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...

-William Ellery Channing, Unitarian Theologian

The families of First Church Jamaica Plain Unitarian Universalist are happy to announce the restart of the Religious Exploration (RE) program, after a long 2-year hiatus brought on by the Covid-19 lockdown.  Hooray!  It’ll be so good to be tUUgether again! 

We begin on Sunday, November 12th at 11am, with a workshop led by our collaboration partners at First Church Belmont, who designed and developed the Kids UUnited series of interactive workshops.  They also gathered a host of online resources, which we now have access to as program partners.  

Our series of Kids UUnited workshops will focus on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).  In these one-off, stand-alone sessions, children will learn how to identify their own experiences, feelings, and perspectives — and to seek out, care about, and respect those of others — all through interactive play.  The sessions are based on group activities and games that encourage kids to reflect (focus inwardly), and then respond (focus outwardly).  Below is the schedule of workshops, all of which will take place at 11am at First Church Jamaica Plain, located at 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.

Kids UUnited workshops at FCJP

November 12
December 10
January 14 
March 10
April 7
May 5

All workshops will occur during worship hours

In addition to the Sunday workshops, we are also offering a series of family fun nights on Saturday evenings (between 5pm and 7pm) called Families TUUgether.   Imagine a big room with a bouncy house, games, pizza, snacks and maybe a movie.  Drop off the kids to enjoy some free child care (hello, date night! … or … hello, nap!)  or stick around for a short discussion and social time with other parents and guardians of kids in the community.  These events provide families a time to connect and get to know one another — while kids of all ages have fun, and learn to associate church as a place they want to be.

Families TUUgether at FCJP

Saturday, November 4th 
Saturday, December 9th  

We would love to have you join us for any or all of these events as we work to rebuild our family programs at First Church JP, and to foster a community that seeks social-justice-based religious exploration opportunities for young people in Jamaica Plain and the surrounding neighborhoods.   To sign up, use this form.  If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us, at ReligiousExploration@firstchurchjp.org.