Religious Exploration for Children & Youth
Welcome to our Learning Community!
Our religious education program enriches the spiritual lives of children, youth, families, and elders. We strive to help one another grow in spiritual practice, to deepen understanding of and respect for our religiously diverse world, and to live UU principles in daily life.
Worship
Worship is an integral part of what we do as a spiritual community. Most Sundays, children in preschool through Grade 8 will attend the first 20 minutes of worship with their families (and senior high youth are welcome to remain, or to assist with younger grades – see Senior High Youth Group information on the class descriptions page). We also hope you will join us for our All-Church Worship services, held monthly throughout the year, when all ages attend the full service.
Sunday Worship Services at 10 am
- Message for All Ages in Worship every Sunday
- Intergenerational Worship services once a month
- Participation of young people in worship-leading
Sunday Morning Child & Youth Religious Exploration (RE)
We are overjoyed to have all ages meeting together again under one roof this year! Sunday morning religious exploration at Countryside offers programs for children preschool – 8th grade; for senior high youth (9th-12th grade), we will offer Sunday evening youth group and the Our Whole Lives sexuality education program. Read on to learn more!
We encourage parents and guardians to ask questions, visit classrooms, and participate in support of the spiritual growth of our young people.
Click here to register children or youth for RE.
For information about upcoming worship services, click here.
Faith In Action Service Learning
Our 5th Sunday Faith in Action events provide our children & youth opportunities for service to others. The goals of Faith-in-Action are to:
- Provide opportunities for young people to experience their power to make a positive difference in the world
- Experience learning and service as an integral part of our UU beliefs and practices
- Cultivate young people’s natural sense of justice, empathy, and compassion
Young people are also invited to participate in:
- Children’s Garden — growing organic vegetables to support the Palatine Township Food Pantry
- Youth Hunger Opposition of Palatine — to benefit the Palatine Township Food Pantry
- Guest-at-Your-Table – to benefit the work of the UU Service Committee
- Green Sanctuary – embracing environmentally-sustainable ways of living
- Chicago Pride Parade & Pride Youth events
- Share-the-Plate offerings
Cooperative Program-Building
The vitality of our programs depends on the generous support of many dedicated volunteers. When you register your child, please let us know how you’d like to share your gifts with our community – there are many ways to help! Helping in the religious education program is a great way to get acquainted with church members, especially other parents and families, and learn more about our living faith. A background check and a signed covenant of ethics are required of all volunteers working regularly with children and youth. Those planning to teach, may download the background check form here and a code of ethics form here; please complete them & submit them to Linda Berry or Debbie Lee.