities, stories, and discussions. The overarching question for the 2022-23 themes is, “What paths must we lean into and relearn as we travel together into our complex, challenging, and hoped-for future?” Each theme will lift up a particular spiritual path crucial to helping us birth a new normal worthy of our hopes. A list of themes is below:
September: Belonging
October: Courage
November: Change
December: Wonder
January: Finding Our Center
February: Love
March: Vulnerability
April: Resistance
May: Creativity
Middle School Religious Education: Our middle school youth will also follow the Soul Matters curriculum which includes discussions and activities on the theme of each month. These themed lessons tie them to the rest of the congregation since many aspects of church life will be focused on these monthly themes. There will also be social activities planned several times throughout the year.
High School Religious Education: This year, our high school students have identified two areas of learning to focus on this year. The first is learning about justice work in our community, nation, and world. And the second is learning about different faith traditions in our local community. We will focus on experiential learning by inviting church and community leaders to speak with them, visiting other houses of faith, participating in social justice actions and working on being actively involved in matters important to the youth.
Middle School & High School Banned Book Group:
Middle and high school youth gather during RE time (9:30-10:30AM) on the 3rd Sunday of each month to discuss a banned book.
The next books are:
- December: No book due to holidays
- January: Being Jazz (by Jazz Jennings) and/or “I Am Jazz” episodes that can be found on a lot of streaming services
- February: Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez
- March: This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson
Classroom Locations for Children and Youth Religious Education
Infants to Age 3 (Room 401)
PreK (age 4) to 5th grade (Building 5)
Middle school (Room 601)
High School (Room 604)
Contacts and Additional Information
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns or would like additional information about any of our programming.
Contacts:
Bridget Laflin, Director of Lifespan Religious Education, dlre@uusat.org
Rev. Mark Skrabacz, Senior Minister, minister@uusat.org
Rev. Nell Newton, Assistant Minister, nnewton@uusat.org
Kathy McFarlane, Congregational Administrator, office@uusat.org
Church office phone: 210-344-4695
