GEARING UP FOR CRE

Leslie Ross, Director of Children’s Religious Exploration

2. Teaching brings them closer to their own understanding and experience of Unitarian Universalism. They feel their faith more deeply because of what they’ve learned from teaching.

3. It’s their way of paying it forward. Their children went through the CRE program and many other parents and volunteers took the time and energy to teach them. Now that their children are grown and gone, they feel it’s their turn to help care for others’ children.

4. Children are our future! Unitarian Universalism holds values that are important to them and to the future of our world. They want to be sure that they’ve played a part in promoting those values.

5. They learn so much from the kids in their class! They often feel more like the student than the teacher. The kids’ perspectives on things, their open-mindedness, and their compassion for each other all fill them with awe.

6. They get to be creative! The craft projects they do with the kids are fun and remind them of things they loved to do as a child.

7. It’s a great way to meet other adults, in addition to kids. They have become friends with some of their co-teachers, and they’ve really enjoyed getting to know some of the parents.

8. Every week during chalice lighting, the kids recite “This is the church of the open mind, this is the church of the loving heart, this is the church of the helping hands.” Kids need to see adults model how our church is and that these are more than just words—they are a covenant with each other. Teachers want to model that through service to our children and parents and by arriving with an open mind and a loving heart.

(con't on page 9)