Contact Terina, our Director of Religious Exploration, at 309.828.0235 or email [email protected] to learn more about current offerings for adults, children, youth, and families.

Religious Exploration for All Ages or “Lifespan Faith” means lifelong learning as Unitarian Universalists. Unitarian Universalism is a faith home for people who seek to transform ourselves, our communities, and the world we share. We take a lifespan and “whole church” approach to faith development, where the congregation and our covenantal relationships help provide the curriculum.

Religious Exploration (RE) provides children and adults opportunities to explore, reflect, and learn in a nurturing spiritual community. Our programs offer space for ethical, social, and spiritual growth while exploring various topics including self-identity, personal ethics, environmental awareness, world religions, and compassion in interpersonal relationships.

At every age, the foundation of Religious Exploration is the co-creation of a community that reflects Unitarian Universalist values:

• affirming the inherent worth and dignity of each individual
• valuing the love all kinds of families share
• searching for truth and meaning from many sources
• encouraging each person’s free and responsible exploration of big ideas
• treating one another with compassion and respect
• making choices that reflect our values
• listening to the still, small voice of our hearts
• harnessing our power to create a world with more love, more joy, and more justice

Children and Families Religious Exploration

Parents and caregivers come to Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations for communities that help raise children to become kind, respectful, fair-minded, caring, and strong enough to side with love and fight for justice. UU religious exploration and participation in worship, social justice work, and multigenerational gatherings reinforce what parents teach at home. We nurture truth-seeking, spirituality, and progressive moral values that will continue to shape and support our children as they grow. Our programs combine story, song, art, movement, discussion, and play to engage children with many learning styles, abilities, and activity levels. Past year themes included anti-racism, community, and nature. 

Children’s programming is Sunday mornings from 10:00-11:15. Additional details about the current year are on the registration form – https://forms.gle/HmgNm5C82gMmeH1y9

Our childcare room is open for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers during worship.

Adult Religious Exploration

Adults are highly motivated to explore and navigate the joys, sorrows, opportunities, and challenges of our lives. Sometimes you find religious growth through deliberate engagement with programs, practices, readings, and small group discussions. Sometimes you grow in spirit through your life experiences: relationships, making a living, raising children, confronting injustice in the world, and facing illness, loss, or grief.

Adult programming varies from ongoing small groups, monthly Sunday programs, multi-session programs, some online, some in person, and some combining the two ways to participate. Programs for 2025-2026 include Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education, Biblical Literacy for UUs, How to be a Peacemaker, Creating Radical Welcome, UUA Common Read Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. Revised edition. By Deepa Iyer, Skinner House Books, 2024. 

Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education

Our Whole Lives (OWL) Sexuality Education curriculum is developed and maintained through a partnership between Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ. Trained facilitators in our congregation offer OWL every other year for these ages: Kindergarten/1st grade, 4th/5th grade, 7th/8th grade, 10-12th grade, and adults. OWL helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their relationships, health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. It provides facts about anatomy and human development, and helps participants clarify their values, build interpersonal skills and understand the social, emotional and spiritual aspects of sexuality.