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Community Corner

Distinctive Religious Exploration for Children and Youth

OAKTON, VA, September 14, 2013 --  The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax (UUCF), located on Hunter Mill Road in Oakton, offers a rich and unique Religious Exploration (RE) program for all children, from age 2 through high school. The program invites an exploration of faith, ethics and spirituality development and helps children and youth develop a Unitarian Universalist (UU) identity,  while developing a personal spiritual path. Registration for the RE program, which offers classes on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings, is now open by calling 703-281-4230 or emailing the Director of Religious Exploration, Linnea Nelson at dre@uucf.org.

Unitarian Universalism, a liberal faith with Judeo-Christian roots, affirms the worth of human beings, advocates freedom of belief and the search for advancing truth, and provides a warm, open, supportive community for people who believe that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion. This non-creedal approach to religion and education has enabled UUCF to expand its adult membership by 50 percent over the past five years. This growth also includes almost 300 children and youth. 

UUCF’s unique religious educational programming, supported by full-time church staff and more than 100 parent volunteers, contributed to UUCF being recently recognized by its national association. At its annual meeting of Unitarian Universalist congregations last year, the Unitarian Universalist Association designated UUCF as a “Breakthrough Congregation.”

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Many of UUCF’s RE classes for elementary-age children are based on “Tapestry of Faith,” an online curriculum that can be viewed at www.uua.org/re. Other ages experience workshops – engaging, multifaceted lessons that mirror the worship themes for the entire UUCF community.

Realizing the importance of creating a society where sexuality is treated as a normal, healthy and positive part of life, UUCF provides students with a highly praised sexuality education program that was created in conjunction with the United Church of Christ and based on national standards for sexuality education. The year-long Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education Program is offered for 8th graders. Shorter, developmentally appropriate segments are offered to various other ages as part of their religious exploration classes.

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For information about the religious exploration program at UUCF, contact the Director of Religious Exploration, Linnea Nelson (see sidebar), at phone 703-281-4230 or email dre@uucf.org.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax is specifically located at 2709 Hunter Mill Road in Oakton, VA.  For additional information, please also refer to the website: http://uucf.org/.

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