Religious Exploration Council Mission Statement (2022)
The CUUC Religious Exploration Collaborative, in fellowship with the Religious Educator, Minister, Board of Trustees and congregation at large, is dedicated to offering spaces and opportunities for religious exploration for children, youth and adults that foster spiritual growth, create community, and reject racism and all forms of oppression by celebrating diversity, promoting equity, and working for justice. Our goal is to prepare congregants of all ages to engage with the world as loving, curious, courageous individuals of conscience ready to inspire positive change by living into our Unitarian Universalist values.
Religious Exploration Collaborative Leadership
- Chair: Enid Press
- Board Liaison: Christine Haran
- Parent Liaison: Karen Dreher
- Collaborations, PlaceKeeping: Joe Gonzalez
- Collaborations, Social Justice: Carolyn Hanson
- Welcoming New Families: Diane Goettel
- Teacher Support: Sarah Carr and Laura Goodspeed
- Community Building: Jessica Lidh
- Information Sharing: Sarah Hoppes
- Recruiting: Denise Dunn
Director of Religious Exploration and Faith Development
- Tracy Breneman, cuucwptracy@gmail.com
Opportunities to Connect and Serve
There are many ways to support the Religious Exploration (RE) ministry at CUUC. Listed below are key aspects of our RE ministry. We welcome your participation in these or other areas that would be meaningful and enjoyable for you. Contact Tracy Breneman, cuucwptracy@gmail.com.
REvision Advisory Group – Adapting Faith Formation at CUUC
This advisory group supports RE leadership as we explore changes in our programming to better reflect current times. Serving in this role are Karen Dreher, Betsy Walkup, Duncan Force, Charlotte Press, Gail Johnston, Matthew Darnall, John Cavallero, Mary Kingsley, Norm Handelman.
Opportunities to Connect and Serve
Teaching: Help lead classes for children and youth grades K to 12 using established UU curricula as part of a teaching team.
Youth Ministry Advising: Help nurture a relevant, engaging, and sustainable youth ministry that can inspire and support our youth.
Volunteers Support and Development: Support RE volunteers by coordinating with leaders to schedule development opportunities.
Support for Adult Classes and Parenting Groups: Support DRE or minister in leading topic-specific educational/spiritual classes or support groups
Support for BIPOC and Multiracial Families: Help nurture a culture of inclusion.
Social Justice: Help ensure that justice, equity, anti-racism, and anti-oppression lenses and activities are woven through our vision of religious exploration and faith development, and yearly programming. Collaborate with CUUC Social Justice Teams on programming.
PlaceKeeping: Help nurture RE collaboration with the CUUC PlaceKeepers and ongoing programming.
Opportunities to Show Up in the Lives of Our Young People: Help nurture multigenerational connections by maintaining a list of activities that our young people participate in that the congregation can attend to support our young people in the activities that are important to them, e.g., recitals, concerts, musicals, plays, sports games.
At-Home Resources for Families: Help offer support at home for parents and caregivers to have resources for parenting grounded in UU values, and for families to build meaningful rituals and traditions.
Online Registration: Help keep RE family registration up to date so we have current contact and allergy information, activity restrictions, special needs, photo release, etc.
RE Welcome Table: Support a warm welcome for families and visitors Sunday mornings.
REsource Room: Help ensure that supplies and resources are stocked and easy to locate.
Sanctuary Activity Area Monitor: Help ensure that the quiet activity area in the sanctuary is stocked, tidy, and not distracting during worship.
Special Projects: Help coordinate special projects and events, e.g., Deck the Halls, Thanksgiving worship ritual, or update safety protocols.
Don’t Forget To Register for RE!
Please register your children and youth, ages 0-18.
Coming up
See our upcoming schedule of classes and activities
Weekly Newsletter
Read the latest Religious Exploration newsletter.
Get the re Newsletter
Subscribe to our RE weekly newsletter.
