Our Third Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
Many families first come to TJMC looking for religious education for their children. From preschool through high school, we encourage our children to think, to seek, to act in accordance with our UU principles. Read about the RE experience from the point of view of a recent graduate, a parent, and a teacher.
I would not be the person I am today without my experience with RE at TJMC-UU. In eighth grade, under Greg and Pam’s loving guidance, I got my first taste of how empowering it is to learn and be treated as mature enough to be informed. When I talked to my peers at school about what I was learning in OWL, I realized how little they knew about this critical information — not only in terms of their health, but also in terms of awareness of gender and sexual orientation. I was saddened that they did not have access to such an incredible program as I did. This was when advocating for age appropriate, comprehensive sex education became important to me.
With this drive, I joined Planned Parenthood in their peer education program, Teens Taking Action, and held conversations and presentations to people my own age in hopes that they would feel empowered through this new knowledge. I wanted my peers to understand that they have a right to have choices. Unitarian Universalism reinforces my belief that as individuals it is pleasure and a right to learn and to continue learning throughout our life. Information is power. My junior year, I joined the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s Youth Leadership Team to advise them on how to reach teens and worked with them to lobby our government for funding for evidence based pregnancy prevention programs. Again, there was this drive to make sure that people could have access to knowledge and live fuller lives. This came from my initial education here at church.
Without OWL and the openness of our congregation I likely would never have realized that I want to be an advocate for the right to sexual education. This opened many other doors — a drive for justice for those who have endured human rights abuses, a dedication to equality, and knowledge that I have the power to make changes for the good. Thank you to this congregation for encouraging me to be myself and allowing me to step into my adulthood informed and with a drive for justice and education. Today, I work at the Women’s Center on campus and I co-lead a program there that works to mentor and empower local middle school girls. In this way my same middle school experience seems to have come full circle in the work I do today.
–Hayley Owens
We came to TJMC after “shopping around” at several area churches. This was the place we felt most comfortable. We stepped out of our Christian upbringings and embraced a new way of thinking. Our oldest child was just at the stage of asking the BIG questions about life and we knew we needed some support and guidance.
All three of our children have loved being a part of TJMC. They have learned about and experienced different faiths, learned to develop their own beliefs and become part of a group where they were comfortable sharing these experiences. Our children have made life long friendships with both adults and other youth.
This was one of the best decisions we made for our family. We rarely were excited to jump in our car and head to church when we were growing up. It is still quite amazing when our children are the ones who want to make the time to go to church. There are many reasons to love TJMC but I feel most strongly about the way it has helped to nurture and support our children.
–Karen Moulis
This year for the third time, we will take a group of youth to Appalachia to help make peoples homes warmer safer and drier with the Appalachian Service Project (ASP). ASP focuses on building relationships with people they are helping. So the youth get to experience how it feels to make a concrete difference in people’s lives. So often youth learn and train and learn some more, but do not get to take important, effective action on all the problems they hear about in the world. At ASP, they feel empowered in taking action and seeing what a difference they can make.
Being a part of the TJMC community has been a precious part of my life. I have grown in ways I never could have expected. During the week in the world, I often feel drained, but I get recharged by our TJMC community, by being with people who are expressing love in action. It is inspiring to be with people who are “up to something big” in the world. It has been an enormous blessing in our lives to be at TJMC with people who are actively caring about something bigger than their own lives – people who are making a difference. This is a very sacred place.
–Pam McIntire