Everyone is welcome to engage with our community in spiritual growth and education. The Unitarian Church of Harrisburg offers religious exploration programming for all ages in addition to lay-led opportunities for growth and learning.
VISION STATEMENT
“To awaken the soul, excite and cherish spiritual life”* in guiding and supporting individuals, families, and children on their journey as lifelong Unitarian Universalists.
*Excerpt from The Great End in Religious Instruction by William Ellery Channing, 18th Century Unitarian Minister
MISSION STATEMENT
We realize our Vision by:
- Embracing religious exploration to awaken the soul;
- Building and celebrating beloved community with shared Unitarian Universalist values;
- Supporting growth through ritual and worship to excite and cherish spiritual life; and
- Ministering to all individuals, families, and children
Faith Development Goals
- to Nurture unapologetic U.U.s;
- to Increase children, youth and family participation on Sundays and beyond through support and opportunities;
- to Provide inclusivity at all ages (educate and challenge -isms & biases)
- to Recruit, support and sustain FD volunteers (leaders, helpers and behind-the-scenes)
Adult Faith Development
Stitchers Group- Contact Cory to be added to the group
Join us every 2nd Friday of the month at 10 a.m. for our Stitchers Group, needle arts group for knitters/crocheter’s/quilters/cross stitchers/weavers and more, where we can all gather with our projects to stitch & chat.
No agenda – just building connections.
Covenant Groups (CG)
UCH is excited to participate as a pilot congregation in the UUA’s new curriculum, Woven Faith. The UUA created the curriculum to both honor our UU past and incorporate our present and future expressions of faith, including sustainable social justice work.
An organizing principle of Woven Faith is that the congregation is the curriculum; that is, that the whole environment—accessibility, worship, fellowship, RE classes, leadership development, caring ministries, justice work— all inform the Unitarian Universalism we learn and absorb. We will incorporate these themes within children’s RE, our monthly worship themes, and Covenant Groups.
Registration is now open for next year’s adult Covenant Groups! Covenant Groups meet monthly from September to June, normally in the second week of the month. Sessions are 60-90 minutes long, with discussion each month on a different aspect of Woven Faith. Enrollment is capped at 10 people per group; please consider this a year-long commitment. This is a wonderful way to get to know other like-minded folks outside Sunday morning coffee hour. At this point, we have scheduled the following groups:
7:00pm second Monday (Zoom)
1:00pm second Tuesday (Zoom)
5:30pm second Wednesday (Clover Lane)
1:00pm second Thursday (Clover Lane)
If you are interested in joining a group, please contact the church office.
Children and Youth Faith Development
Includes children 6 months through 12th grade.
The Unitarian Church of Harrisburg offers children and youth faith development (FD) programming most Sunday mornings.
Please try to arrive about 15 minutes before the service. Greeters in the lobby will welcome you, get name-tags for your family, and ask you to fill out a visitor registration form. Arriving a bit early allows you time to look around; to meet other families, the FD Leaders, and/or the Director of Lifespan Faith Development to ask questions. Please include any special needs or allergies on the visitor registration form to best provide a positive experience for your child.
Members and guests should sit where they are most comfortable and move around as needed. Joyful noises and movements are the signs of a living, thriving church. We welcome them!
All ages start together in the sanctuary. Some Sundays, families remain together in the service. Other Sundays, children, youth, and FD Leaders will recess to their FD session downstairs during a song (about 15 minutes into the service.) We encourage you to go with your children to help them find their way and settle in. If you do not arrive early, just go with the rest of the children and leaders, let them know you are new, and they will accompany you to the FD room. Please stay in the session or activity with your child if you would like.
After their third visit, families should complete the UCH FD registration form. This helps our Director of Lifespan Faith Development monitor attendance, communicate with families, and tailor activities for their children & youth.
We are offering three classes this year:
- Nursery (6 mo. – K)
- Elementary (1st – 5th)
- Youth Group (6th – 12th)
Children and youth information is confidential and only shared with staff and class leaders.
Questions/Concerns: Contact our Director of Lifespan Faith Development, Cory Ness.
Registration for Faith Development classes for next season will begin in August.
Summer RE is ongoing. Click on the Newsletter button above for the full calendar.